On April 7, the US Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson as the latest new Supreme Court Justice. Jackson is highly qualified, but many of her prior rulings have been so controversial as to make her nomination appear to be related to an extreme left wing world view. However, Biden made it clear that he picked her based on race and gender, she being black and a woman. Sadly, that obscures her stellar career, albeit that some of her rulings have been said to be “outrageously radical.”

Nevertheless, in her opening statement before the senate Judiciary Committee, she thanked Biden and Congress and then went on to “reaffirm my thanks to God, for it is faith that sustains me…” This gives us hope that she will not support the attacks on religious freedom that we have seen under the Biden administration. But, her record is not encouraging. See my post March 25, 2022.

The Spring 2022 edition of Day 41, a publication of 40 Days for Life, carries an especially noteworthy story about Sue Thayer (1959–2021). Ms. Thayer died 12-24-21 after a brief battle with a rare and very aggressive form of kidney cancer. She worked at a Planned Parenthood location in Storm Lake, Iowa for 17 years from 1991, rising to a management position before she converted to the Pro-Life movement.

Her Planned Parenthood location did not perform abortions, but PP began “an outrageous webcam abortion scheme” in which a doctor would see a woman on a webcam and prescribe abortion pills without a physical exam or even verifying pregnancy. Sue was very troubled because she knew about women who had been injured and even killed by the abortion pills. However, her job paid very well and had exceptional benefits, and her family needed the income, so she “buried her head in the sand” for a while.

Ultimately, she was required to do shifts at an abortion clinic and then to go watch a day of surgical abortions. That left her even more troubled as she thought of “all those babies in the sewer system.” Then, although not trained and licensed to do so, she was required to perform ultrasounds before abortions with a machine that clearly showed the features of a developing baby. She was fired after she declared, “I’m not going to do this!”

It was not long afterwards that she joined 40 Days for Life campaigns and began to lead others. She exposed the PP webcam scheme, accused PP of Medicaid fraud, and testified before Congress. Whereas there is not enough space here to give justice to her efforts, it will have to suffice to say that she also opened Cornerstone for Life Pregnancy Resource Center https://cornerstoneforlifeprc.com/about-us/ which continues to serve the community. She later joined the staff of 40 Days for Life and was tireless in both national and international work, often with a grueling schedule. Ironically, just a week before her death, the Biden administration approved mail-order abortion pills for do-it-yourself chemical abortions. In a previous post, I cited a 500% increase in ER visits due to chemical abortions. https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/new-study-finds-chemical-abortion-leads-to-higher-rate-of-er-visits/

In Washington, DC, anti-abortion activists known as Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) obtained a box from the driver of a medical waste disposal company outside an abortion clinic. Within the box were the remains of 115 babies. Of these, 110 were given a funeral mass and were buried. However, 5 of the bodies appear to be late term abortions. On April 8, nearly 70 lawmakers lead by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) have requested the Dept of Justice and the FBI to investigate the deaths to determine whether they occurred in violation of the “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.” PAAU and other pro-life groups are maintaining a vigil and demanding “Justice for the Five!”

In 2013, the pro-life group Live Action released a video in which the abortionist at this clinic said, regarding any baby that survived an abortion attempt and was born alive, that he would allow the baby to die. This is what happened to Melissa Ohden who was born alive at 30 weeks gestation after an attempted abortion and put aside to die. She was rescued by a nurse and lived. Read her story in “You Carried Me” (available everywhere). https://abortionsurvivors.org/

The Vermont legislature has passed Proposal 5 to amend the Vermont Constitution to add: “That an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course and shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.” If that has you saying “What???,” then you are in good company with many people in Vermont. The people of Vermont will vote on this in November 2022.

As people wonder what that means, it is being discussed that it would appear to permit a minor child to obtain an abortion, puberty-blocking hormones, and gender-changing surgery without parental consent or even notification. The state already allows minor girls to consent for an abortion without parental approval. Vermont is the most abortion-friendly state in the country. In 2019, the state enacted an “all -nine-months” bill which declared a fundamental right to have an abortion and stated that an unborn baby “shall not have independent rights under Vermont law.”

One of the issues which I have discussed in prior posts concerning Roe and Dobbs is that of the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution, which leaves to the individual states all matters not explicitly given in the Constitution to Congress. Obviously, that includes abortion. Some legal scholars say that the Supreme Court should never have taken the Roe case because of the 10th Amendment. Many comments made in the case of Dobbs concern themselves with the prospects of returning decisions regarding all manner of reproductive health to the individual states pursuant to the 10th Amendment. Indeed, the central issue in Dobbs is whether the people of Mississippi have the right to enact laws regulating abortion according to the values of the people of Mississippi.

As we await the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has organized an ecumenical initiative called the “Pray for Dobbs” campaign. Pro-Life organizations around the country have been discussing the “what-if’s” and preparing for various contingencies. https://www.prayfordobbs.com/ Indeed, we should continue to “Pray for Dobbs.”

On of the most talked about topics at present is President Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court. It was certain that Biden would pick a candidate who has an acknowledged ideology with a legal track record to match when he made his decision. He also stated that he would choose a black woman. Albeit that Biden makes so many gaffs that he has been subjected to much ridicule at home and abroad, it is particularly sad that his thought processes work with an overlay of sexism and racism. How sad it is for the black woman nominated to know that, out of all the qualified persons with ideologies favored by the President, she was selected over others, not by her accomplishments, but only because of her gender and skin color, the essence of the motivations so many people work to erase.

Now that she has been before the Senate (the hearing concluded yesterday), the public is learning more about Judge Katanji Brown Jackson. Unsurprisingly, she ducked questions about her previous rulings and her views on the Constitution. However, we learned that she has been shockingly soft on child sex abusers, and she was unable to offer any explanation for repeatedly giving the absolute shortest and weakest punishments possible.

Furthermore, she stated that she does not know when life begins. In 1973, Justice Blackmun, in the Roe v Wade decision, wrote the same thing on behalf of the Court, saying that the Court did not know when life begins. However, in the 1960’s every medical book in the world contained the information that the Supreme Court claimed not to know: life begins at the moment of conception and cells divide over and over while the tiny growing human person is shaped into a baby ready to be born and live outside the mother’s body.

It is amply demonstrated by abortion survivors that the tiny growing new life is a person, and abortion survivors declare that they had a right to live when their lives were almost taken by abortion. It is proving impossible to dispute that the unborn are real people. The assertion is powerful that their lives are just as worthy as the lives of anyone else. So, what about all the babies who are killed…that is what the Senate committee wanted to know from Ms. Jackson. In fact, everyone knows when life begins, and abortionists know that they are killing a developing baby, a real person. They just do it anyway. It is increasingly the case that those who support abortion, like Jackson, know it is the deliberate taking of a human life. So, if our leaders in the highest positions and our Supreme Court Justices do not value the lives of the weakest and most defenseless among us, then what kind of people are we?

Jackson also stated that the legal cases of Roe and Casey, which established a woman’s “right” to an abortion, were “settled law.” While not surprising that she would support abortion, legal scholars have commented since 1973 that the reasoning used in the Roe decision were baffling, summoning fragments of assertions in various amendments and then drawing conclusions that were clearly not the intent of the amendments when they were originally debated and supported.

Likewise, the Roe decision was based on such faulty assertions about when life begins, the trimester system, and fetal viability that use of such arguments to justify abortion is just plain scientifically dishonest. The Court also failed to explain why the very simple and plain language of the 10th amendment does not give the individual states the right to regulate abortion according to the values of the people living in those communities. While Jackson stated to believe that future Courts must follow the precedence set by prior decisions, these issues were far from “settled” in Roe or Casey or any of the other related cases since.

A very good example of how the Court can make very bad decisions that must be corrected is the Dred Scott decision in 1857. Jackson claims she does not know what the issues were in that case. That is a very disappointing statement, because it means either that she lacks enough legal knowledge to even qualify as a lawyer, or she is blatantly lying.

Dred Scott sued to obtain his freedom from slavery because his owner had taken him to reside in a slave free state and a slave free territory for a while (too much more detail to relate here). The Court said that Scott did not have a right to sue because a “Negro” could never be a US citizen, amid other racist comments, and that the US did not have the authority to say anything for or against slavery in the new territories (an important issue of the day and a major issue in the lead up to the Civil War). At least some of the Justices were slave owners, and no Justice recused himself for conflict of interest.

Should this remain the law of the land? Or, is Jackson simply saying something she knows not to be true in an effort to protect any revision of Roe and other Court decisions based on Roe? The Dred Scott decision is often said to be the most egregious example of the Court’s bad decisions. In my mind, the decision in Roe is an equally egregious example of convoluted and illogical reasoning, and it has influenced the lives of hundreds of millions more people than the issue of slavery leading to the Civil War, and it has cost the lives of sixty million more people than died in the Civil War.

Jackson declared that “all Supreme Court cases are precedential” and “their rulings have to be followed” (all must include Dred Scott and Roe). Once again, there are no surprises here, but it does point out once again that elections to the highest positions in government do matter. One can only hope that Biden will be forced to select another candidate and that confirmation of any dishonest ideologue can be delayed and eventually declined.

In this edition, there is much about which to be informed. As previously mentioned, as if one needs to be reminded, there is “wailing and gnashing of teeth” among those pro-abortion factions who fear that their ability to dispatch the unborn in the US will be restricted by regulations enacted by the people in their own states….God forbid that people should have a choice!? Pro-life is the real pro-choice !

Whereas one can hope that some day women will cease to choose abortion, it is our duty to ensure that they have a choice, are well-informed, and have easy access to everything they need, every kind of help, and every alternative so they can choose life and have a healthy baby. Therefore, even while we hope the Supreme Court will rule (at least in part) that the individual states have the right under the 10th amendment to the constitution to regulate abortion according to the will of the people, there is much to do by way of education and improving a smooth pathway to meet all of a woman’s needs when feeling anxious, abandoned, and hopeless with an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy.

Now for the news.

Citibank has announced a new policy in a regulatory filing with the US Security and Exchange Commission on March 15. The bank stated: “In response to changes in reproductive health care laws in certain states in the U.S., beginning in 2022 we provide travel benefits to facilitate access to adequate resources.” They do not have any plans to provide help to women. I am forever mystified at the blood thirsty positions people take. This is, of course, nothing new with the abortion industry…that is how they make their money. But, with war in Ukraine, we hear people calling for a more widespread war…. for killing the Russian soldiers, and sending our young men and women to their deaths. Where were they in the first 6 months of 2020 when a peaceful solution could have been negotiated…if people wanted peace.

