Commentary

Some 75 members of Congress, including Idaho’s Senator Jim Risch, issued a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf today. They are asking for detailed information about the FDA’s recent decision to accede to Planned Parenthood’s demand that the rules governing RU-486 usage be substantially loosened.

Just weeks after being confirmed to the FDA post, Califf announced that Planned Parenthood could use the deadly drug much later in pregnancy. And he also approved a new protocol which allows pregnant girls to complete the chemical abortion on their own without medical supervision.

Risch and others want to know the scientific background and studies which led the FDA to overhaul the restrictions governing RU-486. They are also asking for copies of any correspondence and email traffic between the White House, Planned Parenthood and the FDA.

They also want to know what kind of oversight the FDA has established over the facilities manufacturing the drug.

A key excerpt from the letter:

“We are deeply disappointed to learn that you have loosened FDA standards governing use of the abortion drug mifepristone, also referred to as Mifeprex or RU-486. This powerful abortion drug has been associated with serious adverse events including hemorrhaging, severe infections and even deaths of mothers who have taken it.”

Idaho Governor Butch Otter has signed HB516 into law. This new feature of the Informed Consent statute will require the Department of Health & Welfare to include information about where a woman can go to get a free ultrasound of her baby prior to an abortion decision.

At least seven of the state’s pregnancy care centers now offer ultrasounds as part of their care and counseling services for women and girls dealing with an unplanned pregnancy.

The legislation was brought forward by Right to Life and sponsored in the Legislature by Rep. Ron Nate and Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll.

During their opposition to the bill, Planned Parenthood testified that they use ultrasounds on women and girls they’ve ensnared – but only as part of an abortion procedure.

Late yesterday, on the eve of adjournment, the Idaho House voted 54-14 to approve SB1404. This landmark legislation makes it illegal to harvest tissue from aborted babies, and it makes it illegal to use such tissue in experimentations at Idaho’s public universities and colleges.

Thus, SB1404 attacks both the supply and demand side of the organ trafficking horror revealed by the undercover video project of the Center for Medical Progress.

The only organized opposition to the legislation came from Planned Parenthood – the same group which has used fetal tissue to subsidize payroll for its abortionists across the nation. This is the same organization which claimed as recently as yesterday to unwitting reporters at KTVB that they don’t harvest and sell organs from its Idaho abortuaries.

And, yet, Planned Parenthood of Idaho has a long track record of deceiving public officials and the general public about its operations and intentions. (Only a year ago, they told legislators they had no plans to perform “web-cam” abortions using RU-486; in December they filed suit against the State because they have a “constitutional right“ to offer such services across rural Idaho).

The clueless media dutifully reported on Democrats skipping out of the House State Affairs Committee on Thursday morning because they were “offended” by the very concept of legislation like SB1404.  The same media outlets made no attempt to contact pro-Life sponsors of the legislation for a response; thus the self-serving construct of Planned Parenthood’s “victimhood” went unchallenged.  (Channel 7 didn’t even bother to cover the actual committee hearing in which testimony was presented regarding the critical need for this legislation).

But facts are stubborn things and the people of Idaho have been well-served by their legislators on this bill.

Sen. Cliff Bayer, for instance, gave compelling testimony about the serious ethical consequences to medical science from an unchecked reliance on tissue harvested from aborted babies.

While Democrats protested out in the hallway, claiming that the legislation was not “worthy of our time”, mothers who have miscarried their babies shared their tearful experiences with legislators and expressed gratitude for provisions of the bill which allow for a Certificate of Miscarriage to commemorate their loss.

The legislation is now before Governor Otter.

You can see the biased media coverage for yourself by clicking here.

Operation Rescue provided more background information on the grave injustice playing out in Houston, where undercover investigators are facing criminal charges – but the baby butchers walk.

