Commentary

Ever wonder what America can look like if we allow Planned Parenthood and the rest of the Radical Left to define our legal and cultural norms?

Our sophisticated friends in Canada are putting on just such a show for our educational benefit. The socialist Prime Minister has banned government funds going to any project or group which does not endorse his abortion-on-demand politics.  The particular flash point is a program which provides grants to various entities that offer summer youth jobs.  And this is likely only a pilot effort in a plan to leverage all government money to force ideological conformity.

Churches or private charities which hold or teach pro-Life values are no longer eligible to receive government grants for the jobs program.

After some push-back, Prime Minister Trudeau stood his ground this past week, declaring that “women’s reproductive rights [is] where we draw the line as a country”.

It is important to ponder that this move does not strictly involve pro-Life actions by grantees. Now, in order to participate in the program, these churches and charities must affirm that they, too, believe in a woman’s right to terminate her baby’s life in order to put kids to work in the summer.  It is a thought- police kind of action completely unrelated to the program itself.

Such totalitarian impulses have surfaced in America. Planned Parenthood has actually passed legislation in a couple of states requiring pro-Life pregnancy centers provide information about where women can abortions.  Even here in Idaho, Democrat legislators have publicly expressed the view that medical personnel should not be able to work in health care if they have objections to assisting with abortion or assisted suicide.

We may take comfort from the fact that we have greater personal liberties here in America because of the Constitution than our northern neighbors – but that would be a big mistake. Our educational system is depriving too many students of a proper understanding of the Constitution and our republican form of government.  Even our history.  Too many of those students go on to careers in the law or public service.  Those rights, bestowed upon us through tremendous sacrifice, are only as good as our ability and willingness to defend them.

President Trump was given Operation Rescue’s “Malachi Award” earlier this week for his leadership in moving the pro-Life agenda forward. The organization makes the award each year to the person they identify as making the greatest contribution to the cause.

“Since [President] Trump took office, he has accomplished more for the pro-Life agenda than any other president,” said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, in a press release.

The organization highlighted eight major accomplishments in Trump’s first year. Among them was the placement of Justice Neil Gorsuch on the nation’s high court.

Operation Rescue also commended the President for his decision to cut off funding for international abortion organizations and his support for the DOJ investigation into Planned Parenthood’s trafficking in aborted baby parts.

We’ve just heard news that a Planned Parenthood abortuary has closed in Iowa, after some twenty years of destroying countless lives. The move comes because the Iowa Legislature has redirected public health care dollars away from the nation’s largest abortion chain to bona fide health care providers.

This is just the latest in many pro-Life victories this year.

The assumption of the presidency by Donald Trump leads the list. Not only is he on pace to become the greatest pro-Life president in history – we must always judge his actions and leadership in the context of what might have been: President Hillary Clinton.

Our president has made substantial gains in defending Life: He has ended taxpayer funding for international abortions. He has created a policy at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services which officially acknowledges that human life begins at conception.

President Trump, in cooperation with the Republican Congress, has repealed the mandate forcing Americans to purchase health insurance – with its many Planned Parenthood subsidies.

We have also seen the President restore religious liberty protections by revising the rules imposed by Obama on private employers to pay for abortion causing drugs.

And toward the top of our gratitude list has to be the appointment and confirmation of conservative federal judges, which ought to provide some living space for conservative causes – most importantly, the pro-Life cause – for years to come.

There is much reason to give thanks to a Creator who still intervenes in the affairs of mankind.

With that grateful heart, we pray the Lord richly blesses you and your family in 2018. And may He lead us to even greater pro-Life victories in the year ahead.  It promises to be among the most challenging we have ever faced.

There is no more “pro-Life” event than the celebration of the Lord’s birth.  It is important, as we finish plans for presents and meals and visits, that we are celebrating the most mysterious and momentous event in world history.  The Creator of the Universe humbled himself to become man.  That humility is highlighted by the lowly station He assumed as He shed His glory to become a helpless newborn.  Born in a stable, straw in His crib.  At that moment Jesus became every man.  And it is so important to appreciate that He also became every precious baby.  He did not become the Savior at his birth… but became the Son of Man at His holy conception.

The heart of the pro-Life movement is a fight to honor that seminal moment in human history.  That precious baby Jesus is the reason for the season.  And He is the true energy and power behind the pro-Life movement. Hallelujah!

We pray that the Lord of the Universe richly blesses you and your family this Christmas Season.  We hope that your singing, and feasting and gift-giving and fellowship is full of His love.

And we want you to know how grateful we are that you are partnered with us in this great cause.  Thank you.  And Merry Christmas!