Idaho has become the first state to model a law after that of Texas, banning abortion after 6 weeks and allowing family members to sue anyone performing an abortion. Those who would have been fathers, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles have 4 years to bring the lawsuit, which provides for minimum damages of $20,000.

On Ash Wednesday, March 2, while President Biden appeared before reporters wearing ashes on his forehead, a reported asked how he could claim to be Catholic while supporting abortion in defiance of church teachings. The president’s wife pulled him away to prevent him from attempting to give a response. Biden has said that Pope Francis told him he approved of his taking communion. At the same time, the Pope has said that abortion is murder. If Biden is a murderer, be must be truly sorry and repentant before he can receive absolution and communion. The dichotomy of teachings from the Pope has fragmented the Catholic Church, reminding us once again that it is up to us to provide what women need. The solution does not lie with the Church or any government.

Readers of previous posts know about H.R. 3755, the Women’s Health Protection Act, which aims “to protect a person’s ability to determine whether to continue or end a pregnancy, and to protect a health care provider’s ability to provide abortion services.” This is an attempt to codify the “ability” to have an abortion as the federal law of the land before the Supreme Court rules on the Dobbs case in June. The bill passed the Democrat-controlled House 218-211 and was presented before the Senate. On May 1, the Senate voted 48-46 NOT to bring the bill up for debate in the Senate. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) joined Republicans in opposing the bill. Six senators did not vote. Do they not have the character to stand and be counted for what they believe is right? How about each of us….

A new report shows that the use of abortion pills is up from 44% of all abortions in 2019 to 54% in 2020, largely due to the pandemic and increasing public awareness of the option. Planned Parenthood began to use telemedicine and overnight delivery of the pills. Let us be reminded that our mission includes changing the hearts and minds of the public as well as providing all the physical help and emotional support a woman needs to choose life. When a woman can abort in private, it is only her conscience which is offended. It is virtually certain that the pills will never be illegal. Such a law would be impossible to enforce; witness the use of currently illegal drugs.

The Constitutional Court of Columbia has voted to legalize abortion up to gestational age 24 weeks. Previously, abortion was illegal unless the pregnancy resulted from rape, there were fetal malformations, or if the mother’s life was in danger. While all of these prior exceptions can be met with objections (discussed in earlier posts and some of my other writings), abortion up to 24 weeks means that the most hideous procedure of killing a well-developed person in the womb, sucking out the brain and dismembering the body is now cheered in Columbia as an “historic step”…indeed it is, with great sadness. Beyond 24 weeks, there remain restrictions on abortion, while the pro-abortion faction is still calling for complete decriminalization of abortion at any gestational age for any reason.

A group of Republicans in the House Pro-Life Caucus have decried a recent report investigating allegations of illegal and unethical activities practiced by the University of Pittsburgh surrounding its fetal tissue research, calling it a whitewash. “A truly transparent and comprehensive assessment would not have evaded the questions raised by public records, especially and including whether the University of Pittsburgh used the body parts of babies who were born alive and died from having their organs harvested, as well as if individuals procuring the baby body parts for the university altered abortion procedures to suit their gruesome research.” I have reported on this previously also. It is truly sickening. But, the fact is, there are those who feel that laws are inconvenient, so they just ignore them. We see it frequently in so many areas of concern these days, and in the highest political offices in the land.

The question of when life begins…really? Justice Blackmun did not know in 1973, but every doctor in the world and every medical library in the word in the 1960’s knew the answer…life begins at the moment of conception. That is medical science and not simply a pro-life message arguing that abortion is taking a human life. President Biden has said often since at least 2008 that he believes life begins at conception. In 2015, he said that he was able to accept that premise, but he was not ready to say that to others who have a different view (whatever that means). Now, he has moved even further away from supporting life, saying he respects people who believe life begins at conception, but he disagrees. Will the next step be to decide whose life has value? Should some people be euthanized? Let us know history and understand how that journey began with small steps. Let us not be deceived. Many people already advocate shocking ideas. Let us not be confused. See Https:lifefirst.org under “When does life begin?” (your answer matters).

There is much more news of which we should be aware and as a result of which we should form opinions and incorporate our opinions into activism and voting. Watch for new posts in a few days until I get caught up. As I have mentioned, we can expect the most hateful and vitriolic rhetoric from those who support abortion. The name-calling has started, and I fear that the worst is yet to come. We are dealing with an underlying evil, not that all misguided persons supporting “women’s rights” are evil…many have no idea what they think they are supporting, and they have not seen what options are available to women who want alternatives. But, there is pure evil at work for profit and to rid the world of those least fit to live. Watch as they call us what they are…. the oldest of tactics… demonize your adversary if you have no logically persuasive argument. That is why we must be prepared by the weapons of knowledge and prayer.

As noted in the title, in this post I draw upon articles in recent editions of the National Catholic Register. The contributors and editors report in every issue on some facet of the struggle to protect the sanctity of life and the dignity of those whose lives are diminished… many of those destroyed by abortion. However, those who attack life and human dignity are also assaulting our freedoms to assemble, speak freely, and educate our children, to name a few of the current serious cultural conflicts.

The National Right to Life sponsored a full page ad with a picture of a tiny developing baby. The caption reads: “Her heart is beating. For Now. An unborn baby’s heart is beating until she dies from abortion. Her brain waves could be recorded as early as six weeks. She, along with 800,000 potential playmates, will die from abortion this year. And powerful political forces believe there should be more abortions, even late in pregnancy, and paid for with your tax dollars.”

An organization named Students for Life investigated 784 Christian institutions, of which 237 (30%) were Catholic schools. They found that 81 of the 547 non-Catholic Christian schools (14.8%) and 22 of the 237 Catholic schools (9.3%) had ties to Planned Parenthood.

The investigation was conducted from viewing the school web sites where such relationships were found as: promoting PP as an internship opportunity for credit; promoting PP as a student resource; advertising or partnering with PP for an event; promoting PP as a career or volunteer opportunity.

When the schools with ties to PP were contacted concerning the issue, the number of non-Catholic schools continuing the relationship dropped to 61 (down from 14.8% to 11.2%) and the Catholic schools dropped to 8 (down from 9.3% to 3.4%). PP performed 354,871 abortions in 2021. None of the schools continuing to work with PP returned calls of inquiry. Some of those schools continued to have the same (or modified) links on their web sites, while at least one school hid the links behind a log in screen.

NCR also recently carried a story on surrogate motherhood. Surrogacy involves an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to bear someone else’s biological child and to surrender the child at birth, typically for monetary compensation. Surrogacy is most often arranged by wealthy couples for the convenience of not having to conceive in a natural way or just because the woman does not want to deal with a pregnancy.

The Catholic Church teaches against the practice, and some feminists express revulsion and cite negative implications for women. Comments include references to the perils of pregnancy and cite that the industry is unregulated. In another comment, there is the issue of the bond between the mother and child and the impact on the child when it is learned that he/she was conceived and carried to term in a rent-a-womb.

The article also cites the Church position that a child is a “gift” and that there is no”right” to a child. A child is not a piece of property. And, by bearing children, man and woman uniquely cooperate with Creator God. Pope John Paul II’s “Letter to Women” speaks to the beauty of being a woman and especially a mother. Other angles on this issue include human trafficking with the intention of reproductive exploitation of both the woman and the child. Other statements point out that poor women are at the financial and emotional mercy of the wealthy; women have to use their bodies or sell their eggs to meet their economic needs.

In another article, there are comments by a man who attended the March for Life in Washington, DC, his first time. He describes himself as an “old culture warrior” who has been in the battle since Roe v Wade in1973. He cites his astonishment at how young the crowd was…average age about 30-35, and he observed buses unloading men and women no older than their 20’s from all over the country. Many, if not most, seemed to be from colleges; he counted over 150 different college logos. He was greatly encouraged that the future of the pro-life movement is in good hands.

At the same time, Catholics at the March for Life Prayer Vigil at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception were praying for a renewed reverence for human life. Outside, a demonstration by “Catholics for Choice” supported abortion on demand for any reason. One has to wonder why they would bother to call themselves “Catholic” while showing such disrespect for the wanton destruction of human life and supporting the denigration of women. Calling oneself a unicorn does not make one a unicorn. Neither are they Catholic who lack compassion and deny women alternatives and support when there is an unwanted pregnancy in a very bad situation.

Let us be mindful of all these things. Whereas abortion is the biggest destroyer of human life and has a serious impact on women and lost fatherhood, and a ripple effect on extended families, it is by no means to only way in which “the culture of death” plagues our society. Let us not become weary, but redouble our commitment to “building a culture of life.”

I will make my post a bit more succinct this time, just to inform of a few interesting developments.

Gallup has recently released numbers on the issue of how the American public feel about abortion: should it be totally illegal 20%, totally legal 32%, legal under some conditions (usually cited as rape, incest, mother’s life in danger) 48%; Identify as pro-choice 49%, pro-life 47%…error bars not cited…so basically 48/48… (note that the numbers were 46/46 in 2002, and that pro-choice and pro-life have both varied up and down 41-51% over the last 20 years, only to wind up with identification unchanged at present…although the definitions and issues over 20 years have surely changed). Also note that from 4-8 people out of 100 just don’t know how they identify…. what if we could bring many of them to the pro-life side….? (Can I here “activism, outreach, and education”??)

Pennsylvania Court of Appeals has refused an appeal by 12 states to prevent Biden from expanding abortion at home and abroad by executive order. Ohio University is sponsoring a “sex week” during which students are asked to “thank abortion providers.”

Fox news is reporting that the NIH is planning to spend $88 million in 2022 (in just this one year) on research using aborted fetal tissues. Approximately $21 million has already been provided by the NIAID which is run by Anthony Fauci. I have written some on this topic in past posts. Federal law prohibits the sale or trafficking in fetal tissues, but illegal activities are known (and Planned Parenthood has been a big player). Huge political contributions and a pro-abortion attitude at high levels of government have insured that there has been no prosecution. I do not have space here to document those statements, but I have written on them in previous posts and in my book. As horrifying as this is to many, it is the tip of the iceberg and the stuff of science fiction. The Democrat majority US Senate has refused to ban human-animal hybrid experiments. For those wishing to read on I supply the links below: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fauci-nih-funding-fetal-tissue-studies and https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pittsburgh-fetal-tissue-project and https://www.foxnews.com/us/planned-parenthood-tissue-procurer-abortion-clinic-testimony and https://www.foxnews.com/politics/unsealed-invoices-planned-parenthood-daleiden-25k Do you want to read about a heart harvested from an aborted baby transplanted into a rat…want to see it beating?

