Commentary

The on-going battle for the life of baby Charlie Gard in England has taken another dark turn. The judge there issued a ruling that the baby’s parents could not take him to the United States for experimental treatment without his permission.  Ponder that for a moment.

There might be an argument for a court to get involved in such a case if there is a conflict between responsible family members. Or if there is evidence of neglect.  Perhaps one could argue that courts ought to get involved when medical staff don’t feel continued treatment is humane or even reasonable.

But how can one justify the court’s imperious position in this circumstance?

While the medical staff in England have concluded that the baby should be taken off life support, an American doctor has stepped forward and is offering to treat baby Charlie. Why would the medical staff or a court stand in the way?  What interests could compel a judge to override the parents’ desire to pursue treatment?  After all, they have raised private funds to pay for treatment, so this judge can’t even offer the excuse of representing the taxpayers in socialist England.

The most likely motivation is imperious arrogance.

Given the corruption of England’s health care system by overwhelming governmental intrusion, health care decisions are now a matter of societal concern. Government and its various demi-gods shall be in charge.  No longer shall individuals be allowed to make choices for themselves or their loved ones.  Families cannot be allowed to struggle through the hard choices inherent in the treatment of deadly diseases.  Now lawyers and bureaucrats and prideful medical professionals shall decide who lives and who dies; who is worth saving at what cost.

For those seduced by the Bernie Sanders-Nancy Pelosi scheme to enlarge government intrusion into American health care – we urge a cold-eye review of this tragedy in England. This is where we are headed in this nation: A world in which the primary struggle is not against the disease or injury, but against one’s own government.

The story of baby Charlie Gard has troubled millions across the world, as courts have stepped in to order the death of a vulnerable child. The parents continue to fight for him, arguing that they have a right to pursue experimental treatment.  British courts – and even a “super” European Union Court – have sought to strip these parents of the right to bring in additional medical experts.

It strikes most people as odd, even evil, that courts would regulate access to health care. Why should these parents not be able to defend the life of their precious son for as long as they have the means, the will and the hope to do so?  Why have European courts sought to insert themselves in this private, painful, struggle?

The answer lies in the dark side of government-run health care. While politicians love to dole out goodies in exchange for votes and plaudits – there is always a price.  Obviously we are the schlocks who pay the taxes they play with.  Perhaps more troubling is the control and bureaucracy which inevitably attaches to such public programs.  Thus, the real coin of the realm is freedom.

We see this playing out in Washington, D.C. as Republicans struggle to actually relinquish the power they’ve seized to manage our health care. As Americans suffer from the oppressive burden of ObamaCare, the Republicans in Congress dawdle and moan over a real vote to repeal this ill-advised take over of the nation’s health care system.  Forget the thousand promises and hot campaign rhetoric.  Now it is real, and now it is too hard for some.

If ObamaCare is allowed to stand, Americans will need to develop a close, personal relationship with their member of Congress. Not only will families have to have a good doctor, we will need our Congressman to intervene and help us battle the bureaucracy which doles out the care our children or parents might need.  Going forward, we can easily imagine that every session of Congress for decades to come will be dominated by new legislation to “fix” the health care system recklessly destroyed by Obama and Pelosi back in 2010.  While the Democrats have earned the scorn they’ve reaped by imposing ObamaCare, Republicans are now dancing with disaster by guaranteeing its permanence.

Let us pray that reason returns to the Republican Congress. Let us pray they again find the will to defend freedom and the free markets.

Senate Leadership released their draft of ObamaCare “Repeal” this morning. We are relieved, and grateful, to report that the effort to end taxpayer support of Planned Parenthood remains very much alive.

We are in no position yet to comment on the larger content and policy directions of this draft legislation. Yet we are encouraged that Sen. McConnell continues to support defunding Planned Parenthood.  In addition, the leadership’s version of ObamaCare Repeal would prohibit the use of any federal subsidies families may receive for health care to be used for elective abortions.

There are broad pro-Life principles at stake in the national debate over health care. We have long been adamantly opposed to ObamaCare because of its fundamental threat to pro-Life values: End-of-Life issues, access and affordability, as well as abortion.  Destruction of ObamaCare is a vital pro-Life objective.  Congress must find a way to get this job done for America.

As if Republicans need any more justification to defund Planned Parenthood – beyond the moral and death issues – consider this simple fact: They spend a tremendous amount of money trying to defeat Republicans.

