Commentary

The story has not received much attention yet. But the Coeur d’Alene Press reported this week that a woman was arrested for the killing of her newborn baby boy after giving birth on April 14th.

Police allege that she strangled her baby, after birthing him in the bathroom. Then she cut him open with a box cutter. Then she placed him in a garbage bag, placing him on the back porch of her Rathdrum home. Elizabeth Keyes has been arrested on first degree murder charges and sits in a Kootenai County jail cell under a $1 million bond.  She is just 22 years old.

The case is horrible in isolation. But in the context of our continued brutality toward preborn children, it once again highlights the schizophrenia of our current legal/social system.

Let’s be clear about this much: The woman had options if the prospect of nurturing this new life was too much for her to bear. We helped enact a law many years ago which allows for women in such circumstances to bring that newborn to a hospital emergency room, or even a fire station. No questions asked. They can simply leave the baby.

Then there is the more civilized notion of caring for the baby and giving it up for adoption to one of the many couples in Idaho desperately seeking a child to bring into their family.

This woman, allegedly, chose neither of those paths. Instead, she acted out of fear and loathing for this new life – a message and value system she has been pummeled with her entire life. The baby is nothing more than tissue. Its very existence a violation of her “rights”; a threat to her value as a woman. Lie after horrible lie, told by the most authoritative voices in our society.  Major newspapers, college professors, the highest medical and legal authorities have actively propagated contempt for the preborn child.  The propaganda is so pervasive that one must ask: Do we not all bear some moral responsibility for, some complicity in, this woman’s crime?

The state is, correctly, moving forcefully to seek justice for the horrible crime against that innocent baby boy – a boy that will not even have the dignity of receiving a name. Yet we cannot help but see the frailty of the state’s position: We all know she could have legally disposed of that very same baby only hours before in a Planned Parenthood facility. No questions asked.  How can our legal system stand upon such a flimsy distinction as two hours’ time?  On one side of the clock, the new life is a disposable problem, unrecognized by the Law.  Just a few turns of a clock’s hands later, his brutal death becomes first degree murder.  Perhaps Ms. Keyes is pondering those same questions.  You can bet her defense lawyers will be exploiting those legal absurdities as the case moves forward.

Rep. Thyra Stevenson passed away this week in a Coeur d’Alene hospital after suffering a heart attack last week. She was 75.

Thyra was an extraordinary woman. First elected to the Legislature in 2012, she served on a number of critical committees such as JFAC and the House Revenue & Taxation Committee. Folks recognized her intellectual skills and ability to dig into complex situations.

She grew up in Lewiston, but ventured forth into the world to acquire a wide range of skills and experiences. Thyra was an officer and pilot in the US Coast Guard; and became a qualified pilot in the private sector as well – certified to fly DC-9s and B757 airplanes, among others.

Thyra taught Spanish and literature at the University of Washington after earning a PhD in Latin American Literature. And, just for good measure, she was an accomplished performer on the bagpipes.

There is so much more that could be written about Thyra Stevenson, but it is important to honor her most important qualities: She was a strong, independent woman who was willing to fight for our core values. She was one of the most dependable friends we had at the Idaho Legislature.

We are going to miss her greatly.

In the midst of the Chinese Virus upheaval, injustice rolls along. We learned that, last week, a hero of the pro-Life movement was slapped with a whopping $1.5 million judgment for exposing Planned Parenthood’s practice of harvesting body parts from the babies it kills. Plus attorney fees.

David Daleiden is also prohibited from ever entering a Planned Parenthood conference again.

The finding by a jury came after the careful manipulation by federal Judge William Orrick. He has a long association with Planned Parenthood – including his wife’s posts of photos supporting Planned Parenthood. Among Judge Orrick’s first actions to protect Planned Parenthood was a ruling which forbid the presentation of any video evidence collected by Daleiden of Planned Parenthood’s trafficking in baby parts.

Daleiden’s attorneys motioned for the judge to be disqualified from the case after they uncovered evidence that Orrick was an emeritus board member of an abortion clinic associated with Planned Parenthood. Pleas for fairness and impartiality went unanswered.

Meanwhile, we cannot help but express outrage that the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity remain largely uncensored and unpunished; and mourn over yet another example of the horrible corruption of our most hallowed institutions by the practice of abortion.