An organization called NARAL has a web site worth visiting. https://www.prochoiceamerica.org/ It advocates unrestricted and unregulated access to abortion, shamelessly advocating abortion as family planning and birth control and a woman’s right to choose…. choose between abortion and no other option. What choice is that ?! However, it is so wrapped up in sugar and love as to make the uninformed person want to sign up right away. The pro-abortion faction is very well funded with the best of advertising and graphic artists that money can buy.

So, I ask the reader, where do you stand… will you be as committed as they are, with the meager financial resources we in the pro-life movement have? Can you spare some of your time for activism, to stand and be counted, to donate a few dollars from time to time to support your local pregnancy resource centers, to support https://LifeFirst.org and https://abortionsurvivors.org and other such organizations which stand on the front line?

One can see that the issues are grave, and we are all needed to be in the fray “with both feet.” Legalisms are one thing, but we have seen in the above links that laws are not enforced by the highest authorities in government if they support a position contrary to the law (and I have written much on how this is wrapped up in political power and self-enrichment). It is up to us to change the hearts and minds of the public through activism and education, and by providing women in need with everything they need to choose life for their baby. And, every last one of us is important to that cause.

Having caught you up to date on some of the most important recent events, I now present a few that are easier to digest.

The current National Catholic Register carries a front page story on the March for Life in Washington, D.C. with comments that hopes are running high for a Supreme Court “reversal” of Roe v. Wade. While I have commented on this issue quite a bit, let us be reminded that the Roe decision involved a cluster of findings and depended upon sentence fragments in various constitutional amendments to discern a new “right” for women to have an abortion. In their findings, they ignored the 10th Amendment, which leaves every matter not explicitly addressed in the constitution to the states.

Furthermore, those discussions in the decision that deal with medical aspects of pregnancy and abortion are antiquated and not relevant to any current review. As if not bad enough, the statement that the court did not know when human life begins and that nobody else did either, was blatantly and knowingly false at the time. Long prior to 1973, the medical community was in total agreement on the issue, and medical books worldwide reaffirmed that human life begins at the moment of conception.

Therefore, a more studious court without a political agenda must look at the Mississippi case and devise an entirely new set of findings, which must, of their nature, contradict the Roe findings. The most simple decision would be to find that the 10th Amendment leaves the matter to the individual states. Thus, the decisions in Roe, Doe, and Casey, as well as other cases which predicated their decisions on the above, would be entirely voided.

However, it is far from clear what the majority court will do. One thing that drove the court in 1973 (other than a desire to find some way to support abortion), was the issue that every state had its own laws and regulations, most of which were somewhat different or very different. The court wanted to get everyone on the same page.

However, the decisions arising out of that desire has led to a legal morass and has divided society along political and moral/ethical positions in a way that is unprecedented, and I dare say, even more divisive, with more far-reaching consequences for women and society in general, than slavery or prohibition of alcohol. We must note that nearly 70 million babies have died. The socioeconomic impact of the loss of such lives that were never born has been very damaging to our society. The topic is a bit hard to discuss, so I will not pursue it here, but I encourage the reader to study the issue. It is rarely discussed, but one needs to know about how it has affected the broader aspects of what we experience every day.

The NCR also carries the story of Aaron Oliver, the Democratic municipal chairman in his New Jersey hometown. Oliver is an openly homosexual episcopal priest and a New Jersey National Guard chaplain. Oliver declares himself to be a lifetime loyal Democrat. He also declares himself to be pro-life. That has put him on a collision course with Democratic leadership.

Publicly, some prominent Democrat leaders have voiced tolerance for pro-life democrats, but at the same time he is being pressured through back door channels to resign. He is an active participant with Democrats for Life of America, an organization led by women and dedicated to electing pro-life Democrats to office. Interestingly, Oliver observes that the pro-life movement is growing with more diversity across many metrics, and with topics under discussion other than abortion and including euthanasia and capital punishment, for example. He says that he has no intention of resigning and will continue to advocate that Democrats work on acceptance of the sanctity of human life in all its conditions and circumstances.

NCR also carries a story about Philip Nitschke, the Australian proponent of euthanasia, who is inventing new ways to kill oneself, cutting out issues of medicines, laws, doctors and family. One device is a “pod” that one gets into. Oxygen is pumped out and nitrogen is pumped in. The machine even films the death. I suppose that is for those who cannot get someone to press a pillow over the face until 5 minutes after all struggling has stopped. A second device that he is working on would be implantable and would trigger death at some time in the future. It is still “on the drawing board.”

The pro-euthanasia group Life Cycle (which openly describes Catholics as their enemy) objects to his methods as lacking “warmth.” You cannot make this stuff up.

In other news, an article points out some interesting events in 2021. A baby born at just 20 weeks gestation had his 1 year old birthday last June. Another born at 21 weeks also celebrated his 1 year birthday in 2021.

One of the amicus briefs to the Supreme Court in the Mississippi Dobbs case was submitted by the Catholic Association. It provided a “window into the womb,” detailed 3-D ultrasound imaging and photographs sucking their thumbs and moving about.

Responding to an alarming rate of false positive tests for Down syndrome in which mothers aborted a healthy baby, the state of Ohio banned abortion for that diagnosis. Iceland, on the other hand, has a policy of “Down syndrome eradication.”

In 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Catholic Social Services who sued because they were excluded from foster care contracts with the City of Philadelphia when they would not agree to certify same-sex couples as foster parents. The Supreme Court unanimously cited the First Amendment in ruling in favor of CSS. This is haled as a victory for freedom of speech and freedom of religion, which have been increasingly under attack by the current administration and the same ruling political party in various states during 2021.

The 2021 Super Bowl featured a pro-life commercial by Toyota (which I regret I did not see) featuring Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long, a 13-time gold medalist. She was adopted at age 13 months but had to have both of her legs amputated at age 18 months. She fell in love with swimming and the rest is history. Does anyone dare to suggest that her life does not matter. Yet, many people would have euthanized her at age 18 months. Such a proposition is still hugely unpopular, so politicians know not to discuss it, but that does not mean that they would not support it if they get a big enough political majority.

On December 6, President Alejandro Giammattei of Guatemala said in an on line event that Guatemala “is a country of faith” and that government has a clear purpose “in respecting life from conception and the protection of family as the central axis of society.” A new public policy to that effect was passed by the country’s legislators last July. He went on to announce that Guatemala will be declared the “Ibero-American Pro-Life Capital” on March 9, 2022.

The Family Matters Association of Guatemala welcomed the announcement and commented “this is a reflection of the values of the Guatemalan society. Being pro-life is in our DNA as Guatemalans!”

In 2017, Planned Parenthood attempted to perform abortions on Guatemalan women by picking them up on shore and taking them to ships, but they were expelled from the country. It warms my heart to think that PP may have been listening. But, how sad it is that our country has not promoted life and family…. yet. The “yet” is up to us to remedy. In Guatemala, it took decades of consolidating the values into public policy. Perhaps one day…..

Those who have read parts #1 and #2 and clicked on the links will understand why I have had to devote a full day to catching up and why I broke it into multiple parts.

Now for Melissa Ohden and the Abortion Survivors Network. https://abortionsurvivors.org/ I just finished reading her book “You Carried Me” and it opened my eyes to an experience that is challenging to comprehend, so I do not claim that anyone can do more that be awed. But, I do now understand the depth of the confused and painful emotions of rejection, shame, and worthlessness experienced by those who survived an attempt by their mothers to end their life in the womb.

However, in lieu of being able to comprehend such emotions, one can easily realize that every unborn child, from the tiniest beginnings, is a real person, a unique individual, like no other who has ever lived. Or, as Melissa testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in opposition to the (pro-abortion) Women’s Health Protection Act, “You are just as much ‘you’ today as you were when you were developing in the womb.” She also challenged legislators to explain to her how she could have the right to an abortion while simultaneously she was denied the right to live.

Read her book in order to discover how she went from a 30-week old aborted fetus that was discarded into medical waste to overcome the horror of that knowledge and find love and forgiveness, then become a political activist and founder of Abortion Survivors Network.

Before she left for the March for Life in Washington, D.C., on January 21, she told me she was also attending the Students for Life Summit, meeting with Anglicans for Life, and having media events including interviews with EWTN and Dr. James Dodson, founder of Focus on the Family.

That was after ASN came off a weekend in which abortion survivor Michelle (in her first outing as a new speaker) presented herself at Front Range Alliance Church in Colorado Springs where she was welcomed with great interest in her experiences. Many people had questions, and others came up to talk with her afterward. She also reported emotionally impactful bonding experiences.

At another church she received a standing ovation after telling her story. She was also sponsored by Pikes Peak Citizens for life to speak at the Rocky Mountain March for Life rally where she gave what is described as a “fiery” speech. This event was attended by Congressman Doug Lamborn who is a strong pro-life supporter. See his picture with Michelle and people holding signs declaring that “Civil Rights Begin in the Womb.” https://lamborn.house.gov/media/press-releases/marching-life He took contact information in order to stay in touch with ASN.

For those who did not click the link above (yet), please note that there is much pro-life support in Congress, but it needs reinforcement in a time of such vitriolic attacks and hateful rhetoric aimed at pro-life activists and the Christian church, especially Catholics who have led the way in demanding respect for life and promoting an abhorrence for abortion.

Congressman Lamborn (with others) has introduced the Second Chance at Life Act, the Recognizing the Unborn Act, and the Child Tax Credit for Pregnant Moms Act. These “steps in the right direction” are, of course, vigorously opposed by the well-funded pro-abortion factions both in and out of Congress. There is no chance for legislative progress until Congress and the Presidency are on the same page. And, this must reflect the will of the people. That is why every pro-life event is important, and every individual attending is crucial to returning respect for life and individual dignity to the mainstream of society.

There is no greater statement to be made for the cause of protecting life in the womb than the testimony of abortion survivors. It is, indeed, hard for us to imagine the tiny life growing in the womb as an accomplished adult. But, those who have stepped into the light of day to declare that their lives matter are having an increasingly significant impact. The pro-abortion people are trying to ignore them, but more and more people are forced to envision the tiniest pieces of bloody tissue as the remains of a baby, a human person, and not just a piece of amorphous tissue, and “More than a Choice” (as ABN says in their logo).

One of the most important activities of ABN has been the outreach to abortion survivors, to provide support and healing. This is a process, not an event. It is very difficult for many people who have lived secretly with shame and horrifying knowledge, wondering why their mothers considered them so worthless as to be killed before they had a chance to live. The thought is so terrible that I even have difficulty writing the words. However, those who have been through the healing process with the support of those who came before them, the only persons who can understand, have experienced a new sense of being loved and accepted. Many of those have wished to speak out and have been trained to do so. One is Michelle who recently made her outing in Colorado Springs, another is Claire who spoke at the recent Texas Rally for Life, and yet another is Carrie who will kick off a 40 Days for Life campaign with LifeFirst.

