Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America react to Howard Dean saying pro-life people have no home in the Democratic Party. They also wince as Republicans are divided about how to overhaul Obamacare and leaders suggest any opposition to the current bill is tantamount to supporting Obamacare. And they discuss how ESPN’s political agenda had led to a subscriptions free fall and the need to eliminate $100 million in on-air personnel.
The woman behind recent videos that decimate Planned Parenthood’s claim that it needs to receive taxpayer dollars to meet vital pre-natal needs says congressional Republicans are poised to remove funding from the nation’s largest abortion provider and Democrats will be powerless to stop it.
On Tuesday, Live Action released a video showing activists calling Planned Parenthood clinics all around the U.S. seeking an ultrasound to ensure the health of their unborn children. Time after time, the Planned Parenthood workers explain that the clinics only use ultrasounds in preparation for abortions and not to confirm a pregnancy or evaluate the health of a baby.
The video follows on the heels of others that undermine Planned Parenthood’s contention that it needs over half a billion dollars a year in taxpayer money because of the vital services it provides outside of abortions. Officially, Planned Parenthood is forbidden by law from using any public money to perform abortions, so the group insists the money goes towards pre-natal care, mammograms and other women’s health needs.
But Live Action President Lila Rose says the videos are pulling the mask off the Planned Parenthood facade.
“We’ve known that Planned Parenthood is an abortion-first corporation, that they commit about 34 percent of all abortions in this country every year. Yet, they provide less than two percent of the breast cancer screenings, less than one percent of pap smear tests and the numbers go on,” said Rose, who founded Live Action when she was just 15 years old.
She says Planned Parenthood entire argument for receiving federal dollars is now gutted by its own employees.
“They use [ultrasounds and pre-natal care] as a justification for their over half a billion dollars a year in tax payer funds, which led us to do this investigation, to really use Planned parenthood’s own language, their own staff explaining and admitting on tape that they don’t actually provide pre-natal care and they don’t actually provide ultrasounds even though they advertise those things,” said Rose.
Rose, who was in Washington Thursday building support for the defunding of Planned Parenthood, says the GOP is getting ready to yank taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood.
“There’s a lot of willpower right now on the Hill. There’s a lot of clarity of focus that we need to get this done. The American people want it. Many of the folks who got into office in the Senate and the House – the most pro-life House ever – campaigned on defunding the abortion industry. So a lot of folks are behind it, a lot of energy and momentum,” said Rose.
It won’t come without a loud fight.
“This is the holy grail for the abortion lobby and for the folks in Congress they have bought with lobbying dollars,” said Rose.
But Rose says the Republicans are ready to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the Obamacare repeal effort. And she says it will happen in a way that Democrats cannot stop.
“It looks like the Planned Parenthood defunding and then the redirecting of that money to federally qualified health centers will be included in the reconciliation bill. That’s what happened last year so this means that it will pass the Senate filibuster because the pro-abortion groups in the Senate right now would filibuster a law that they would try to get through the traditional way,” said Rose.
Reconciliation is a budgetary tactic that removes the 60-vote threshhold to get to a final vote. A simple majority would pass the repeal and the attached defunding language.
As Rose mentioned, the Republicans did that a year ago. But now there is an ally at the other end of Pennsylvania Ave.
“So it’s looking really hopeful. We just have to get that same bill now to President Trump because it’s looking like he would actually sign it into law,” said Rose.
Democrats defend the Planned Parenthood funding by saying millions of low-income women rely on those clinics for non-abortion related care. Rose says that money would still be available for women’s health care.
“If taxpayers are going to be funding anything, the money should be redirected to more worthy health care providers that provide more comprehensive care than Planned Parenthood. There are 13,000 federally qualified health centers who provide better care and don’t focus on abortion. They should get that money, not Planned Parenthood,” said Rose.
Live Action is also launching a petition to urge Congress to follow through on the defunding promise. Over half a million signatures have been gathered so far.
Rose is also optimistic about Trump’s nomination of Federal Appeals Court Judge Neil Gorsuch. She says Gorsuch’s commitment to the original intent of the American founders gives her confidence Gorsuch would protect the right to life. While Gorsuch has not issued any abortion-related rulings, Rose says his record is pretty clear.
“He’s someone who has advocated against euthanasia, saying any intentional taking of human life by a private party is wrong. So I think it’s really hopeful and I think he deserves all the support we can give him,” said Rose.