As the world seeks a recovery path out of the virus epidemic, hopes rise for a vaccine. Extraordinary efforts are underway in the Great Britain as well as the United States. In fact, one such project at Oxford University has already begun human trials.

Yet concerns have arisen as evidence suggest that the Oxford project is using tissue harvested from aborted babies. An academic paper was recently published by the Anscombe Bioethics Centre in England challenging the unethical use of human tissue derived from abortions:

“Simply as a matter of fact, use of such cell-lines in COVID 19 vaccine production is likely to create problems of conscience for some of those to whom the vaccine is offered,” wrote the Anscombe Centre.

We would frame this unethical research in starker terms: It is simply immoral to use aborted baby cells and tissue. Period. And it is even more egregious when one realizes that there are easily-obtained alternatives.

This lack of ethical standard in the medical research community was highlighted during the public scandal of Planned Parenthood’s partnership with many research hospitals and companies in America. Many states responded – as we did here in Idaho – to prohibit the use of aborted baby tissue and cells in medical research. But the practice continues in a number of states. In fact, the FDA continues to sponsor medical research using unethically-obtained tissue – though the Trump Administration has launched a review of those practices.

On a deeper level, this morbid practice illustrates yet one more area in which America’s moral standards have been sorely compromised as a result of our practice of legalized abortion. There was a day when the United States led the world in holding Nazi scientists accountable for their abusive medical experiments and research. Grandiose standards and international conventions were developed after WWII to prohibit unethical research on human subjects against their will. No more would the world tolerate “scientists” like Mengele.

But today we condone medical research which depends upon the body parts harvested from the industrialized destruction of preborn children; in fact, American taxpayers have often paid for such research.

In the midst of the rush to find a vaccine, at least one American bishop, Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has publicly urged the Trump Administration to stand against the use of aborted baby tissue in combating the Chinese Virus:

“Just because the crime of abortion is considered legal in our nation does not mean it is morally permissible to use the dead bodies of these children to cure a global pandemic. Emphatically, this practice is evil.”

Governor Brad Little has signed SB 1385 into law. This is an historic and courageous act, which sets a pro-Life future for Idaho.

The Human Life Protection Act makes virtually all abortions illegal in the State of Idaho upon the reversal of Roe v. Wade. This will now happen automatically because of the leadership that Gov. Little has provided to the state.

Under the act, also known as a “trigger law”, abortionists will face prison time for performing an illegal abortion. In the future we hope will soon be here, all elective abortions will be criminal. Abortions would be permitted when the woman’s life is threatened, or in cases of rape or incest. But in those rare situations, the abortionist would still be required to do everything she can to save the baby’s life. That may not mean much early in a pregnancy, but it could be life-saving later on.

In addition, the woman or girl must present a police report or a filing with Child Protection Services prior to an abortion being performed in cases of rape and incest.
Most pro-Life people are uncomfortable with rape and incest exceptions. And rightly so: The baby should not be made to pay the price for the sins of the father. Still, these cases are called “hard” because there is a real and genuine crime against the woman or girl. The mother in those cases is a victim too. Compassion is required for both the baby and the girl.
While SB1385 is not a perfect solution to those problems, it is a righteous beginning. It would make illegal over 98% of all abortions occurring in Idaho today. Once it becomes established as the law, once it creates a new social order – we will be in a much stronger position to protect and save those babies conceived in rape and incest.

The Human Life Protection Act must await action by the US Supreme Court before it becomes fully effective. But we believe this historic law will begin saving lives long before that day. It establishes a new paradigm in Idaho by rejecting the whole structure of legalized abortion as patently unjust. SB1385 will, we pray, begin instructing the next generation of Idahoans that abortion is morally wrong.

In addition to Governor Little, we wish to thank Rep. Megan Blanksma and Sen. Todd Lakey for their leadership and sacrifice in getting this historic bill through the Idaho Legislature.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord for this great victory.

The US Surgeon General has announced guidelines to America’s medical industry telling them that, for the foreseeable future, elective surgeries should be postponed. This is in preparation for helping the unknown number of Chinese Virus victims in the days and weeks ahead.  It is also a sensible risk management strategy – trying to limit the exposure of more people to the virus.

Yet Planned Parenthood has been resisting this order. All across the country elective abortions are proceeding apace – as if nothing else mattered.

There are news reports that at least 3 Planned Parenthood abortionists have tested positive for the virus. It is unknown how many women and others these people have potentially infected.