Melissa also shared with me the ABN 2021-2022 Policy Impact statement, noting that “abortion survivors have never had a seat at the table when discussing the policies and laws that directly impact them…until now!” In the publication are pictures of Melissa and others with such notables as President Trump in the Oval Office, Congressman Steve Scalise, Senator Ted Cruz, Mike Pompeo, and a number of Congressmen and Congresswomen. The pro-life gala of 2021in Washington, D.C., is remembered, and an astonishing list of media interviews, quotes, comments, and appearances, as well as a stunning list of planned events for 2022 are annotated. To emphasize their political activism, there is a list of legislation supported and opposed, some of the latter being attempts to codify unregulated abortion in various ways.

In a few months, Melissa’s second book will be available: “More than a Choice: Abortion Survivors Break Their Silence.” September 28, 2022, will be the inaugural “Day of Remembrance for Abortion Survivors,” and a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at the new Memorial for Abortion Survivors (which will be near the Supreme Court). The year 2022 will also premier a new professionally developed documentary on abortion survivors.

I found Abortion Survivors Network while doing research for my book shortly after Melissa founded ABN. Now, in such a short period of time, the awareness of abortion survivors is making news on so many fronts that people are wanting to know more. Melissa and her team are devoted to making that easier and easier. More and more abortion survivors have made themselves known and have requested help with healing, no longer feeling alone in their terrible experiences, often graduating to become speakers, who are much in demand.

All of this requires financial resources, while opposition forces pour hundreds of millions of dollars into promoting denigration of human life and individual dignity. Let us step up to be counted and provide whatever financial help we can to support ABN. Public support for them, and the impact they are having on public attitude, are the most feared things the pro-abortion people face. Let us give them even more to worry about.

In this part of my updates, I will focus on things closer to home (that is, in the greater Houston area).

First, continuing the theme of activism, Teresa Strack, executive director of LifeFirst https://lifefirst.org , informs me that LifeFirst participated in the national March for Life and the Texas Rally for Life, and they also sponsored a booth at the Austin Pro-Life Expo with about 60 other pro-life organizations.

LifeFirst has monthly meetings, the last Thursday PM of each month (except November and December) with inspirational and informative speakers. The next meeting is actually tonight January 27 (sorry for the late notice…I guess it would be tactless to make excuses). Please see the link https://lifefirst.org/2021/12/pro-life-sanctuary-citiessaving-lives-shaping-law/ . Note that the speaker is Mark Lee Dickson, director of Right to Life East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative. He will speak on “Pro-Life Sanctuary Cities: Saving Lives, Shaping Laws.” If you cannot attend, you owe it to yourself to read the page on the link.

The next meeting is February 24, and also deserves your attention. The speaker will be Julie Posey, whose story is as astonishing as any that you will ever hear, and the topic of “How Legal Abortion Serves Sexual Predators” is not to be missed. https://lifefirst.org/2022/01/how-legal-abortion-serves-sexual-predators/ You may have heard some of the stories that emerged from her experiences. I first became aware of her when researching for my book “Building a Culture of Life” (still in final stages of publishing) and I included her story as part of the scurrilous activities in which Planned Parenthood engages. I am now planning a follow-on book on the history of human trafficking and especially human sex trafficking to separate fact from much of the fiction promulgated in modern culture.

In addition to participating in pro-life events and rallies and scheduling such informative personalities, Teresa has been at the helm as LifeFirst sponsors student contests such as: Poster Art with a theme that “Every Human Life is Beautiful;” an Essay Contest on “Why Are You Pro-Life;” a Fine Art Contest on “When Does Human Life Begin;” a Video Contest with the goal to affirm the value of life in a creative way; and the (dreaded) Oratory Contest in which high school students can compete on such topics as abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, and human embryonic stem cell research. https://lifefirst.org/student-contests/ LifeFirst also offers scholarships at Lone Star College to students who start or maintain a pro-life club on campus.

Is that enough? But wait, there’s more. LifeFirst is also involved with 40 Days for Life and is sponsoring a campaign vigil at an abortion clinic (details to follow). The speaker for the kick-off event will be Carrie Fischer with Abortion Survivor’s Network (yeah, they are everywhere also!). You must watch this video: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=carrie+fisher+abortion+survivor&docid=608048025056061772&mid=227F3970A78BC01D71B3227F3970A78BC01D71B3&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

Now, ask yourself… does every human life have value…does every life matter? Or, should some lives be aborted…should some be allowed to die after birth….should some be euthanized? If you do not know the answer, if you do not care enough to be motivated to activism, then someone else will make the decision for you…when you are deemed to be of no further value to society.

By the way, it takes your donations to carry out these activities.

Stay tuned for Part #3

In preparing this update, the first since December 28, I was a bit overwhelmed by the vast amount of new material that I hope may be of interest to subscribers. So, I am reminded of the proposition of how to eat an elephant…one bite at a time. In order not to overwhelm the reader, I have broken my report into numbered updates with targeted topics, of which this is the first.

The most obvious topic is the March for Life in Washington, D.C. on January 21, which had the theme that “Equity begins in the womb.” Whereas it is not feasible to even scratch the surface in commenting on all of the peripheral activities associated with this event. I will note a few things.

First of all, be encouraged by the momentum of the pro-life movement. More people than ever before now realize that a developing baby is a person, and they are concerned that this life must be protected and that pregnant women must receive every kind of support so that abortion is not a reflex choice. Organizers for the event obtained a permit based on 50,000 people attending. The weather was harsh and concerns for COVID-19 have restricted many people from travel. However, a very determined 150,000 people came to have their voices heard.

Nevertheless, there remains bitter opposition to those efforts to protect life, educate women, and offer support and alternatives.

On January 22, President Joe Biden pledged to defend the “fundamental right” to unrestricted abortion and reaffirmed his commitment to spreading widely unrestricted and unregulated abortion. Despite not being something new in our time, it is still unsettling to see a national leader denigrate life and promote the death of the most innocent and vulnerable. It is equally perplexing to see a leader of his stature embrace the violence perpetrated on women by abortion and promote restrictions on education of women and any support mechanisms that would allow her to choose life for her baby. One might think that responsible persons would find abortion a most regrettable option and encourage every alternative. One could still support the choice of abortion while finding it the least desirable outcome in a pregnancy. What is he (and others like him) thinking!?

Vice President Harris also spoke in support of expanded access to abortion, equating it to a civil right and health care for women. She (and most democrat leaders, with the support of most lay democrats) are promoting a bill in Congress to make unrestricted and unregulated access to abortion on the demand of the mother a statutory right under national law as a way to circumvent any decision by the Supreme Court which might return the right to regulate abortion to the individual states.

The Women’s Health Protection Act (if it becomes law) will accomplish that and explicitly eliminate waiting periods, ultrasounds, requirements for education, and any discussion of alternatives and community resources, such as is currently required by laws in various states. Again, the lust to destroy incipient life and prevent a woman’s access to support so she can have a healthy baby is hard to comprehend. It is equally difficult to understand why all women do not clearly see such efforts as depriving women of access to every kind of support so that she has a choice and does not feel hopeless and abandoned with no viable option. Pro-life is the real pro-choice.

Concurrently, thousands of people from across the state attended the Texas Rally for Life in Austin on January 22. Political leaders and representatives from pro-life organizations addressed the crowds. About 60 pro-life organizations also provided booths at the Pro-Life Expo. There was a great amount of enthusiasm and hope for an end to the wanton taking of life that is advocated by pro-abortion groups.

Among those speaking was Claire Culwell, a survivor of an attempted abortion. Nothing speaks more loudly to the issue of the unborn being real people than a person whose life was not ended by abortion, a person who can assert that they had a right to be born and that their life matters.

As more and more pro-life groups become better organized and cooperate together, the assertion that all life has value will be progressively harder to refute with any credibility. Those who promote abortion as a right and the most desirable solution to an unplanned pregnancy under difficult circumstances will be discredited, finding themselves on the wrong side of the evolving values of society.

As 2021 draws to a close, we have much to reflect on. I will not add to the lengthy list of events we lament in this post, but rather I report an uplifting message in the struggle to protect life and individual dignity.

At the close of church services recently, a priest remarked about the conspicuous dignity of the unborn child. The use of the word conspicuous in that context grabbed my ear. More and more people in societies around the world do see the unborn child as a person entitled to life and having the right to be treated with dignity. Those rights are becoming conspicuous, standing out so as to be clearly visible to more and more people.

One of the most important demonstrations to support that fact are those who have survived attempted abortion. Many of their stories are found on the website of the Abortion Survivors Network https://abortionsurvivors.org/ Those helpless unborn individuals survived an attempt to end their lives in the womb. As adults they inform us that they were real people even when in the womb, that they wanted to live, and that their lives matter.

Shawn Carney has made an end of year report on the 2021 worldwide 40 Days for Life campaign which further inspires us. “More people prayed, fasted, and stood in peaceful vigil in 2021 than any previous year,” he reports. He further reports that 2,260 women (that they have confirmed) chose life for their baby as a result of these prayer vigils at abortion clinics, more than twice as many as in 2020 (which was influenced heavily in all respects by the pandemic).

In addition, 18 more abortion workers converted to the pro-life movement and 7 more abortion facilities closed in 2021. From its inception, 20,368 mothers have chosen not to have an abortion, 229 abortion workers have converted, and 114 abortion facilities have closed.

In the United States, education of the public and efforts to provide for every need of the expectant mother is reaching deeper into communities where at-risk women live. However, there is also a powerful pro-abortion faction in the US with aggressive support from the highest officials in the current federal government. Those people have promised to make more federal tax money available to pay for abortion on demand for any reason. And, they propose to make it a violation of federal law for any entity (essentially religious organizations) to refuse to prescribe contraception or provide abortion as part of health insurance benefits. In an equally troubling move, they promise to criminalize refusal by a health care worker to perform an abortion, or assist in performing an abortion based, on religious beliefs.

On a worldwide scale, the current administration has acted to reverse former US policy and has released huge amounts of money to foreign entities to encourage and support abortion. Impoverished and poorly educated women in countries with few resources are easy victims of a system designed to generate profit in US dollars for the abortionists, who are eager to get a piece of the pie.