The first thing we learn is that the Grand Jury impaneled by DA Devon Anderson never even took a vote on whether to indict Planned Parenthood for violations of federal statutes like the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. (Despite video evidence that Houston Planned Parenthood doctors engage in such practices in order to harvest more valuable organs and tissue).  In fact, it is not clear that the Grand Jury in Houston was even presented with evidence about potential wrong-doing by Planned Parenthood officials.

We suspect that Ms. Anderson’s true agenda was to protect the Abortion Industry. From the beginning of her “investigation” she indicated that she would be looking closely at the behavior and methods of the undercover reporters who stunned America with their findings.

Despite being appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to the post, Ms. Anderson has a rather questionable past with respect to the Abortion Industry.

In 2013, Operation Rescue brought a complaint in Houston against an abortionist named Douglas Karpen. They uncovered a pile of evidence showing that Karpen was operating a practice very similar to that of Kermit Gosnell: killing babies after birth by snapping their necks.  Turns out that the attorney who defended Karpen (Chip Lewis) is a close personal friend of D.A. Anderson – and a major donor to her political campaigns.

Just as interesting: Anderson assigned the same female deputy to run the Planned Parenthood grand jury as botched the Karpen grand jury. (Karpen walked away from those 2013 charges).

It seems quite obvious that justice is going to be a very difficult thing to find in Houston. Hopefully Governor Abbott will have greater success at the state level.

Along with most Americans, we were shocked to hear that Planned Parenthood of Houston has been “exonerated” by the Houston DA – while the investigators will face criminal charges. Is this not a perfect example of the corrosive effect of legalized abortion upon our legal system?

We are a long way from Houston, and do not know the Houston D.A., Devon Anderson. We don’t know her politics or position on abortion.  But we do know that she has an attorney working in her office who also serves on the Board of Planned Parenthood – Houston, the very organization Anderson set out to “investigate”.

The pressure Planned Parenthood is bringing to bear on the noble souls who exposed their butchery-for-profit scheme is unbelievable. It demonstrates the Mafioso-like ethics which animate Planned Parenthood: Just a week or so ago, they brought suit in San Francisco against David Daleiden, leader of the Center for Medical Progress.  It is the second lawsuit filed by the Abortion Industry to silence Daleiden, and to prevent America from being confronted with the ugly truth about legalized abortion.

In response to the criminal actions by the Houston D.A., Mr. Daleiden issued the following statement:

“The Center for Medical Progress uses the same undercover techniques that investigative journalists have used for decades in exercising our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and of the press, and follows all applicable laws…. Planned Parenthood still cannot deny the admissions from their leadership about fetal organ sales captured on video for all the world to see.”

That is a fairly careful, if pointed statement. No doubt, Mr. Daleiden’s response was drafted with help from his attorney since he must now mount a criminal defense.

We prefer the statement issued by Congresswoman Diane Black (R-TN):

“It is a sad day in America when those who harvest the body parts of aborted babies escape consequences for their actions, while the courageous truth-tellers who expose their misdeeds are handed-down a politically-motivated indictment instead.”

Amen.

We are going to have to hold Mr. Daleiden in prayer, and we are going to have rise, as a community, to help support him as he works his way through the legal harassment Planned Parenthood has laid for him.

In the meantime, we must also not lose heart: Gov. Abbott (R-TX) is vigorously pressing a state-led investigation into Planned Parenthood’s activities, which may go a long way toward correcting this blatant injustice at the hands of Ms. Anderson.  He said today that the antics in Harris County will have no impact on the state’s determined investigation into Planned Parenthood.

And we can also take heart by remembering the words of the prophet Isaiah, who faced incredible levels of social corruption in his day:

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil … who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent … for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the Lord’s anger burns ….”  (Isaiah 6:20 -25).

The “leader” of the free world wielded his immense authority on Friday to defend not those little babies being chopped up for luxury cars – but the butchers at Planned Parenthood. Their treasury dollars are safe for a few days more.

As the very fiber of our civilization is threatened by harvesting and trafficking in human baby parts, Mr. Obama chose to stand up for those doing the whacking and chopping. Rather than offer this nation authentic leadership at a time of clear moral crisis, Mr. Obama chooses to perpetuate the lie that dismembering babies for cash is somehow essential to protecting women’s health.