“I really hope there’s not a fight in the Senate and that he’s able to be properly confirmed and we have someone who’s really going to defend the right to life and the Constitution on the Supreme Court, in place of (the late Justice Antonin) Scalia, who was dearly loved,” said Rose.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and David French of National Review cheer the many thousands of Americans marching for life and against abortion Friday in Washington. They also shake their heads at President Trump’s suggestion that a 20 percent border tax on Mexican imports might be a good way to pay for a border wall. And they discuss all the humiliating concessions and retractions Atlantic magazine has to make following its story suggesting ultrasound is used to deceive women into believing their unborn babies are people with heartbeats who can feel pain.
As pro-life activists take part in the annual March for Life in Washington, they are more optimistic than any time in recent memory as a Republican Congress and a pro-life president get to work and more and more younger Americans join the cause thanks to modern science.
Leaders in the movement, like Susan B. Anthony List Vice President for Government Affairs Marilyn Musgrave, expect President Trump to make good on all his pro-life campaign promises.
“He made a pledge to work to defund Planned Parenthood, to support the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, to make the Hyde Amendment permanent, to nominate pro-life justices to the Supreme Court. I might add that that’s the big one. That is the big one,” stressed Musgrave.
There’s already been action on two of those promises. On Monday, President Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which forbids U.S. tax dollars from going to any organization performing or advocating for abortion in foreign countries. In addition, the House of Representatives passed legislation to make the Hyde Amendment permanent. The Hyde Amendment prohibits taxpayer dollars from funding abortions in the U.S.
Musgrave applauds Trump and the House. She notes that every Republican who voted was in favor of the bill, along with three Democrats.
“It is very good times for us because we have hope that we can actually make gains for life,” said Musgrave.
She also says there is no reason Republicans can’t defund Planned Parenthood.
“I believe defunding Planned Parenthood, redirecting those dollars to other health care providers that don’t do abortion, I think that’s the one that’s most quickly attainable by the House and Senate through the reconciliation process,” said Musgrave.
Reconciliation is a budgeting process that skirts the possibility of a filibuster, meaning a simple majority in the Senate could defund Planned Parenthood.
Musgrave says accomplishing the Trump promises would save countless lives.
“The Hyde Amendment has saved over two million lives since 1976. It’s my prayer that at this time in history, we will look back on our efforts, our marching, our support for women and their babies, the acts of this Congress and this president, we will look back and know that many, many lives have been saved,” said Musgrave.
In addition to favorable political winds at the moment, Musgrave says the future of the pro-life movement is bright because of the thousands of young people who are actively part of the effoet to protect the unborn.
“The March for Life, with now the faces of many young people, is an incredible encouragement to me,” said Musgrave. “We are seeing the new face of the pro-life movement and that is incredibly encouraging as we see millennials speaking up for life.”
She says one reason for the youth infusion is that science keeps showing the humanity of the unborn.
“I can remember the day when they said it was just a blob of tissue. That’s what they would tell a pregnant woman. Now we know that those precious little babies are operated on in utero. We know that they can feel pain after the fifth month of pregnancy,” said Musgrave.
“We know these things. It’s not disputable anymore. So the preciousness of that unborn child, the humanness is ever more an more evident, especially to the millennials that are marching,” said Musgrave.
Musgrave says the real scientific game-changer is the sonogram or ultrasound. And while some recently claimed ultrasounds give women false evidence of their baby’s humanity, Musgrave says those images are very powerful to mothers dealing with an unplanned pregnancy.
“When women see the image, they know that that is a child. That is their baby. So there is a reason that the pro-choice crowd doesn’t want women to see the ultrasound. The humanness of that child is very evident right there for the mother to see,” said Musgrave.
She says many ministries are centered around giving women the chance to see their babies.
“It’s just precious to me when you see local communities, pro-life people supporting mobile ultrasound units. And I love it when a pastor gets up in a church and saying, ‘Because of your donations for this mobile ultrasound, you have saved many lives,” said Musgrave.
Musgrave says the ultrasound had a profound impact in her family.
“I remember the day I saw the picture of my grandson, Isaac. It was an ultrasound picture. I knew even then that he was going to look just like his daddy. And by the way, he does. That ultrasound speaks volumes. That’s the image that we see, that people are sharing with their family and friends. Science is on our side,” said Musgrave.
The March for Life will be the second for Musgrave in less than a week. She scoped out the Women’s March on January 21. In addition to missing any consistent message among the demonstrators, Musgrave was especially bothered by the number of men carrying signs in support of Planned Parenthood.
“Does that in any way relieve you of your responsibility for your sexual actions? If children are produced by that, do you just want them aborted? Do you not want them supported and taken care of? It was an interesting emotional time for me to be among those marches,” said Musgrave.
However, Musgrave firmly believes the pro-life side is advancing and that the combination of science, young activists and allies in Congress and the White House means the future is very bright.
“Now we have the opportunity to do things in the pro-life movement that I’ve not seen in my lifetime. It’s a very encouraging time,” said Musgrave.