Planned Parenthood has long been the most visible head of the abortion industry, performing 40% of abortions in the US. They have much support from prominent people and powerful politicians. They publicly proclaim their political position and donate tens of millions of dollars to elect people to public office who with reinforce their profit stream from doing abortions. They have earned special attention, but there are the other 60% that we must not forget about.

I did promise to be uplifting in this post, but we needed first to understand that our success against the evil which is represented by wanton abortion of unborn people is not without fierce and well-funded opposition. Leaders in the highest offices in the land take money from the abortion industry and have promised to criminalize opposition to abortion.

Just like “freedom is not free,” the right to life comes with a price tag. It is not guaranteed to persist, even for us, much less with the opportunity to extend that right to the unborn, unless we take action to make it so.

We are winning the battle, for now, but victory is not assured, and will not be achieved until we have changed the hearts and minds of the people. To this end, I have encouraged you in prior posts concerning current events which are being carried out by people like you and me, people deeply concerned, who have stepped up to take action and be counted.

I now ask you to join with them and with me. Let us stand to be counted; let us volunteer to help when we can; let us donate financially to organizations in our communities and also to those who are active on a national level.

The future belongs not only to us, but to our children. This frightful attack on life, dignity, and individual freedoms must be strongly opposed, and every single person is important to preservation of these basic human values. Let 2022 be the year !

I am breaking with my usual theme for this Special Christmas Edition from the Building a Culture of Life web site. Typically, I am reporting on current events in the cause of respect for life and individual dignity, especially for protection of the unborn, thus reporting on the struggle over unrestricted abortion, as well as commenting on the things we can do to provide everything a woman needs to have a healthy baby.

Before going on, however, I urge you to support a couple of my favorite activists as we close out the year with much competition for your resources. Please visit https://abortionsurvivors.org and become acquainted with their activities. Watch the video at https://www.webcastsuccess.com/survivors-event and your life will be changed. There is nothing more powerful that the attestation by an abortion survivor asserting “Look at me! Before I was born, I was a real person! My life matters!” Also visit https://lifefirst.org , see all that they do, and be amazed. It takes money to do all of these things, so please make a donation. No matter how insignificant it seems to you, it will be highly valued, blessed by God, and used well to change lives.

Now, on to the news. I am drawing on the National Catholic Register Dec 19–Jan 1 for this communication. If you do not yet subscribe, I do recommend that you do so NCR@sfsdayton.com .

Everyone must know by now that the Supreme Court has completed hearing arguments in the Dobbs case. If you have not read it yet, I refer you to my post dated Dec 5 which will appear below this one on the Current Events page. NCR has an article “Experts Say Roe’s Days Are Numbered.” They report that both pro-life and pro-abortion advocates believe that “the days of adhering to the framework laid out in 1973 Roe v Wade …are likely at an end.” I have commented on this previously and will only summarize a few facts below.

The Roe decision has baffled legal scholars for 50 years. The court (described as “liberal activists” by many) decided that sentence fragments in various constitutional amendments implied that a woman had a right to “privacy” and thus (with a giant leap in “logic”) she had a “right” to an abortion. They then set about to decide what a trimester system for pregnancy meant for development of a growing baby (that they denigrated to a lesser entity), and when fetal “viability” outside the womb occurred.

They even declared, in contradiction to what was accepted by doctors and taught in medical books around the world…that the life of a new person begins at the moment of conception, saying there was no such agreement, and that the court would not make such a decision for the purpose of deciding when a woman has a right to an abortion. They had to say that. Otherwise they would be deciding that abortion is murder. They also had to declare that an unborn baby is not a “person” under the constitution and thus not entitled to life.

It may well be that the constitution says nothing about when a growing baby becomes a person. In fact, the constitution says absolutely nothing about a developing baby or abortion. What the constitution does say, absolutely and irrefutably, in the simplest of terms, is that any matter not explicitly delegated to the United States by the constitution or forbidden to it in the constitution is delegated to the individual states. Period. SCOTUS totally ignored this 10th amendment in the Roe decision, making no comment on why this amendment should not be applied to the case.

Many legal scholars have said from the beginning that the court should never have heard the Roe case in the first place because the constitution de facto states clearly that the individual states have the right to make laws regulating abortion. The majority justices were clearly influenced to make the decision to expand abortion in the manner written, not because of the constitution, but because of their personal values and ideology while under extreme political pressure from like-minded political activists.

I have written a great deal more in my book Building a Culture of Life about the political climate that was developing over the previous 100 years, as well as what ensured over nearly 50 years after the Roe decision. Now, people are much better informed and communicate rapidly. The attitude toward abortion has shifted significantly as people have learned that a new life of a very real person begins at conception. They have also seen on ultrasound the images of babies, and they have then seen them being killed. Science has also solidly debunked the writings in the Roe decision.

In the current court, 4 justices (as required) voted to hear the Dobbs case, and 5 justices voted not to interfere with the right of Texas to enact the “fetal heartbeat law.” Pro-abortion activists heavily lobbied to keep the court from taking the Dobbs case, knowing how weak is the argument in support of Roe. Experts in law, based upon what we know about the sitting justices, believe that the court will completely revise Roe (essentially overturning it and Doe and Casey), bringing the science up to date, and returning the right to regulate abortion to the states, by a 5-4 or even a 6-3 decision.

It is expected that, while returning regulation of abortion to the individual states, that some reinforcement of the rights of women will also be forthcoming. The state has an interest in the rights and health of both the unborn child and the pregnant woman. It will be very interesting to read how the court threads that needle.

Moving on to other news (before the reader falls asleep trying to keep all this complexity in the head), the NCR also reminds us to keep Christ in Christmas, and declares “O Come Let Us Adore Him” while extolling the magnificent nativity exhibitions by the Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Conn. We are also reminded that, after nearly 8 years of restoration of the ancient stone Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the task is nearly complete.

And, the “Church Awaits Canonization of India’s First Lay Martyr Saint.” Devasahayam was martyred in 1752 during Hindu persecution of Christians. He will be canonized May 15, 2022.

Sadly, not all news is positive. Catholic school officials are objecting to Biden’s proposed “Build Back Better” bill, saying that its provisions will force Catholic schools to pull out of preschool and child care. This is associated with an article titled “As Culture Continues to Unravel, Religious Freedom Becomes More Vital.” Mary Rice Hasson, head of the Catholic Women’s Forum at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington has co-authored (with her sister Theresa Fornan) a book entitled Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child From Public School Before It Is Too Late. They describe the “morally, intellectually and politically toxic environment found in many of our schools.”

The Supreme Court also heard arguments on December 8 in the case of Carson v Makin. A school-choice tuition assisted program in Maine discriminates against Catholic and other Christian parents. “Progressive” lobbyists heavily lobbied against the court hearing this case as well. “According to the Supreme Court, the First Amendment guards against excessive government entanglement with religion,” the NCR reports. The Maine law is so blatantly unconstitutional that the court is fully expected to end that practice.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis has called for greater unity between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. In Athens, he addressed His Beatitude Ieronymos II, archbishop of Athens and All Greece, apologizing in most contrite terms “for the ways Catholics have contributed to division with Orthodox Christians.” When the Pope first arrived, an Orthodox cleric shouted at him, “Pope you are a heretic.” I have written extensively on this schism in my book “A Timeline Of the Journey of Humankind.” It is a frustrating story of things that did not have to be that way, and there is quite enough blame over hundreds of years to spread around to many involved individuals and factions.

Back to more hopeful news, there are a couple of long articles in NCR on the problem of unsafe water in Kenya. “Families struggling to survive” are turning to Catholic missions and donations from the US for help. Cross Catholic Outreach was founded nearly 20 years ago just for this purpose, to work with Catholic priests and religious sisters in such missions to help the poor.

And finally, how could it be Christmas without viewing the 1946 movie It’s a Wonderful Life. The movie was directed by Frank Capra, a Catholic who reached maturity saying, “My films must let every man, woman, and child know that God loves them, and that peace and salvation will become a reality only when they all learn to love each other.”

That just about says it all. Merry Christmas !!

Dobbs… the MIssissippi abortion law that is now before the Supreme Court. The Court has completed hearing arguments in the case and is likely to rule on the case in June 2022. At issue is whether the state of Mississippi has the right to prohibit abortion after 15 weeks gestation. However, there are much broader issues at stake, and I elaborate on some of those below.

The Supreme Court ruling in Roe v Wade in 1973 (and in the concurrent ruling in Doe) found that a woman has a “right of privacy” arising from the 14th amendment “concept of personal liberty” and that the 9th amendment’s “reservation of rights to the people” combine to “encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” However, that right was not absolute, and the Court went on to discuss the interest of the state in the welfare of both mother and child, the trimester system, and fetal viability. The Court also ruled that there was no agreement on when life began and that the constitution did not recognize the unborn child as a “person” having the right to life.

Furthermore (in Doe), the Court ruled that a woman could get an abortion at any stage of pregnancy for a number of reasons, especially in matters threatening her health, and that being nervous and anxious over the pregnancy could seriously affect a woman’s health. Whereas fetal viability was a threshold in Roe, the ruling in Doe opened the door for abortion up to the moment of going into labor for virtually any reason at all.

Those decisions, as we all know, immediately led to controversy in many areas of the ruling, and it has had broad and long-lasting ramifications. Legal scholars were perplexed at the time and have written much about the new “rights” of women found in the constitution. Those who wrote the amendments and advocated for them in writing and spoke aloud in favor of them never found any such implications in those amendments. The Court, it is said, simply fabricated the new “right” to abortion and then set about to justify it,

Furthermore, the 10th amendment to the constitution says (in its simplicity) that decisions on any matter not explicitly given to the United States (eg, the elected officials in congress) by the constitution are relegated to the individual states (eg the elected officials in those states). Therefore, scholars assert that the Court should never have taken the Roe and Doe cases in the first place. The Court, when ruling in Roe and Doe, said nothing about the 10th amendment, making no attempt to explain why the 10th amendment was not valid in those cases.

There are several other things that were controversial then and which have become even more so since 1973. Well before 1973, it was uniformly accepted by biologists and medical doctors, and it was written in books all over the world, that human life begins at the moment of conception. The fertilized egg contains at that moment all of the DNA it will ever have to develop into a baby, a child, and an adult, and that DNA is unique and distinct from the mother and father. Yet, the Court ruled otherwise. The issue of the new life being a “person,” and thus having the right to life under the constitution, is asserted on the basis of established science, but it was ignored by the Court.

The Court also linked the trimester system to fetal viability (ability to live outside the womb) and the interests of the states in the welfare of the mother and the unborn child. But, the time of viability is a bit different in any pregnancy (which is nominally 40 weeks duration). Advances in medical science have now given a 24 week old baby a 50% chance of surviving. However, babies born earlier have survived against all odds.