In at least one state, officials have had enough. The Ohio Attorney General has issued a “cease and desist” order directed at abortion facilities in the state.  Yet news reports indicate that at least two abortion centers are continuing to abort babies in defiance of the order.  Such defiance imperils the public’s health and safety.  But the killing at Planned Parenthood must continue – even as the nation struggles to save as many other humans as possible from the threat of the Chinese Virus.

This controversy over legalized abortion in the era of the virus can only accelerate in the coming days.

Massachusetts officials are attempting to circumvent this insanity by declaring that elective abortions are not to be considered as “nonessential, elective procedures” under their revised guidelines for doctors, clinics and hospitals operating in that state. Put more clearly, the Massachusetts Department of Health considers abortion to be an “essential” medical procedure, even in the midst of a national health care crisis of unknown proportions.

The juxtaposition of health officials working to protect both the public health and the Abortion Industry illustrates how profoundly compromised our health care system has become through its accommodation of Roe v. Wade. As the nation mortgages personal liberty and our financial stability to combat an invisible threat to public health and lives – it seems the height of insanity to proceed with the willful, wholesale destruction of babies in the womb.

We can only pray that this national crisis will help us recover a consistent and thorough appreciation of life.

The Idaho House of Representatives gave final approval to SB1385 this week in an historic rebuke to the abortion regime forced upon the states by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973. Under the legislation, virtually all abortions in Idaho will become a criminal act upon a reversal of the Roe decision.

By a vote of 49-18 (with 3 legislators absent), the Idaho House affirmed that preborn children should be protected under the laws of the state. That follows an equally-lopsided vote by the Idaho Senate last week. SB1385 now heads to the desk of pro-Life governor Brad Little.

The significance of this legislation cannot be overstated.

After some 50 years of legalized abortion, the Idaho Legislature made it clear to the Supreme Court and the nation at large that Roe is far from “settled” … and far from just. Despite the best efforts of the Abortion Lobby, its media allies, the Supreme Court, academics and other social elites – the People of Idaho, through their duly elected representatives, categorically reject the notion that it is “okay” to destroy innocent children in the womb.

Some in the pro-Life movement have sought to impede this legislation, arguing that it doesn’t really do anything. We beg to differ.  This legislation will soon become the law in Idaho.  It unapologetically makes 98% of all abortions happening in the state today illegal, once the Supreme Court recovers its proper limits of authority by restoring to the states the power to protect preborn babies and women from the scourge of abortion.

SB1385 contains narrow exceptions to protect the life of the mother, as well as abortions in cases of rape and incest. Many pro-Lifers are opposed to the latter exceptions – and for good reason.  Babies conceived by rape are no less human, no less valuable than babies conceived in less violent circumstances.  Yet, to save those babies, it is necessary to first change the current paradigm.  We must re-establish the value of human life; and SB1385 does that.

Immediately upon Governor Little’s signature, this new law will begin instructing a new generation of Idahoans that the taking of innocent life is wrong. In fact, it is a crime.  It says to all Idahoans that the State of Idaho rejects the contention that preborn children do not matter.

SB1385 also puts additional pressure on the US Supreme Court to reverse course on abortion “rights” and return the matter to the states – as it was from the time of the Continental Congress. Idaho becomes the 10^th state to place a “trigger law” on its books – laws which make opposition to legalized abortion more than theoretical.

We wish to thank Sen. Todd Lakey and Rep. Megan Blanksma for their leadership in getting SB1385 through the Legislature – as well as the 30 other legislators who became co-sponsors of our bill to reaffirm the duty to protect the least among us.

This past week the Idaho Senate approved SB 1385 by an overwhelming margin. This historic bill seeks to re-establish a “Trigger Law” in Idaho, whereby we will again recriminalize virtually all abortions in the state upon a reversal of Roe.  Every Republican senator (but one) voted to affirm that they wanted to see a day when babies in the womb are again protected by the law. The Idaho Senate chose Life.

There are currently eight other states with “trigger laws” on the books. In each case, abortions automatically become illegal again once the Supreme Court re-establishes the authority of the states to defend the health and lives of their respective citizens.

Sen. Todd Lakey (R-Nampa) did an excellent job of making the case for this legislation to his colleagues in the Idaho Senate.

Democrat members of the Senate, of course, fought the bill. Planned Parenthood adamantly opposed the legislation in both committee and on the floor of the Senate.