Top Clinton campaign officials are under fire after the latest batch of emails from Wikileaks referred to the Catholic Church as a “Middle Ages dictatorship,” suggested some conservatives convert to Catholicism out of political expedience and that Clinton’s campaign chairman considered the creation of nominally Catholic organizations to erode support for the church itself.
Two exchanges among the latest batch of 1,200 emails released by Wikileaks are drawing the most scrutiny on this issue. The first came in in 2011 in an email from John Halpin of the Center for American Progress to John Podesta and Jennifer Palmieri. Podesta is now Clinton’s campaign chairman and Palmieri is a top spokeswoman.
After mocking News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch for having his Catholic children baptized in the Jordan River, Halpin broadens the discussion.
“Many of the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all Catholic (many converts) from the SC and think tanks to the media and social groups,” wrote Halpin.
“It’s an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy,” he continued.
“I imagine they think it is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldn’t understand if they became evangelicals,” replied Palmieri.
In a 2012 email, Podesta corresponds with Voices for Progress President Sandy Newman. Newman was looking for ways to build a movement to weaken the power of the Catholic church in the political debates over contraception, particularly with respect to the contraception mandate imposed as part of President Obama’s new health care law.
“We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this. But I think it lacks the leadership to do so now. Likewise Catholics United. Like most Spring movements, I think this one will have to be bottom up,” wrote Podesta, noting that former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend would be a good choice to lead such a movement.
Republican Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence immediately slammed the emails on Wednesday.
“Hillary Clinton should denounce those bigoted, anti-Catholic, anti-evangelical remarks and her campaign staff should apologize to people of faith and do it now,” said Pence.
For many observant Catholicsm the contents of these email exchanges are deeply troubling.
“It’s hard to know where to start, to be honest,” said Maureen Ferguson, senior policy adviser at The Catholic Association.
However, she says her first reaction was oddly one of gratitude.
“We should all be grateful that we’re getting a preview of this before Election Day, so that we can go into the voting booth with very clear eyes knowing what a Hillary Clinton administration would look like,” said Ferguson.
“People at the highest level in her campaign are just displaying blatant bias and discriminatory attitudes towards people of faith. The way that they’re mocking Catholics and evangelicals, there is obviously no respect here for those who cherish their first amendment freedom of religion,” she added.
While appalled at the comments, Ferguson says no one should be expect the Clinton team to think otherwise.
“On the one hand, it’s very surprising and stark to read these attitudes in black and white, but on the other hand we should not be surprised. This anti-Catholic, anti-people of faith bias comes on the heels of eight years of an administration which has been systematically undermining our religious liberty,” said Ferguson.
She points specifically to the Obama administration’s imposing of the contraception mandate.
“Remember the HHS mandate on contraceptives, telling Catholic nuns that had to be paying for contraceptives. This is using the heavy hand of the federal government, threatening massive government fines on a group of nuns (Little Sisters of the Poor) who are serving the elderly poor, unless they get in line with this liberal agenda,” said Ferguson.
She also says Hillary Clinton has also laid down the gauntlet on religious freedom. In April 2015, Clinton told the Women in the World Summit that biblical and moral opposition to abortion would be in the cross hairs of her administration.
“Laws have to backed up with resources and political will and deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed,” said Clinton.
Ferguson is especially galled at Podesta for wanting to create nominally-Catholic groups to challenge Catholic authorities on cultural issues.
“He admits to having been a part of creating these groups called Catholic Alliance for the Common Good and another one called Catholics United. Their specific purpose is to undermine the Catholic Church,” said Ferguson.
She says this is nothing new for Democrats.
“We all became familiar over the years with Catholics for a Free Choice, which was a pro-abortion group that put the name ‘Catholic’ on it it to undermine the Catholic position in defense of the sanctity of human life. In these emails, John Podesta even admits to creating these two liberal Catholic front groups as a way to subversively attack the church,” said Ferguson.
Ferguson admits this has been a tough election season for many observant Catholics, being repulsed by Clinton’s positions on a host of issues vitally important to them and by Donald Trump’s behavior past and present.
“I think so many of us Catholics feel quite homeless in this election,” she said.
But that does not mean both options are equally terrible in her eyes.
“I think most people wish we had different choices in this election, but we should at least be clear-eyed about what a Hillary Clinton administration would look like. It would be full of people who are aggressively attacking our freedom of religion,” said Ferguson.
“Trump has made a lot of pledges on religious liberty and a lot of the people around him and a lot of the people around him, like Mike Pence for example, have come out very strongly. He has a history of very good positions on life and religious liberty and issues related to the family,” said Ferguson.