And, abortion survivors (see my earlier posts referring to the Abortion Survivors Network…now with over 350 members) strongly assert that they are not a piece of tissue to be discarded as trash. They tell us that they are people and that their lives matter. It has become increasingly hard for the Court to ignore the fact that an abortion is the taking of a human life, causing the death of a human person.

I will not discuss the details of the1992 Court ruling in Casey in this setting. However, it was in that case that the Court acknowledged the (limited) right of the states to further regulate abortion. That led to hundreds of new laws in various states (many of which are under injunction pending the outcome of the Court ruling in Dobbs). But, without Casey, the MIssissippi legislation regulating abortion would never have become law.

For the above reasons, it is hoped by Pro-Life advocates that the Court will rule that the basis for the ruling in Roe was flawed and that references to the beginning of human life and the issue of when the growing fetus becomes a person and achieves viability outside the womb are antiquated and were wrongly stated even in 1973.

The Court required at least 4 of the 9 Justices to approve taking up the Dobbs case. There was a lot of external pressure on the Court by special interest groups not to even think about the case. All of the above problems with the old rulings are well known to Pro-Abortion advocates. They fear that the Court will overturn Roe in its entirety, and that regulation of abortion will be returned to the states, according to the 10th amendment.

The National Catholic Register (Vol 97, No. 26), points out that the permissiveness of US abortion laws is among the most extreme in the world. Of 198 countries, only 59 countries permit elective abortions. Forty-five of the 59 countries limit elective abortions up to 12 weeks. Six countries limit elective abortions between 12 and 20 weeks. And, only 7 countries permit elective abortions after 20 weeks: China, Vietnam, North Korea, Singapore, Netherlands, Canada…and the United States. It is argued that the Mississippi ban on abortion after 15 weeks is not extreme, but rather it is the permitting of elective abortions after 12 weeks which is extreme.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 not to block the Texas Fetal Heartbeat law from taking effect. In a twist that confounds attempts to sue the State of Texas and thus prevent the state from enforcing the law, the state is prevented from enforcing the law by the wording of the law itself. The law permits private citizens to sue those who perform abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected on ultrasound. An ultrasound is required before an abortion is legal in Texas. The Court ruled that nobody had been harmed by the law, and those bringing the case before the Court made no claim that anyone was in imminent danger of being harmed. Yet, 3 Justices who are described as “liberal” voted to keep Texas from enforcing the law…whereas the law itself prevents Texas from enforcing the law.

This has given Pro-Life advocates reason to believe that 5-6 Justices will vote to overturn Roe and return the right to regulate abortion to the states, according to the values of the voters in those states. In Casey, the Court did bring up the issue of not placing an “undue burden” on women seeking an abortion under the rulings in Roe and Doe. The Court will have to address that issue as well. However, the issues in Casey were a consequence of Roe, and so should fall with Roe, if regulation of abortion is returned to the states. Abortion, of course, is not mentioned anywhere in the constitution, and thus its regulation is relegated to the states by the 10th amendment. However, with all of these conflicting interests, it is by no means certain how the Court will rule in Dobbs.

….other than Happy Thanksgiving ! And, there is much to be thankful for !

Shawn Carney, founder of 40 Days for Life, is reporting that 850 babies were saved during the most recent campaign. Data is still coming in, but the count since the movement started is now over 20,000 babies saved when mothers listened to sidewalk counselors and decided life for their child. And, another abortion worker has quit and converted to the pro-life position that every pregnant woman deserves a real choice…not just an abortion.

LifeFirst is taking a break from meetings in November and December, but Teresa Stark has exciting plans which will resume in January. In the meantime, the associated pregnancy resource centers are busily providing all the help needed by pregnant women in distress so they can have a healthy baby.

There is also exciting news out of the Abortion Survivors Network. An ad will appear on Fox News next week which is designed to draw attention to abortion survivors and force listeners to realize that the unborn are real people.

In the ad Amy Miles says, “As somebody who survived an abortion, I want to tell the Supreme Court that my life mattered.” The Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments in the Mississippi case referred to as Dobbs (see previous posts). The Court will also hear the case concerning the Texas fetal heartbeat law. The Abortion Survivors Network has filed an amicus brief in the Dobbs case.

Melissa Ohden provided a statement to Fox News in which she said, “Isn’t something wrong in our society when Amy, myself and other abortion survivors are only alive today because an abortion failed to take our lives, and our government failed to protect us?”

Ohden has also said that abortion supporters “fail to convince me how I have a right to an abortion but I was denied the basic right to live when I was aborted and accidentally born alive. I am more than a choice.” Read the story:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/abortion-survivor-ad-dobbs

Melissa Ohden is a very busy lady, indeed ! She will be with other pro-life leaders in Washington on December 1 for a rally before the Supreme Court building. She is writing a book on abortion survivors to be published in 2022, and she leaves us with a teaser about a “ground-breaking event about abortion survivors coming in early December.” https://abortionsurvivors.org/

National Review (November 22, 2021) published an article titled “Science Has Strengthened the Pro-Life Case.” The author, Tara Sander Lee (PhD), writes that, “Fifty years ago science had firmly established the dynamics of developing human life in the womb,” and that “science already knew about the humanity of the unborn child.” She goes on to explain that even 50 years ago it had been demonstrated that a new life began at conception, that the fertilized egg had all the DNA it would ever have to develop into a baby and then an adult.

She further explains that, in 1973, when Roe v Wade was decided, biologists had already accepted a standard (the Carnegie Stages) for development through the first 8 weeks of human life. Stage 1a marks the beginning of human life with the first stage of fertilization. Stage 23 concludes in the 8th week when the child has developed 90% of his or her bodily structures. Beyond that time, further development is very rapid.

She goes on to discuss the fascinating progress made with ultrasound diagnosis of condition in the developing child, use of anesthesia on the patient, and surgeries in the womb. She notes how her students’ eyes glazed over during such discussions until the moment when she showed them a modern ultrasound image of the face of a child in the womb. To read the article and see such an ultrasound image:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/11/science-has-strengthened-the-pro-life-case/

In other news, it is being reported that the annual rate of abortions in the US has risen about 1-2% yearly since a low point in 2017, and that 18% of all pregnancies in the US end in abortion.

Pro-Life advocates of every demographic, Catholics and Protestants, Blacks, and Whites, Democrats and Republicans, will gather in a few days at a church in Mississippi to pray that the Supreme Court will respect the sanctity of human life. A representative of the Abortion Survivors Network will attend to assert that he survived an abortion, he deserved to live, and that his life matters.

One hundred lawmakers in Congress are introducing a bill to protect the rights of conscience of healthcare providers who do not want to participate in abortions. The HHS under the Biden administration has been acting to remove protection from prosecution of healthcare providers who object to participating in abortions as a matter of conscience.

Biden’s policies have attempted to reverse every aspect of protections implemented under the Trump administration, both Domestically and internationally. It has also become a matter of great concern that Biden’s current budget proposal does not contain the Hyde Amendment which, since 1976, has prevented the use of taxpayer money to be used to provide abortions on request. If the budget becomes law without the Hyde Amendment, every woman in Medicaid and other government health care plans would have access to abortions paid for by the US Treasury.

A new study released by the Charlotte Lozier Institute reveals that chemical abortions (eg the use of abortion pills) is causing an alarming increase in the rate of emergency room visits after taking the pills. The technique has become increasingly popular in recent years and is a favorite of Planned Parenthood. In 2020, the abortion pills were used in 50% of US abortions.

The authors report that ER visits after taking the pills rose by 507% between 2002 and 2015. At the same time, the rate of ER visits following surgical abortions rose 315%. Planned Parenthood maintains a hotline so that women can call in for a prescription and have the pills delivered the next day. Texas and Louisiana passed state laws requiring abortion providers to have hospital privileges due to the frequency of such complications, but federal courts have prevented the laws from taking place. The FDA is considering a rule requiring prescription for the abortion pills to be in person. It is not clear that such a rule would prevent complications, or that doctors will be held accountable by licensing agencies for the morbidity and mortality suffered by their patients.

In a few other blurbs (with apologies for not providing details): “Human Rights Begin in the Womb”; Pro-Abortion advocates vandalize a memorial to aborted babies and yell obscenities at the pro-life people who made it; the constitution dictates that regulation of abortion should be left to the states; abortion advocates will not answer when asked if abortion takes a human life; Oklahoma Supreme Court blocks 3 anti-abortion laws [Courts throughout the country have been holding back such laws due to prior SCOTUS decisions on the subject..like Roe and Casey and the 10th amendment argument that the states have all rights not explicitly given to Congress in the constitution. That is why the Dobbs case is so important.]; DC police officers were told they must have an abortion to keep their jobs;

And, finally: Billie Eilish held a concert in Texas recently and used the stage to demonstrate her character and limited vocabulary, possibly breaking the record for most use of the “f-word” in a public venue, while denouncing the new Texas fetal heartbeat law…and concluding with “my body, my f-ing choice !” To which Abby Johnson replied (on Instagram), “if it has a separate heartbeat and DNA from you, it’s NOT.YOUR.BODY !” Gotta love Abby.

So many “whistles” have been “blown” to call attention to the illegal activities and unconscionable business practices of Planned Parenthood, that it is increasingly becoming a virtual full orchestra!

The latest woman to describe her experiences at PP appears in an article by the Catholic News Agency and printed in the National Catholic Register. Mayra Rodriguez worked for PP for 17 years and managed 3 facilities during her career.

Rodriguez is a Mexican national and was in the US on a tourist visa when she was hired anyway by PP to work at a clinic where no abortions were performed. She was later sent to an abortion clinic and was told that she would lose her job if she did not go to work there.

Rodriguez put her talents to work and rose rapidly in the organization. She was so good at her job that she received much recognition and become the Employee of the Year in 2016. However, working conditions changed and she began to feel the pressure to actively sell abortion to increase profits. Women were told that the procedure is “easy,” she says, and that it is the best solution to an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy in the circumstances of their lives. However, she noticed that when women were given a true option, they very often chose not to have an abortion.

She began to be troubled by that, but her observations then turned to the discovery that doctors were falsifying medical records to conceal adverse incidents and complications of abortions. She noted that complications occurred much more often than were reported. Many were reported incorrectly, or not at all.

In one case, she noted that a doctor botched an abortion and then falsified the report. In another case, the doctor left the head of a14 week old fetus inside the mother and placed an IUD inside her before he realized the mistake. She was shocked when the doctor referred to the head of a child he had just killed as if it were a piece of garbage to be discarded.