One of the primary reasons to get this legislation placed in Idaho Code is the effect it will have on the next generation of Idahoans. It will begin teaching them that abortion is not only not right – it is a grave injustice to both child and mother.  In fact, the State of Idaho views abortion as a crime.

And that message, we pray, will not be lost on the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite their best sales techniques and august declarations – the people of America are not buying the notion that killing preborn is (secretly) enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.  After some 50 years, most Americans continue to assert that Roe is unjust and an affront to the history of that amazing document.

Hopefully other states will join us in enacting trigger laws. We understand that the Utah Legislature has just passed one.  Acting together, the states can put tremendous pressure on the US Supreme Court to correct its gross twisting of the Constitution.

The Idaho House will take up SB 1385 this next week. We need your prayers to ensure that this historic legislation gets enacted prior to adjournment.

Most pro-Life people take it as an article of faith that life begins at conception.

But we recently ran across an academic paper which put that question to the world’s scientific community. You may be surprised to learn that 96% of the biologists interviewed for that paper agreed that life begins at conception.

Dr. Steven Jacobs, completing his doctoral thesis at the University of Chicago, submitted his question about the beginning of human life to a huge sample of biologists working at over 1000 academic institutions around the world. 5,577 scientists responded to his survey, representing some 86 countries.  The scientists participating in the study reflected the strong left-ward ideology we’ve come to expect from the academic world (89% identified as ‘politically liberal’).  85% of the scientists participating in the study reported that they support abortion “rights”.

Yet, 96% of these biologist were nevertheless compelled by the rules of science to acknowledge that human life begins at conception.

Those of us involved in the struggle to defend preborn children are not, of course, shocked by this scientific finding. Indeed, it is not simple faith alone which dictates such a view; logic itself demands an admission that each of our lives traces its beginning to that wondrous moment of fertilization.

What is shocking is the glaring disconnect between our scientific understanding and the pompous jurists who contort reason and hard evidence to uphold the right of a woman to terminate an innocent human life. They have long engaged in a willful ignorance of commonly known facts to obtain a political objective they find pleasing.

Lord willing, we are on the cusp of a new enlightenment and honesty from the federal judiciary regarding the holocaust they have unleashed upon American society. The cold fact is that abortion means the destruction of a human being.

Did you know that parents currently do not have a right to know when a doctor places a DNR order on your child? DNR. As in “Do Not Resuscitate”.  As in, we are going to allow this child to die. Such orders often include a prohibition of providing basic human requirements like food and water, which hastens the death of the patient hospitals are charged with caring for.

And, yes, we’re talking about Idaho – a state in which pro-Life and pro-Family values dominate. Yet those values are sometimes not reflected within our medical institutions, institutions which have been impacted by abortion and the assisted suicide movement.

The Family Policy Alliance, working with Rep. John Vander Woude, is trying to change that horrible situation. They have introduced legislation – HB 519 – which would require that a doctor and/or hospital notify a parent when they place a DNR order into a child’s chart.  The bill would also empower parents to transfer their child to another facility that is better prepared to care for their child.  And, during that two week period – the hospital could not withdraw treatment or food and water.

We have battled Idaho hospitals before on this subject. There is a hard belief within some of those circles that medicine is virtually infallible, that they have a right to terminate life when they determine that further treatment is “futile”.

The pro-Life community must rally to help ensure that this legislation obtains a hearing and gets passed this session.

HB 519 has been dubbed “Simon’s Law” in honor of a baby lost to his family in Missouri. The baby suffered from Trisomy 18 and lived for three months.  The baby began having trouble breathing, yet the hospital staff did nothing.  It wasn’t until after he was gone that his parents discovered that a doctor had placed a DNR order into his chart.  The parents also discovered that the staff had only been providing him with drops of sucrose – withholding food and water for an unknown period of time before his death.

Simon’s parents have worked for years now to educate parents about the fact that many states do not protect their right to care for their children in these difficult circumstances.

We would have preferred that Vander Woude’s bill had stronger language – language which would require informed parental consent before a DNR order could be placed upon a dependent child. But HB519 at least requires that parents be told – and gives them a chance to do something to protect the lives of their children.

Please take a moment to contact Chairman Fred Wood and members of the House Health & Welfare Committee, to urge that they quickly pass HB 519.