Media reports indicate that the abortion chain dumped over $1 million into the Democrat’s campaign coffers, and conducted extensive GOTV efforts in an all-out effort to defeat Republican Karen Handel.

In addition to their pathological opposition to Donald Trump, the organization was especially motivated to defeat Handel: She was the valiant pro-Life champion who resigned from the Komen Foundation back in 2012 over its donations to Planned Parenthood. Radical abortion champion Jon Ossoff made quite an issue of Handel’s “opposition” to breast cancer screening.  Of course the voters saw through the insanity of such a charge given Handel’s life-long involvement with fundraising for breast cancer treatment.

One close observer of the race, Phil Kent, former editor of the August Chronicle, was quoted in a Newsmax article as arguing that “Planned Parenthood was a big issue in the race and pro-Lifers came out heavily for Karen Handel”.

The special election was a huge victory for the pro-Life movement and compelling evidence that Republicans in Congress need to press forward on keeping their promises to repeal ObamaCare and Defund Planned Parenthood.

Here is an excerpt from a column we posted about Karen Handel back in 2013:

An Interview with Karen Handel

The National Review has posted an interview on its website with Karen Handel, author of Planned Bullyhood and the woman at the center of the Komen-Planned Parenthood fracas of just a year ago.

She recounts in the interview some of the key material from her expose, as well as a powerful rebuttal of the simplistic definition of “women’s health” used by Planned Parenthood to extort millions from the government treasury.

She identifies the close partnership between government, media and the nation’s leading abortion provider – a partnership which has resulted in the death of millions of American babies. (As we run up to the 40^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it is important to understand how this abortion culture sustains itself through our tax dollars).

Reports have surfaced today in Roll Call that Senate Republicans are on the verge of unveiling their version of ObamaCare “Repeal & Replace”. Thursday is the apparent target day for a public presentation of the changes they want to make to the House-passed version.

The hottest political topic is whether the Senate bill will retain language ending the decades-long public subsidy of Planned Parenthood. At least one Senate Republican (Collins) has indicated that defunding Planned Parenthood would mean she votes against ObamaCare overhaul.  Roll Call is predicting that the pro-Life measure will be dropped in order to secure passage of the larger bill.

This is not the first time media pundits have made that prediction. Previous announcements about Senate Republicans lacking the will to end our evil partnership with the country’s largest abortion chain have been rebutted by leading Republicans, including Mitch McConnell and Speaker Ryan.

And, in fact, another story has just appeared on Politico’s website claiming that the new gossip is “absolutely false”.

We will know shortly. In the meantime, we have time for prayer.  We ask that pro-Lifers join us in seeking the Lord’s intervention with Senate Republicans.  May God give them the courage and wisdom to do what must be done.  Without question, defunding Planned Parenthood is the most important pro-Life issue facing the nation.  It would strike the greatest blow to the Death Industry, short of overturning Roe v. Wade itself.

We’re willing to bet that the Senate Republicans come through for the American People, just as they did a year ago.

Lord, may it be so.

The Seattle professional women’s basketball team – known as the “Storm” – announced that they will donate five dollars from each ticket sold for their upcoming game against the Chicago Sky. The recipient?  Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest & Hawaiian Islands.

That is the regional entity overseeing Planned Parenthood’s three Idaho abortion clinics.

The team management announced that they will hold a “Stand With Planned Parenthood” rally at the game as well, scheduled for July 18^th.

National Planned Parenthood is delighted, according to a report in the New York Times. Dawn Laguens, VP of Planned Parenthood Federation of America is quoted as saying, “This marks the first partnership we’ve ever had with a sports franchise.  This event and their support will help raise awareness among their fans and sports fans more broadly.”

Apparently the owners of the team have deceived themselves into believing that they are making a vital social contribution to “improving health care”. But, of course, all they are doing is dipping their hands in the bowl of innocent blood.

Hopefully the Seattle fan base, small as it might be, rallies to boycott the sordid mixing of sports and baby slaughter.

Reports surfaced this week that the Trump Administration is working on a revision of HHS rules which have proven to be a heavy burden on American employers. The ObamaCare Mandate to cover all forms of so-called “contraception” has been the subject of numerous lawsuits, most of which Obama lost.

There was the Hobby Lobby lawsuit, which made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court upheld the religious liberty rights of Christian employers refusing to pay for abortion-causing drugs like the “Morning After Pill”.

Despite its legal setbacks, the Obama Administration defied the Supreme Court. It simply re-wrote the rules – feigning an attempt to “comply” all the while keeping its foot firmly planted on the necks of Christian employers.