She reported the incident to her supervisor, saying “I am not going to do this anymore,” and stated that she was going to report the incident and the falsification of medical records. In response, PP accused Rodriguez of concealing narcotics in her office and reported that she was working illegally, demanding that she be deported. She was then fired.

However, Rodriguez was incensed at the injustice and fought a prolonged legal battle for wrongful termination, which she won in 2019, with a punishing award of $3 million imposed on PP.

Rodriguez became enlightened about all of the issues surrounding abortion during this time and coordinated that education with her own experiences to become a strong pro-life advocate in the Hispanic community , reminding one of the journey of Abby Johnson to a similar conclusion.

Rodriguez now warns women that abortion leaves women “undone,” without peace, and saddled with emotional and mental health issues. She urges them to choose life for their babies.

Please read earlier posts on this matter if you have not done so. This will be a brief overview and update.

The Texas Fetal Heartbeat Law took effect on September 1, 2021. Abortion providers had a lawsuit prepared to go before the US Supreme Court, and the Court was ready to issue an opinion. On September 2, 2021, the Court refused to block the law from taking effect by a 5-4 vote . However, the Court also said that “we do not purport to resolve [the matter] definitively” and that they do not make “any conclusion about the constitutionality” of the law.

President Biden condemned the ruling and vowed to use the resources of the White House to protect unrestricted abortion in Texas, and he ordered the Justice Department to explore all options to challenge the Texas Law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to take up legislation to codify access to abortion so that the states could not regulate or place any limits on the procedure. This would surely be met with confrontation based on the 10th Amendment which reserves rights to the states unless expressly given to Congress by the constitution.

Pro-abortion factions brought another lawsuit to try to prevent Texas from awarding damages to successful lawsuits brought under the terms of the law. On October 6, a lower court did rule to block the law, but on October 8, an Appeals Court reversed that ruling.

The Supreme Court (Justice Alito) granted a petition by the Justice Department to hear their case in opposition to the Texas Law. At issue is whether the federal government has the power to stop state officials or private citizens from acting according to the Texas Law.

Justice Alito also scheduled arguments to begin November 1 in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson concerning the Texas Fetal Heartbeat Law.

In the meantime, the Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case. Readers will remember that this concerns the Mississippi law which restricts abortion.

Pro-abortion factions are anxious about the outcome of these cases. In 1992, the Supreme Court ruling in Casey allowed the individual states to enact laws (within limits) that restricted abortion. That led to hundreds of laws being proposed, and many were signed into law in their respective states. Some of them have temporary injunctions at the present time. Abortion advocates fear that a decision in Dobbs that affirms the right of states under the 10th Amendment to enact regulations in matters not expressly designated to Congress by the constitution would essentially overturn the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973.

Whereas pro-abortion factions want to cling to Roe, the ruling has always been highly controversial. It relied on interpretations of various Amendments to find a “right” to an abortion which was unknown to those framing those amendments. Pro-abortion people saw what they wanted to see, but legal scholars have been baffled.

Experts say that the reason the Court took the Dobbs case over objections by abortionists is because many aspects of the rulings in Roe are very outdated. For example, science has now confirmed that new life starts at conception, and advances in health care now makes the fetal viability issue in Roe invalid. And, a core issue is whether the people in the individual states have the right to make decisions regulating abortion in their states, as the 10th Amendment seems to guarantee.

Two days ago US President Joe Biden had an unusually long 75 min meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican during Biden’s visit to Rome. Biden has said that the pope told him he is a good Catholic and should continue to take Communion.

This deepens a divide between the pope and pro-life US Catholic Bishops. In June, the majority of US Catholic Bishops, voted to issue a statement clarifying the position of the Catholic Church on matters concerning the taking of Communion. The Church has been rifted by a lack of consistent messages on the point. Laymen are complaining that Church policies are inconsistent and confusing with notable public exceptions to Church teachings. It appears to many that anyone who is not in a state of grace may still take Communion, that people in power are exempt from moral teachings.

The Catholic Church has stood strongly against abortion, and Pope Francis even said in September that “abortion is murder.” Persons who are willfully sinful without remorse are not supposed to receive Communion. However, the pope has also said that “Communion is not a prize for the perfect, but a gift…” This contradicts longstanding teachings of the Church, and therefore provides a way for the most recalcitrant sinner who is guilty of the most heinous crimes without remorse and with the intent to continue to repeat those acts to be labeled a “good Catholic who should continue to take Communion.”

One can understand how these events have not only confused many lay Catholics, but there were a significant (minority) number of US Catholic Bishops who voted not to clarify Church teachings that persons in a state of sinfulness should be remorseful, should seek absolution, and should prayerfully seek Divine help to remain free of that lapse (even without mentioning the issue of abortion or any person or political office). Is it any wonder that many lay Catholics are confused, and for that matter, that they no longer trust Church leadership?

The matter is only made worse by Biden’s actions to facilitate abortion, both internationally and at home, by overturning pro-life actions taken by President Trump. More recently he has pushed for an expansion of abortion in the US by eliminating the Hyde Amendment from the proposed federal budget. The Hyde Amendment has previously forbidden the use of US taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion. And, Biden has pledged the “whole of [federal] government” to maintain unrestricted access to abortion in Texas. The Texas Fetal Heartbeat Law is discussed in previous posts.

In the meantime, on October 7, the US Catholic Bishops’ pro-life chairman expressed “disappointment” in Biden for reversing the “Protect Life Rule” imposed by the Trump administration. He added that the Biden administration is “in the control of abortion extremists,” and then challenged Biden, who calls himself a devout Catholic, to “act like a devout Catholic” and “defend and cherish human life.”

I can add little to the passionate plea of survivors of abortion procedures: they did not want to be killed in the womb; they wanted to be born; they want to live.

Accordingly, they spread the word that they are real people, they are not a “choice,” not a piece of tissue to be discarded in the trash.

The latest effort of the Abortion Survivors Network is to file a “friend of the court” briefing with the Supreme Court in the case of the Texas Fetal Heartbeat Law. Please read this message I received on the situation. And, visit their web site for inspiring stories and more information. https://abortionsurvivors.org/

Ground-breaking news! Abortion survivors file brief with SCOTUS

For the first time in nearly 49 years of legalized abortion, abortion
survivors have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court with the help of the Justice Foundation, as they prepare to take up the Texas Heartbeat Bill on November 1st.

This amicus brief with Created Equal and the Justice Foundation
humanizes and highlights the importance of the Texas Heartbeat bill
as evidenced through our experiences of surviving abortion procedures
and through the long-term physical, emotional, and mental impact these
abortion attempts have on us.

Look for media coverage to break today about this historic amicus brief
You’ll be hearing more in the weeks ahead about groundbreaking
projects abortion survivors in our Network who have found healing,
been empowered with relationships and equipped with education and skill
development are involved in surrounding the Dobbs case that the Court
will hear opening arguments on December 1st.

The Abortion Survivors Network-we’re here in this
moment of time to be a part of long overdue justice and change in
the U.S. with the Supreme Court taking up these cases. We know that
eyes around the world are on our nation, and as we look with hope on
pre-born children’s humanity being acknowledged and protected, other
countries will follow suit.

As we close up a very busy Respect Life month for so many of our
organizations, sidewalk advocacy and prayer, we know that our work
must continue on. And here at The Abortion Survivors Network, our
work is at an fever pitch.

The more we speak out with our stories, the more we are in the
media, the more we submit testimonies on legislation and submit
briefs like this, the more survivors and families discover they aren’t
alone in experiencing a failed abortion and there is hope, help,
community, and a platform their voices can be heard from.
There has never been a more important time for all of us to
humanize the pre-born and abortion survivors, whose constitutional
rights to LIFE were initially denied when they were subjected to
abortion attempts.

Now is not a time to be complacent and wait for the Court’s decision.

We need to double down in our efforts to save and transform lives
everyday and serve those who have been hurt by abortion. Abortion survivors and families who have experienced failed abortions have been long under-served, and we’re grateful to have been called to fill this gap in the pro-life movement. It is our honor to serve alongside you. Thank you for all you’ve done to help us reach 403 abortion
survivors from 18 different countries.

As we celebrate connecting with this milestone number, we also
know we have much more to do. We have tens of thousands more to
reach and serve. And as as we reach and serve them, we change our
culture and make abortion unthinkable.

Please pray for the abortion survivors who recently joined our fall healing
and speakers training groups.

Pray, too, that the national education campaigns we’ve been involved
with, which you’ll be seeing soon, are effective in humanizing the unborn
Pray for the Supreme Court to be impacted by this historic amicus
brief and for them to see that abortion survivors deserved to be protected
by the law and therefore, all pre-born children should be.

Thank you for your generosity over the past year. Truth be told, we need your support now more than ever.Taking on the abortion industry and lobby, the very entities responsible for trying to end our lives, is an important but formidable cause.
We know you give sacrificially to so many, but if you feel called and able
to support these groundbreaking programs and impacts, we would be
deeply honored and grateful for your support.

Please know your gift of financial support, prayers, sharing our attached
amicus brief with others, are all appreciated.
Together for life,

Melissa and the team at The Abortion Survivors Network

I was asked to write the below for the benefit of volunteers at the Birthright-Humble location. Questions were raised at a meeting in which confusion reigned in the context of all the acrimony and hate-mongering rhetoric they are hearing. Birthright volunteers provide help to women in need of resources in order to have a healthy baby. They do not provide opinions on abortion, legislation, laws, political views, etc. But, they want to understand what women are experiencing and be better prepared to help.

                                   The Texas “Fetal Heartbeat” Law

     Before we can discuss the implications of this law, which took effect on September 1, 2021, we must spend a little time reviewing the law and current events.  I will be relatively brief, as I presume the reader has a basic familiarity with the circumstances.

     Basically, the law states that it is unlawful to perform an abortion (take the life of a developing baby) if the fetal heartbeat is detected while performing an ultrasound prior to the abortion, a procedure which is required by Texas state law.  A fetal heartbeat is detected about 6 weeks (from the first day of the mother’s last menstrual cycle) by transvaginal ultrasound and at about 8 weeks by trans-abdominal ultrasound. Women have an abdominal ultrasound to satisfy the law before having an abortion.

      So, if the heartbeat is heard at 8 weeks, that means that the fetal heart has been beating for 2 weeks already.  At 6 weeks, astonishingly, the developing baby is only the size of a lentil seed, no bigger than 1/4” in size.  But, this is very much a live human being, very small, still in development to be sure, but a baby nonetheless, and we all started this way.