Obama’s failure of moral leadership is more than disconcerting. It is a heartbreaking moment in our history.

Yet we refuse despair. In fact, let’s take this opportunity to celebrate the courage displayed by leaders in Congress who pressed through the obstacles of Senate Democrats, overcame the scorn of the nation’s big media, and forced the president’s hand.  For the first time, Mr. Obama was forced to stand up in front of the American people and choose.  Sadly, he chose death.

We are hopeful that this historic fight over funding is not a defeat – but a milestone on the road to ending our evil partnership with America’s largest abortion chain.

Without doubt, the most important development of 2015 was the expose of Planned Parenthood’s dark trafficking in baby organs and tissue. The revelation was so disturbing that even the Congress determined it had to take action.  While the federal government continues to fund America’s largest Death Chain, we believe the handwriting is on the wall: With the election of even the worst Republican presidential candidate next year, Planned Parenthood’s days of massive subsidy from the American taxpayer are numbered.  After all, for the first time in history, both chambers of the U.S. Congress voted to defund the organization.

Congressional committees are just beginning their investigation into the dark empire that is Planned Parenthood. And even the Inspector General at the Department of Health & Human Services recently announced he will conduct a thorough audit of Planned Parenthood’s operations and its compliance with federal law governing organ harvesting and trafficking.

As we’ve written before, it is more than understandable that the nation is shocked by the film of abortionists sitting around eating salad while discussing the crushing of innocent preborn human children. This is the darkness to which legalized abortion has delivered us.  But, of course, the real tragedy, the real cause for heartache, is the wanton destruction of those tiny babies in the first place.  The evil harvesting of their organs for profit merely draws attention to the moral corruption we are suffering.

And those videos present America with a moment of profound decision: Is this the kind of society in which we wish to live? Are we prepared to tolerate the macabre mutilation of human beings for exploitation by those more powerful and wealthy?  We pray not.

The videos have served to undermine Planned Parenthood’s claim that it is a legitimate health care provider. Many Americans – despite the mainstream media’s attempt to bury the story – are now aware that Planned Parenthood is a very dark enterprise, staffed by deeply disturbed people.

As we prepare to enter a new year, we are hopeful that the pro-Life movement can take advantage of the opportunity created by the Center for Medical Progress and their tremendous work at ripping the cover off Planned Parenthood. It is a time for earnest prayer that the Lord will move our nation to a place of repentance.

For an excellent review of the videos, click here.

This week brought news that ISIS – the barbarian tribe spreading death and mayhem across the Middle East, Europe and the United States – has launched a new kind of “cleansing”.

Breitbart reports that ISIS has now launched something of a jihad against disabled children within the boundaries of their nascent state. A “fatwa” has been issued which authorizes the killing of children and babies with Downs Syndrome and other congenital disabilities – all in the name of “Allah”.

For some months now, we have been treated to nearly daily news of atrocities and barbarities against Christians, women, homosexuals and others deemed to have offended some mad sensibility or another. Beheadings for internet ratings.

But now, a Facebook posting by the barbarians claims that some children have already been killed in towns controlled by ISIS in Syria and Iraq. An underground organization, Mosul Eye, claims to have confirmed 38 slayings of newborns have already been accomplished either by suffocation or lethal injection.

Nothing compared to the barbarity of Planned Parenthood – but still noteworthy because these evil actors at ISIS are just getting warmed up, while Western leaders fete each other over glasses of champagne for fixing the global climate.

What is to be said about this escalation of evil? Quite a bit, actually.

In the face of such mad barbarity, we note the continued apologetics of the American Left – beginning with our own president, Barack Hussein Obama. He continues to play at stopping ISIS while passionately seeking an accord to fix the climate and destroy the liberties of American citizens.

Liberals like Hillary Clinton continue to defend open borders and the importation of persons about whom we intentionally know very little.