The same strategy was employed in a related case involving Little Sisters of the Poor – a Catholic order of nuns required to buy and provide contraceptive coverage despite Catholic Church teachings opposed to the use of such birth control methods.  Those poor people spent years battling Obama.

President Trump repeatedly criticized the Obama Administration during the campaign for its despotic approach to religious liberty concerns.

So it is very encouraging to see that Mr. Trump is following-through on promises made during the campaign to restore respect for the First Amendment. We will keep track of this issue as the revised rules make their way through the bureaucracy.

Freedom is making a comeback!

The news coming out of federal Judge William Orrick’s courtroom is just the latest travesty in a decades-long crusade by the judiciary to protect the abortion industry. Disregarding the First Amendment and the public’s need to know, Judge Orrick ordered that a new video from the Center for Medical Progress be taken down.

This latest video is a montage of discussions between practicing abortionists gathered at a professional convention. The gathering, sponsored by the National Abortion Federation, affords abortionists the opportunity to trade tips on the various techniques used to kill preborn babies more efficiently.  The most recent video shows them also offering one another emotional support in dealing with the horrors they inflict on babies every day.

One abortionist describes how “gross” and disturbing it was when “a [baby’s] eyeball just fell down into” her lap. Another ups the ante by relating how frustrating it is when a baby’s “head just gets stuck that we can’t get out.”

One is reminded of the challenges faced by the Nazi leadership in maintaining the morale of SS units assigned to slaughtering millions of undesirables across Europe.

Judge Orrick has determined that the American public simply does not need to see or know this sort of thing – the dark reality behind the bumper sticker’s proclamation of a “right to choose”. He well understands that such knowledge might just destroy the public’s tolerance of legalized abortion.

The federal judiciary has long employed such an abusive strategy to protect the abortion industry. A profound corruption of judicial authority is employed in almost every abortion challenge to ensure that the public cannot obtain an accurate picture of the abortion industry’s routine horror.  In this case, Judge Orrick has threatened CMP officials with federal imprisonment if they violate his order.

It is a picture of a world gone mad: Prison time for the truth-tellers. Safe spaces for the abortionists.

The White House unveiled its budget blueprint today, even as the President continued his effort to rewrite American foreign policy.

As promised, Mr. Trump’s budget proposal ends the dark partnership between the federal government and the country’s largest abortion chain. Instead, low income women and girls would be encouraged to receive legitimate health care from actual doctors and institutions more interested in their health than in selling them an abortion.

The President’s budget director, in response to media questions, issued a big caveat to this great news:

The budget assumes that the Congress will pass the enabling legislation to shift money. That language is contained in the ObamaCare repeal and language now pending in the U.S. Senate.

President Trump continues to deliver on his promises. Now it is up to the Congress to do its part.  Perhaps they can begin by cutting some of the vacation jaunts they’ve been enjoying and stay in session to get the Trump Agenda secured and implemented.

Today – the National Day of Prayer – was filled with hopeful blessings for Americans.

The President hosted an event at the White House to mark the Day of Prayer. Actual prayers were conducted at the White House, seeking God’s help with the daunting challenges facing this nation.  Actual prayers were launched from the Rose Garden on behalf of the President while he stood with bowed head.  Such a change from the Obama years.

We know that the Lord will bless such a public act of humility.

But the blessings don’t end there.

As part of the ceremonies, President Trump honored the Little Sisters of the Poor – who have fought a valiant battle against the Obama Administration for many, many years. Trump then signed an Executive Order bolstering religious liberties in this country.

But the blessings of the day don’t end there, either.

Today, the U.S. House enacted repeal of ObamaCare – itself a long-standing threat to Life. Most importantly, that repeal legislation includes many important pro-Life provisions.  At the top of the list: Defunding of Planned Parenthood.

This is the single-most important pro-Life policy the Congress could enact, short of overturning Roe v. Wade through Constitutional Amendment. Both Idaho Congressman – Raul Labrador and Mike Simpson- voted to defund Planned Parenthood.

The language of this repeal also includes language ending tax benefits for insurance plans which cover elective abortion benefits.

Let us give thanks for the actions and tone of a new regime in our nation’s capital. And let us band together in prayer that the U.S. Senate will show similar resolve to end the evil partnership with Planned Parenthood.

Oh – and there is one other huge development of the day: President Trump announced that his first official overseas trip will be to the State of Israel and include a stop to the Vatican.  That prioritization says a great deal about this president.