     The penalty is specified by law and extends to the physician, anyone helping the physician, and anyone aiding and abetting the abortion, such as by encouraging the abortion or by paying for it.  Enforcement of the law is by lawsuit brought by private citizens against the accused.  The State of Texas is specifically forbidden by the law from enforcing the law.  Now, that does sound strange.  However, those framing the law looked at situations in which laws in other states were attacked by pro-abortion groups who sued to have courts order those states not to enforce that law. 

      Many such laws are under injunction by federal district courts that are confused by precedent cases in the Supreme Court and the issue that the 10^th Amendment to the US Constitution says that the individual states can pass laws concerning anything not specifically reserved by the constitution to the authority of the US Congress.  The subject of abortion is, of course, not mentioned in the constitution.  That subject leads into much discussion about the Roe v. Wade decision by the majority of the Supreme Court in 1973.  But, I will leave that, for now, to the comments made by the dissenting justices in that case.

      Returning to the subject at hand, Texas lawmakers designed the law so that a court could not restrain the state from enforcing the law, because the state is forbidden by the law itself from enforcing the law.

      Pro-abortion factions immediately sued the State of Texas anyway (along with an individual who, it was claimed, would seek out doctors to sue in order to enforce the law).  The matter immediately reached the Supreme Court where a ruling 5 to 4 dismissed the case on the basis that there was no evidence that those bringing the lawsuit had been harmed by the law or that the private individual named had sued under the law or intended to sue anyone under the law.

      Furthermore, the majority of the Court said that it could not order the State of Texas to refrain from enforcing the law, because the law itself already forbids the State of Texas from enforcing the law.  The pro-abortion factions anticipated that the lawsuit would go nowhere, but they had to file the lawsuit in order to uphold appearances for the sake of their political supporters.  In that manner, they could blame the Supreme Court Justices and not the changing attitude of the people toward unregulated abortion and the wanton taking of human life (as represented by so many laws passed in various states). 

     However, given the logical findings of the majority of justices, it is disturbing that 4 justices wanted to find some way to keep the law from being implemented by preventing private citizens from filing civil lawsuits.  Such a ruling would seem to violate several amendments to the US Constitution.  If they had prevailed, what would protect the rights of the people from the Supreme Court itself?

     (Those people reading the posts on my web site in recent weeks know all of this.)

https://buildingacultureoflife.org   Visit the site and subscribe in order to get updates.

      The anger, hatred, threats, and acrimony started before the Texas law was even passed.  One may find it difficult to understand such harsh rhetoric.  Why is there such a lust for abortion?  Well, there is a long history here, so I refer you to my book “Building a Culture of Life” (soon to be published).  The bottom line is that it is all about money, power, and control.  The female leadership in the pro-abortion factions (and the thousands of affluent women seen in demonstrations) have no interest at all in having an abortion.  But, it is a big business with a lot of money involved, and there is a lot of political power at stake. 

      Money has power.  Planned Parenthood donates tens of millions of dollars annually to elect politicians who will protect their business.  The politicians do so in order to continue to get the money to secure their power base.  Any threat to “abortion on demand” is a threat to the financial position of the abortion industry and the political power supported by it.

      Part of the strategy of the pro-abortion faction has been the rhetoric that pro-life people disregard “the right of women to chose” to have an abortion.  From there it gets uglier and uglier, with statements such as “pro-life people hate women and want them to die”….and fear mongering about “back alley” abortions…etc. 

      All of this is in order to demonize and portray political entities that oppose abortion as a first choice, and oppose the use of taxpayer money to encourage and support abortion, as horrible people who hate women.  Therefore, they say, such pro-life people must be voted out of office.  At the same time, they would not lift a finger to help a pregnant woman, distressed and hopeless, to obtain the resources she needs (and wants) in order to have a healthy baby.

      We all saw the way President Trump’s nominees to the Supreme Court were demonized and harassed during confirmation hearings.  This was largely because of their reputations as judges who supported respect for life and individual dignity.  Bret Kavanaugh wrote the decision of the Court in the lawsuit against Texas.  Subsequently, vicious things have been said about him, although he was only one of the five justices voting for the defendant (Texas).  He has been personally threatened, and a demonstration was organized outside his home.  News sources have commented that this appears to be an effort to intimidate him, and the Supreme Court in general, in order to get more favorable rulings on future cases.  Likewise, there have been vicious verbal attacks on those high in the government of Texas, and that has also been extended to prominent leadership in Texas pro-life movements. 

      The issue is that surgical abortions have been declining since 1980, and there are now 3 pregnancy resource centers for every 1 abortion clinic.  More pro-life organizations are active than ever before.  More men and women than ever before are advocating restrictions on abortion.  Science has revealed that life begins at conception.  The tiny life will grow to be a baby, a child, and an adult.  Pictures of these tiny human beings in the womb have moved many hearts away from the wanton taking of life.    More female pro-life politicians were elected to Congress this last election cycle than ever before.

      One observes that any threat to control of money and the associated power over others will not be relinquished without a fight, and we have already seen much of the fear and anger associated with this fight expressed with such hostility, acrimony, and bitterness, that it is at times shocking.  However, we can also be encouraged by such outrageous and nonsensical uttering of mindless rhetoric.  If pro-abortion factions were secure in their position, the pro-life movement would be dismissed as irrelevant.  However, voters in the United States are increasingly pro-life and uncomfortable with the concept of unrestricted and unregulated abortion.

      Therefore, the message to pro-life advocates is…stay the course.  Those who work with pregnant women in distress from all kinds of messy life situations, often without any support from the father or from family, or even under pressure to have an abortion, need reassurance, real material options, emotional support, and prayer.

      Those not directly involved with helping such women are often the men who stand behind the women who do.  Others are men and women working in groups organized in many ways to provide support for those providing direct care and resources to help pregnant women and to follow through with help caring for their babies.

      All of these pro-life people have one thing in common:  they believe that every life should be respected in all of its stages and conditions from conception until natural death, and that every individual should be treated with dignity and respect.  That includes the unborn, the most vulnerable, the tiniest and weakest, those who cannot help themselves.

      So, when those who advocate for abortion rant and rave and spout their hate and fear mongering and threaten those who respect life, we who protect life and dignity should stand tall, and be proud.  They are upset because we are doing the right thing, out of love.

Pro-life advocates are gaining more and more popular support around the world. In the United States, following the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court in 1973, a backlash by pro-life advocates slowly took hold. Since about 1980, the pro-life movement has been gaining momentum. This appears to be largely because of advances in science and a clear demonstration that life begins at the moment of conception. Other advances have allowed the developing baby to live outside the womb earlier than ever before. Women and men have both been forced to confront the issue that the life growing within the mother is a baby and not a piece of amorphous tissue, and that there must be an alternative to killing it.

Now, pregnancy resource centers offering help and alternatives to abortion outnumber abortion clinics 3 to 1. However, clinics doing surgical abortions are in decline while the use of the morning after pill and the abortion pills are on the rise. So, the battlefield is shifting to the greater struggle for the hearts and minds of women in untenable situations who see abortion as their only option.

At the same time, the pro-life movement in the United States is confronted with pro-abortion politicians in power who want to have federal tax money pay for abortion in women with government health care plans. Oddly, many such persons currently holding political power call themselves devout Catholics, a position which has brought them into direct conflict with the Catholic Church teaching on the sanctity of life and the dignity of every person.

The pro-life group Susan B. Antony has undertaken a nation-wide publicity campaign designed to unseat members of Congress who support taxpayer funded abortion. Recently news media have discussed “the president’s attack on the Catholic church” as more bishops speak out against the policies of the current administration.

While abortion is a central issue, because the unborn are the most defenseless, the Catholic News Agency is reporting that pro-life advocates in Queensland, Australia will hold a March for Life on September 11 to protest a proposed law which would allow assisted suicide. The reader is referred to the page on this subject which is on this web site for background information. Most people contemplating suicide are tragically depressed and untreated.

A story out of St. Petersburg, Russia, notes that there are at least 500,000 chemical abortions in Russia annually. However, thousands of women take the abortion pills impulsively and regret the action. This has led to an expansion of services to reverse the effects of the pills, and the movement has spread worldwide.

On September 1, the Texas “heartbeat law” took effect. I have reported on that in previous posts. As expected, the law is being attacked, even by the president himself. A lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to prevent the Texas law from taking effect was dismissed: the State of Texas cannot enforce the law, so the Court could not order Texas not to enforce the law. Justice Kavanaugh wrote the decision of the 5 justices so ruling. A pro-abortion group called ShutdownDC is planning a protest outside Kavanaugh’s home next week. This is seen by some as an attempt to intimidate the Supreme Court into making more liberal rulings.

In other news, a pro-abortion group on TikTok has conspired to crash the Texas web site for reporting illegal abortions by using a bot to fill out hundreds of false reports. The website will, of course, be fixed to prevent this, but it further demonstrates the anger harbored by so many people…people who would send a woman to have an abortion but not lift a finger to help her in her desperate situation. It boggles the mind, but it is about to get even uglier.

The National Catholic Register carries a story “Dobb’s Legal Briefs Challenge the Roe Narrative.” Pro-life advocates have filed more than 75 “friend of the court” briefs. Some of these make a historical case for a fetus to be seen as a person with rights (especially the right to life). Others point out the harmful consequences of abortion, both for the mother and for society.

Among the fascinating legalisms (to some, at least) is the proposition that the 14th amendment should be interpreted as protecting the unborn, who have a right to life.

In previous posts I offered more information on this topic. Interestingly, Ireland had a constitutional amendment passed in 1983 which protected the life of the unborn. However, the amendment was repealed by voters in 2018. The issue is not settled, however, as the pro-life movement in Ireland is very strong and is working to change the opinion of voters on the issue.

In other news, on July 29 the House passed a budget which does not contain the Hyde Amendment for the first time since 1976. Removal of the amendment (see previous posts) would allow the federal government to fund abortions. The budget now goes to the Senate where a lively debate is assured. Pro-life advocates believe there are enough Democrats who oppose taxpayer funding of abortion that the Hyde amendment will be restored. Then the bill would go back to the House. This may get ugly.

Subscribers will receive updates as these important issue grind through the political process and the courts. At the same time, the pro-life faction is working diligently to provide resources to women so they have support and choices and have a viable option to have a healthy baby, even if they must give it for adoption.

Pregnancy resource centers outnumber abortion clinics 3 to 1. If it were not for huge amounts of political money being poured into Planned Parenthood, many of their clinics would have to close. However, there remains a hugely influential lobby for the election of people who support abortion, and Planned Parenthood is crucial to the retention of political power and the wealth that goes with it. It will be an ugly struggle.