The truth is, we have not seen such naked evil since the days of Nazi Germany. (Recall Hitler’s program against their own disabled citizens – which amounted to a practice run at the Holocaust).  It is truly challenging to comprehend the scale and darkness of such evil.  Most of us will want to recoil from the horror, hoping in the quiet of our hearts that it won’t find us or our families.  We pray the San Bernardino slaughter is some odd aberration.  We hope that somehow our national leaders – despite their obvious disabilities –  will find a way to protect us.

The temptation is strong to slide into denial, some more Christmas shopping. Minimization of the threat is a natural response.  Looking for historical perspective, we can now see that the failure to recognize the depth of the Nazi threat resulted in millions being destroyed who might otherwise have been saved.

As we watch the inept and limp response of our national leaders to this growing horror, it is hard not to feel a kind of supernatural judgment descending upon our nation. We are presently plagued by “leaders” who wander about in a stupor so irrational that it defies easy explanation.

It seems clear that we must be in earnest prayer for our nation and civilization itself. America must seriously consider a path of repentance if we can reasonably hope that God will raise up a new generation of leaders capable of meeting the ominous darkness emerging.  That repentance must begin by confronting the unabated slaughter of innocents which has daily continued since the tyrannical arrogance of our Supreme Court imposed its own “fatwa” upon the nation in 1973.

The vote yesterday in the United States Senate to end our public partnership with Planned Parenthood was truly historic.  We believe it is the first time since President Nixon championed the notion of taxpayer funding for birth control that the U.S. Congress has voted to sever that multi-million subsidy of the Abortion Industry.

Obviously the president will veto the measure.  But that, too, is historic.  The American people will be the judge between the evil espoused by Obama and the new social justice demanded by most Republicans.  Let Obama defend the idea that American taxpayers should be forced to transfer their wealth to an organization that not only kills innocent babies – but harvests their organs for resale in the back room.  Let Obama defend a value system which says it is okay to trade baby parts for Lamborghinis.

We are grateful for the leadership of Idaho’s congressional delegation in this matter, particularly from our two U.S. Senators.  They have been engaged and inspired in helping to bring this vote to fruition, and we are proud that Idaho is served by such men in Washington, D.C.

Hours after the dastardly shoot-out in Colorado Springs ended, Planned Parenthood pounced to proclaim itself the victim of wanton violence.  Marching on the Left’s maxim that no crisis should be wasted, the public relations teams at Planned Parenthood saw an opportunity to cynically turn the page on their public relations disaster by proclaiming that the violence at their abortuary was “inspired” by “hateful” rhetoric.  Therefore, all pro-Lifers were to blame for the shootings.

On cue, their most powerful ally, Barack Obama, moved in to reinforce the message point.  Then came insightful leaders like Sen. Harry Reid blabbing into DC microphones.

Pseudo reporters on networks like CNN and MSNBC have dutifully delivered the message that the crimes of Colorado Springs were the handiwork of those evil undercover agents at the Center for Medical Progress who shamefully recorded abortionists trading baby parts for Lamborghinis.  How mean!

A few obvious things need to be stated.

First, the whole episode exposes the pathetic state of our national media.  Not simply its blatant bias, but its complete lack of professionalism.  There is virtually no evidence that the shooter in this incident had any ties whatsoever to any pro-Life cause or organization.  The only thing we know for sure is that this man is deeply disturbed.  But don’t complicate a good liberal storyline with facts.

Second, the basic message from Planned Parenthood is simple insanity.  To blame its public relations problems on the Center for Medical Progress is like the crooked politicians recorded in the 1980’s  ABSCAM scandal blaming the FBI for undermining the public’s trust in government.

The shootings in Colorado Springs do nothing to vindicate Planned Parenthood as an organization worthy of continued public funding; the incident does nothing to change the fact that Planned Parenthood is an evil enterprise which slaughters helpless babies for profit.  And no matter how loudly the Abortion Empire proclaims its victimhood, they cannot erase the tapes of their employees trafficking in baby parts while slurping a fine red wine.