Obama judges on the federal bench continue to fight for his radical agenda. On Friday, Judge Wendy Beetlestone issued a nation-wide injunction against new rules established by the Trump Administration to protect the conscience rights of Christians.  She found that the “Constitution” protected the right of the federal government to force Christian employers to purchase insurance covering abortion-causing drugs – even though the federal government no longer seeks to impose such draconian conditions on religious orders like Little Sisters of the Poor.

What is especially annoying about this edict is the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has litigated the issue of the “Obama Contraceptive Mandate” at least three times. And each time, the Court has defended the religious liberty rights of employers.  Yet, on numerous occasions, district courts have seemingly defied the Supreme Court by searching for some pretext to issue contradictory orders upholding Obama’s dark agenda.

It is important to remind readers that the policy question of forcing employers to provide abortion-causing drugs – like the Morning After Pill – was never established by Congress, let alone the Founding Fathers. Even when Nancy Pelosi and her gang ran the Congress, and enacted ObamaCare, they did not have the votes to force employers like Little Sisters or National Right to Life to pay for abortion insurance.  Instead, they gave the Secretary of Health & Human Services authority to fill in the details on what benefits insurance companies had to provide under ObamaCare.  Kathleen Sebelius, a true radical advocate of abortion rights, served as Obama’s Secretary of HHS.  And it was Sebelius who created, by administrative rule, a so-called “right” to have abortion causing drugs covered by basic health care plans.

So – this federal judge in Pennsylvania recognizes the authority of a department bureaucrat to establish a “right” – but does not recognize the authority of the subsequent administration to modify or even eliminate that same “right”. Of course.  Sadly, this is not a unique display of tortured ad hoc reasoning by the federal judiciary.  The entire edifice of abortion law is so bizarre and illogical that it bewilders everyone who enters Alice’s world.

Fortunately, it seems likely that this judge will eventually be reversed. But time and resources will be wasted in the months it takes to fix this latest abuse of power.

A couple of years ago, the nation was confronted with the barbaric nature of the Abortion Industry when the Center for Medical Progress publicized a series of videos demonstrating a huge black market in aborted baby parts. At the center of that trafficking-scheme-for-profit stands Planned Parenthood.

While the nation’s largest abortion chain has yet to be held accountable, prosecutors in California (of all places) have secured the first guilty plea from two of Planned Parenthood’s crime partners – DV Biologics and DaVinci Biosciences. The firms have agreed to pay some $7.8 million in fines and penalties.  In addition, they have agreed to close their businesses. Permanently.

The prosecution by the Orange County District Attorney came after a formal referral by the Congressional Selective Investigative Panel on Infant Lives – headed by Congressman Marsha Blackburn.

This is real progress and puts real pressure on the nefarious Planned Parenthood abortion syndicate going forward.

However, according to reports by our colleagues at Operation Rescue, this development has even greater scandal: The owners of the two companies in question happen to be close associates of Hillary Clinton.  It turns out that both companies are owned by members of the Isaias family – Estefano, Andres and Roberto.

Apparently these folks absconded with millions of dollars in stolen money from a bank they ran in Ecuador. They face criminal indictments in their native country.  The Ecuadorian government claims that this crime family has bankrupted many citizens of this poor Central American country, and cost the Ecuador economy something approaching $660 million.

While Clinton was Secretary of State, the Ecuador government sought the extradition of the Isaias Family to face justice. But because of generous contributions to a slew of Democrat politicians in America, Clinton moved to deny the request.

“Hillary Clinton allowed a known crime family into the United States so they could sell Planned Parenthood’s aborted baby parts for profit,” said OR President Troy Newman. “This connects Clinton to the illegal baby parts trade, in addition to improperly giving special favors to criminals in return for financial donations.  The FBI should include her in their ongoing investigation.”

The potential corruption here is nearly unbelievable. We will report on further developments as we discover them.

Here is a link to the Operation Rescue report.

We are thrilled to report that the annual ICL Christmas Dinner & Auction was the best yet. We were blessed with a full room, terrific auction items and a host of wonderful volunteers who made this event truly special.

State Treasurer Ron Crane provided a powerful address to the crowd about his life-long commitment to the values which brought everyone together. And it was heartwarming to see so many of his family in attendance as he was honored for his leadership on pro-Life issues.

We were also blessed to have KIDO’s Kevin Miller serve as the Master of Ceremonies for the event. It is awesome to see Kevin outside the studio and fighting for the values which make him a statewide treasure.

To make the evening even more special, folks were graced by the beautiful voice of Christian recording artist Jaime Thietten. She performed a number of pieces from her new Christmas album and it helped set the mood for this wonderful Christmas Season.

Pro-Life patriots in the room had a chance to meet all three of the GOP candidates running for governor, and it was an honor to have congressional candidates Russ Fulcher and Michael Snyder host tables at the event. Former Lt. Governor Dave LeRoy was also there.  And two of the candidates for Lt. Governor in next year’s GOP Primary – Steve Yates and Rep. Bob Nonini – helped support the dinner and spent the evening meeting pro-Lifers from across the Treasure Valley.

This event involves a lot of hard work by a lot of people – but it is always a special evening. It helps to bring into focus the heartbeat of the Christmas Season.

Thanks again to everyone who came, the candidates and officials who honored the pro-Life movement and the folks who generously support this work.

State Attorneys General in a dozen states recently filed a “Friend of the Court” brief in a lawsuit being brought by Planned Parenthood against the state of North Carolina.

That southern state has had a 20-week ban in place since Roe v. Wade was handed down. But it amended the law a couple of years ago to tighten the exemptions under which late term abortions may be permissible.  The amendment allows abortions after 20 weeks only when the mother’s life is threatened or a continued pregnancy would likely result in a serious physical impairment of the mother.

Planned Parenthood claims that those tighter restrictions violate its constitutional rights, as well as the constitutional rights of its future, potential clients.

Among the many bizarre aspects of abortion law is the wide latitude federal judges have granted Planned Parenthood to bring civil lawsuits. Generally speaking, a person must demonstrate at least probable harm in order to have standing in a federal lawsuit.  Yet Planned Parenthood is regularly allowed to challenge laws on the basis that they represent hypothetical people who may never actually seek an abortion.  Even more bizarre is that conflation of an individual woman’s purported constitutional right to an abortion with claims by Planned Parenthood that it has, somehow, acquired those same constitutional “rights”.

It is that kind of legal slop which is tolerated and essential to Planned Parenthood’s tyranny of the federal court system.

The 12 states rising to help defend North Carolina and preborn children across the nation are: West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas. We note, with real disappointment, that Idaho’s Lawrence Wasden is not among the list.

The lawsuit is pending in a North Carolina federal district court.

Boise State University is considering offering its students a new convenience: “Emergency Contraception” via vending machines stationed around the Boise campus. Students could simply buy these deadly drugs without the inconvenience of driving to a drug store.

Most pro-Lifers already know how dangerous “Emergency Contraception” can be to the baby and the mother. But a few facts should be reviewed.  “Emergency Contraception”, or the “Morning After Pill” can be used to end a pregnancy at the earliest stages of a baby’s life by tricking the woman’s uterus into rejecting the new life.  The chemicals in “Emergency Contraception” cause the uterus to prevent a baby’s implantation into the uterine wall.

To be sure, ingesting EC pills do not always cause a chemical abortion. But they can, and do.

One of the tragedies of this drug is the fact that a woman taking them will never know for sure whether she has ended the life of a newly conceived human being. While a denial system may help her cope over her lifetime, a lingering shadow lurks: Was there a baby?  Did I end her life by swallowing those pills?

Given the life-and-death nature of these dangerous chemicals, it is more than disturbing that Boise State University would make such drugs available through a vending machine. As if the decision to end a human life were no more important than buying a Coke or a bag of Fritos.

The University is also doing these college students no favor by helping to disguise the potentially-serious health risks associated with using “Emergency Contraception”. Despite offering official approval to sell EC drugs over the counter, the FDA has never required serious medical research into the long-term health risks associated with consuming hyper-doses of the same drugs used in standard birth control pills.  There is evidence, however, that the regular use of birth control drugs can seriously compromise a woman’s health by increasing the risks of cervical and breast cancer.

We urge our readers to speak with their legislators about this matter. As a publicly-funded university, we believe it is an outrage that BSU would facilitate death-by-vending machine.

Here is a link to the KTVB Story

The Trump Administration was handed a set-back in its quest to save the life a preborn baby. After a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the Administration, a full gathering of judges ruled that HHS must help the illegal immigrant mother obtain an abortion.  An abortion in such a case would involve at least some taxpayer participation.

The full bench of the 10^th Circuit asserted that the teenage mother, in federal custody because she entered the U.S. illegally, is entitled to the full protections of the U.S. Supreme Court’s edicts under Roe v. Wade and Casey.

The mother in question is a teenager, and came to Texas without her parents. And the baby threatened with destruction has already entered the 16^th week of his or her development.  Texas law prohibits abortions after the 20^th week.

Officials at the Department of Justice and Health & Human Services have yet to announce whether they will comply with the ruling of the DC Circuit Court, or appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay.