President Trump Nominates Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court

Supreme Court Nominee
Judge Amy Coney Barrett

On Saturday, President Trump announced that 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett would be his nominee to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"Today, it is my honor to nominate one of our nation's most brilliant and gifted legal minds to the Supreme Court," Trump said in his announcement on the White House lawn. "She is a woman of unparalleled achievement, towering intellect, sterling credentials, and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution. Judge Amy Coney Barrett."

Trump first nominated Barrett to the 7th Circuit in 2017 and reportedly had her on his shortlist of potential nominees when he was considering nominees for the seat he eventually filled with Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

"Judge Barrett is a graduate of Rhodes College and the University of Notre Dame Law School," said President Trump when describing her achievements. "At Notre Dame, she earned a full academic scholarship, served as the executive editor of the Law Review, graduated first in her class, and received the law school's award for the best record of scholarship and achievement. Upon graduation, she became a clerk for Judge Lawrence Silberman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Amy then received one of the highest honors a young lawyer could have serving as a clerk on the Supreme Court for Justice Antonin Scalia."

The president went on to describe a few elements of Barrett's personal life:

"Amy is more than a stellar scholar and judge. She's also a profoundly devoted mother. Her family is a core part of who Amy is. She opened her home and her heart and adopted two beautiful children from Haiti. Her incredible bond with her youngest child, a son with Down syndrome, is a true inspiration. If confirmed, Justice Barrett will make history as the first mother of school-aged children ever to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court."

Near the end of his speech, Trump joked, "I'm sure it'll be extremely non-controversial. We said that the last time, didn't we?"

Barrett would be the first pro-life woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court. If her nomination is approved by the Senate, she could be a crucial vote to potentially overturn Roe v. Wade.

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Released Emails Show University of New Mexico Repeatedly Requested Fetal Body Parts from Abortion Clinics

photo credit: Drew Geraets / Flickr

Emails released by the pro-life organization, Abortion on Trial, show that the University of New Mexico (UNM) repeatedly requested body parts from aborted children.

The uncovered documents show that UNM was in regular contact with abortion clinics and asked for specific organs to use in research and dissections.

“Please let me know if you end up getting more fetal tissue next week and can still spare the heart…” reads one email in part.

“I just spoke to the clinic about getting >22wk fetuses for our dissections,” reads another email. “They have patients scheduled for surgery tomorrow that fit that range. I’ll go pick them up tomorrow afternoon when they’re ready.” 

Disturbingly, a third email complained that a fetal brain too large for the researcher's purposes: “[Redacted] just came and took some brain tissue I had in the freezer in both TriZol and TPer, and one of the fixed brains,” the e-mail reads. “He doesn’t think he’ll be able to use such a large brain, and will bring it back if he cannot.”

A retired UNM administrator recently revealed on video that some fetal brains obtained by the school were dissected with high school students, possibly as part of UNM's summer camp program.

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8th Circuit Hears Challenges to Arkansas and Missouri Pro-Life Laws

photo credit: Bill Oxford / Unsplash

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in cases about pro-life laws in both Arkansas and Missouri this week.

On Wednesday, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge argued to a three-judge panel from the 8th circuit that it should lift an injunction blocking the enforcement of three pro-life laws in her state. One law prohibits abortions on unborn children who have reached a gestational age of 18 weeks. The second bans abortions in cases when the decision to abort is made solely because the unborn child was diagnosed with Down syndrome. The third law requires doctors who perform abortions to be board-certified or board-eligible OB-GYNs.

A different three-judge panel from the 8th Circuit heard arguments for and against a Missouri pro-life law on Thursday. Known as the "Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act," HB 126 takes several actions to save the lives of the unborn. Unfortunately, it also had an injunction placed against its enforcement. The protections provided by the Missouri law include a ban against aborting children after 20 weeks gestation; a parental notification requirement for minors seeking abortions; bans against discriminatory abortions based on an unborn child's race, sex, or Down syndrome diagnosis; and a trigger clause which would cause abortion to be immediately banned in the state of Missouri if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

It is still unknown when the judges will give a ruling on the arguments for either of these cases.

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President Trump Announces Executive Order to Protect Abortion Survivors

President Donald Trump speaking for the
virtual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast

On Wednesday, President Trump announced that he will sign a Born Alive Executive Order requiring doctors to provide medical care to all infants born alive after failed abortions.

At the virtual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Sept. 23, Trump said, “Today I am announcing that I will be signing the Born-Alive Executive Order to ensure that all precious babies born alive, no matter their circumstances, receive the medical care that they deserve. This is our sacrosanct moral duty.”

A bill known as the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act has been introduced to congress multiple times, but it has failed to garner the support needed to be brought to a vote.

The proposed law would have required physicians to provide infants born alive after attempted abortions with appropriate medical care; the same care that would be given to any child of the same gestational age. Some states have passed similar legislation, but nothing has succeeded at the federal level.

The executive order is expected to take heavy inspiration from the proposed Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, but the text has not yet been released.

President Trump also announced that his administration would be increasing federal funding for neonatal research “to ensure that every child has the very best chance to thrive and to grow.”

“We believe in the joy of family, the blessing of freedom and the dignity of work and the eternal truth that every child born and unborn is made in the holy image of God,” the President said. “I will always protect the vital role of religion and prayer in American society, and I will always defend the sacred right to life.”

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40 Days for Life Kicks Off Record-Breaking Campaign

On Sept. 23, 40 Days for Life kicked off its fall campaign with a record-breaking number of applications, participating cities, and approved campaigns.

40 Days for Life is a global pro-life prayer movement that “aims to end abortion locally through prayer and fasting, community outreach, and a peaceful all-day vigil in front of abortion businesses.” 

In a letter to supporters, 40 Days for Life President and CEO Shawn Carney said that this fall's campaign will be the largest one ever, with a total of 588 cities worldwide participating.

In an August episode of the 40 Days for Life podcast, campaign director Steve Karlen said that the incredible size of this year's fall campaign should be attributed to pro-lifers taking a back-to-basics approach to the issue. “When you’re out on the sidewalk, on the street in front of an abortion facility, and you watch a woman walk into the facility pregnant and walk out later in the day not pregnant, with a broken heart, maybe crying, often limping, wounded physically, emotionally, and spiritually, you’re not thinking so much about debating or about Congress or about the Courts. All of those things are critical; they are certainly important, but I think we realize that this is something that has to come through the Lord.”

According to the 40 Days for Life website, the over 7,000 previous campaigns combined have saved 17,226 lives, caused 206 abortion workers to quit, and caused 107 abortion clinics to close. In the 13 years since 40 Days for Life was founded, it has carried out campaigns in more than 1,000 cities across 63 countries.

The fall 2020 campaign runs from September 23 through November 1. Click here to see if there is a campaign being run near you.

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Georgia Tech Settles Lawsuit with Students for Life; Revises Policy Discriminating Against Pro-Life Speaker

photo credit: Ryan Schreiber / Flickr

Students for Life of America (SFLA) has won its court battle with the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) for discriminating against the appearance of a pro-life speaker due to her religious beliefs. As a result, the school will need to pay $50,000 + attorney's fees to SFLA, and it will revise its policy to treat future speakers fairly.

In the fall of 2019, the SFLA chapter at Georgia Tech wanted to invite Alveda King, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece, to speak on campus. When the chapter requested funding from the student government to cover the cost of an event, student government leaders rejected the request. Their reasoning? The student government claimed Alveda King was “inherently religious.”

The policy change brought about by the successful SFLA lawsuit means that speakers can no longer be discriminated against by the school on the basis of their religious beliefs.

“The Constitution is clear that public universities can’t discriminate against students for their political or religious beliefs,” said SFLA president Kristan Hawkins. “[We] are hopeful that Georgia Tech’s decisive policy changes will set an example for universities around the country to uphold all students’ constitutional rights.”

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UN Passes COVID-19 Resolution Promoting Abortion Despite US Objections

Despite the protests by the US and several other countries, the UN passed a COVID-19 resolution which includes provisions promoting abortion.

US diplomat Jason Mack said, “We do not accept references to sexual and reproductive health.” The vague phrase is used in UN legislation to include abortion alongside actual medical care. “There is no international right to abortion, nor is there any duty on the part of States to finance or facilitate abortion.”

The US attempted to bring the section on "reproductive health" to a vote while the resolution was being formed, but the vote to change it failed by a wide margin. Only three countries sided with the US, while 122 countries voted for the pro-abortion wording. Only the US and Israel voted against the final resolution.

Several of those countries agreed with the US but wanted to ensure the resolution passed anyway. They presumably believed the potential benefits of the resolution outweigh the death toll that comes with increased abortion.

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David Daleiden and CMP Sue Planned Parenthood for Defamation

David Daleiden
photo credit: American Life League / Flickr

The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) and its president David Daleiden announced last week that they filed a defamation lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for repeatedly and publicly calling CMP reports of Planned Parenthood fetal harvesting practices fake.

 “Planned Parenthood has tremendous power and influence in our society. But even it must adhere to legal norms,” said CMP and Daleiden legal counsel Harmeet Dhillon. “We filed this lawsuit to hold PPFA accountable for damaging falsehoods it uttered concerning our clients’ groundbreaking journalism that exposed shocking practices it would rather keep hidden — for good reason. Planned Parenthood is not above the law. We look forward to the merits litigation of this lawsuit.”

After CMP released undercover videos in 2015 which exposed Planned Parenthood for harvesting fetal body parts from unborn children so they can be sold to researchers, Planned Parenthood repeatedly told the public that the videos were faked, and simply made “to manufacture a fake smear campaign against Planned Parenthood.”

In a statement about this lawsuit, Daleiden wrote, “Planned Parenthood admits my videos are true when under oath in federal court, but when speaking to the public, Planned Parenthood lies and calls the videos fake. I have put my life on hold for five years to report, with video evidence, the trafficking of aborted infants that I and others witnessed at the highest levels of Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry. It is time for Planned Parenthood to face the truth.”

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Planned Parenthood Clinic Refuses to Give Information and Hangs up on 911 Dispatcher

photo credit: Operation Rescue

During a conversation with a 911 dispatcher, a Planned Parenthood employee refused to give information about the nature of a medical emergency one of their patients were experiencing. The employee went as far as to hang up on the dispatcher rather than answer her questions.

911 call records obtained by Operation Rescue show that the incident occurred on July 23, 2020, at a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Cincinnati, Ohio. The clinic first placed an emergency call using an internet phone line that routed it through an intermediary call center. This delayed the emergency response. Even after this, the Planned Parenthood caller refused to answer questions and hung up on the 911 dispatcher.

Here is a short excerpt from the call records:

911: About how old is she?

PP: [Cross talk] . . . I can’t give you that right now.  Again —

911: Is it a female?  We need to get this information to the paramedics, ma’am.  They need to have the equipment ready.

PP:  Again, I’m calling from Planned Parenthood. We’re currently experiencing a medical emergency. We have physicians that are with the patient and they’ll be waiting for the paramedics’ arrival. Thank you.

After that, the caller hangs up. This kind of behavior is irresponsible and inexcusable when someone is experiencing an emergency and needs medical attention quickly. Women who feel they need abortions are not just profit opportunities for abortion clinics. They are real people whose lives matter. Planned Parenthood is showing that it does not believe the same, and it is willing to risk a woman's life so that it can hide abortion complications from 911 records.

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President Trump Says He'll Announce Supreme Court Nominee By Saturday

President Trump said that he will announce a Supreme Court nominee to potentially fill the seat left vacant by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the end of the week.

Upon learning about the death of Ginsburg on Sept. 18, President Trump released a statement mourning her death and paying respects to her family and her accomplishments in life. It read in part,

"Today, our Nation mourns the loss of a trailblazer, not only in the field of law, but in the history of our country. Ruth Bader Ginsburg served more than 27 years as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was a loving wife to her late husband Martin, and a caring mother to her two children Jane and James."

On Monday, President Trump said on Fox News that he would announce a Supreme Court nominee by Saturday. “We won the election and elections have consequences,” he said.

President Trump told Fox News that he had narrowed his selection down to “five, probably four” choices. Trump would be announcing his nominee after the funeral services for Justice Ginsburg and not long before the first presidential election debate on September 29.

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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dead at 87. Republicans Determined to Appoint New Justice Before Election.

Late Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020)

After a long bout with cancer, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on September 18 at the age of 87. She served as a member of the Supreme Court for 27 years after being appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. Many politicians on capitol hill have expressed their condolences and are mourning over the loss, but it is hard to ignore the increased pressure this puts on the current Senate as well as the presidential election just weeks before November.

President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have already announced plans to vote on a new Supreme Court nominee before election day.

In a statement which mourned Ginsburg's passing and celebrated her accomplishments, Sen. McConnell wrote,

"In the last midterm election before Justice Scalia's death in 2016, Americans elected a Republican Senate majority because we pledged to check and balance the last days of a lame-duck president's second term. We kept our promise. Since the 1880s, no Senate has confirmed an opposite-party president's Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year.

By contrast, Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary. Once again, we will keep our promise.

President Trump's nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate."

Ginsburg was one of several pro-abortion judges on the Supreme Court. A pro-life appointment by President Trump would present an unprecedented opportunity to overturn pro-abortion Supreme Court decisions such as Roe v. Wade. If this happens, the ability to prohibit abortion will be passed to the states.

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Baby Leo Saved Through Abortion Pill Reversal

In a heartwarming story, a mother named Amy told Pregnancy Help News how she saved the life of her now 5-month old son through abortion pill reversal.

“My first reaction to the pregnancy was thinking I didn’t want to have another kid,” Amy, 38, stated. “I told myself I didn’t want to take away from my two sons. I had built up anxiety, and on an impulse, I decided to get an abortion.”

Amy's two other sons are 16 and 14 years old. She had convinced herself that she was having an abortion for their sake, but she immediately felt regret after taking her first abortion pill.

“When I really took the time to think about it, I realized I had thought about everyone and everything else except this child and doing things God’s way,” said Amy. “God will always find a way to provide. Selfishness and ignorance were what led me.”

Amy searched the internet to find if there was anything she could do to prevent the abortion process that began when she took a dose of Mifepristone. She learned about abortion pill reversal and called the abortion pill reversal hotline. Workers from the Abortion Pill Rescue Network were able to find a doctor who was willing to help Amy on a Saturday morning. She obtained a prescription for progesterone, which can reverse the effects of the first abortion pill, and picked it up from her local Walgreens pharmacy.

“The people at Planned Parenthood offered zero support,” said Amy's husband, Tom. “Thank God, Amy went home, and she was determined to figure out how to reverse it.”

He had initially supported her idea to abort and had similar reasons, but he realized afterward that they were being impulsive.

“The stuff we were afraid of was all in our heads,” Tom said of the fear leading toward abortion. “Just stuff we conjured up.”

Leo's development was completely normal, and he is now a perfectly healthy 5-month old. He is just one of the many lives saved through abortion pill reversal. If anyone needs to contact the Abortion Pill Rescue Network, they can do so using the information on their website here.

Click here to read more of Amy's story.

Arkansas Abortionist Receives Emergency Suspension after Granting Minor a Medical Marijuana Card

Little Rock Family Planning abortionist and
owner Thomas Tvedten

Arkansas abortionist Thomas Tvedten of Little Rock Family Planning had his medical license suspended by the Arkansas State Medical Board after certified a young girl for a medical marijuana card.

The medical board came to the conclusion hat Tvedten's actions amounted to “gross negligence and ignorant malpractice.”

While it is unknown whether the minor was a patient of Tvedten, Operation Rescue President Troy Newman questioned whether the abortionist's actions had a more sinister motive: “the fact Tvedten was helping a little girl get marijuana raises disturbing questions about why he wanted that child drugged.”

He also noted that it is generally very difficult to convince a medical board that an abortionist's medical license should be suspended. The Operation Rescue president should know quite well what it takes to convince a medical board that an abortionist's license should be suspended or revoked. His organization constantly monitors abortion clinics for medical malpractice and advocates for the safety of vulnerable women who are harmed by abortionists.

More information about this specific incident will be available after an October 1 hearing.

To cover for Tvedten during his suspension, Little Rock Family Planning called on the infamous abortionist Willie Parker to serve as the abortion clinic's medical director for the time being. Parker was once idolized be pro-abortion advocates, but many distanced themselves from him after he was accused of predatory sexual behavior.

The clinic has seemingly replaced one irresponsible abortionist for another. Women and children (born and unborn) are not to be treated as commodities with price tags. They are people that deserve respect.

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March for Life Announces New Theme for 2021: ‘Together Strong: Life Unites’

On September 10th, the March for Life Education & Defense Fund announced the theme and date for next year's March for Life event. The 47th annual March for Life will use the theme, “Together Strong: Life Unites” and be held in Washington D.C. on January 29th, 2021.

The event's organizers call the March for Life "the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world." Pro-life advocates from across the country come to Washington D.C. for the event each year to celebrate the sanctity of life and energize one another for the pro-life cause. This year's theme is meant to further unify pro-life advocates during this discouraging and divisive time.

At last year's event, President Donald Trump became the first sitting president to ever attend and speak at the March for Life. This year, regardless of the outcome of the election, pro-life advocates must remain vigilant. There is more work to be done. As the organizers affirm, there are things we can all do to defend the lives of the unborn:

"Each and every one of us has an important role to play in building a culture of life. As Mother Teresa once said, ‘You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do. Together we can do great things.’ From choosing adoption to joyfully accepting the responsibilities of fatherhood and motherhood. From sidewalk counseling to lobbying. From prenatal care to post-abortion support. From praying for the most vulnerable to voting to protect them."

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NARAL Complains that Media Doesn't do Enough to Slant Coverage of the Abortion Debate

A new report by the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) complains that news outlets don't use enough pro-abortion language when covering the topic of abortion.

The report, which even cited articles from left-leaning media sources such as CNN, the New York Times, and Politico, gave several flawed reasons in its argument.

Among its complaints are that news articles about abortion are more likely to quote politicians than doctors. They argue that this trend can cause people to believe that abortion is a political issue and not a healthcare one. NARAL would be right in this assessment. Abortion is not healthcare, and the killing of innocent people should be considered a political issue. It is an issue of human rights, and the protection of human rights is among the most basic duties of government.

The NARAL goes on to lament the use of terms such as "infanticide," "heartbeat bill," and "partial-birth abortion." Despite its own inability to refute the fact that unborn children have heartbeats after six weeks of development, the pro-abortion organization continues to claim that these terms are inaccurate when used to describe abortion. Instead, they argued, "only 27 articles [out of 91 analyzed] noted that [six weeks] is typically before a woman even knows she is pregnant — a critical fact that gives context to the potential impact on women." This "critical fact" should not matter if a human life with a beating heart is being traded for this "potential impact on women."

This is a blatant attempt to control American culture by controlling the language we use. Pro-life advocates need to be wary of efforts like this and reject changes to our language that would trick others into believing the lie that abortion is just another medical procedure.

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Trump at Nevada Roundtable Claims Biden Supports “after-term abortion, which is basically baby execution."

photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

At a Hispanics for Trump roundtable event in Nevada, President Trump accused Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden of supporting “after-term abortion, which is basically baby execution."

While some news outlets point out that Biden's voting record on abortion used to be more moderate, Biden's stance on abortion has shifted dramatically throughout his political career. Originally a strong proponent of the Hyde Amendment, a policy that prevented federal tax dollars from funding elective abortions, he now advocates against the policy. Additionally, conservative pundits argue that more radical pro-abortion voices such as Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders are pulling candidate Joe Biden's policy agenda even further in support of abortion.

Biden's vice-presidential selection, California Senator Kamala Harris, voted against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act earlier this year. The bill would have legally protected children who survive attempted abortions by creating criminal penalties for abortionists who don't provide them medical care after they are born.

While it might be somewhat unclear just how pro-abortion the Democratic presidential ticket is this election, it is blatantly obvious that the ticket unequivocally supports the practice of ending unborn lives.

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Trump Administration Proposes Expansion to Mexico City Policy

photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

On Monday, the Trump administration proposed an expansion to the pro-life Mexico City Policy which would include military and government contracts.

The Mexico City Policy is not law, but it has been implemented by pro-life presidents since it was first implemented during President Ronald Reagan's administration in 1984. The current policy places limits on how US tax dollars can be distributed to Non-Governmental-Organizations (NGO's) in foreign countries. Specifically, it means that federal tax dollars may not be given to organizations that provide or promote abortion.

While the Mexico City Policy currently applies to nearly $9 billion in U.S. foreign aid, this expansion could further ensure that US funding is not being spent on organizations that will use it to promote the deadly practice of abortion. NGO's can do this by either directly committing abortions or by using US funds to subsidize lobbyists who fight for legalized or expanded abortion in their home countries.

In response, Planned Parenthood Action tweeted that the proposal is an “unprecedented expansion of a harmful policy.” That might be a sign that it's a good idea.

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8th Circuit Court of Appeals Could End Injunctions Against 3 More Pro-Life Arkansas Laws

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge
photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

Only a month after remanding injunctions against four pro-life Arkansas laws, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s request that it ends a separate injunction against three newer pro-life laws.

The three laws in question were passed in 2019 and blocked from enforcement by U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker on August 6, 2019.

The first of these is Act 493, which prohibits abortions after 18 weeks of pregnancy. This law would protect the most developed unborn children; ones that could survive birth if they were allowed to live just over a month longer.

The second is Act 619, which bans abortions “with the knowledge” that a woman is seeking it “solely on the basis” of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. This law would ban purely discriminatory abortions. A child's physical or mental abilities shouldn't determine its right to live.

The third is Act 700, which requires doctors who perform abortions in Arkansas to be board-certified or board-eligible OB-GYNs. Laws like this are passed in the hope that more qualified abortionists will at least have better regard for the safety of pregnant women who come to have abortions. All too often, stories come out about mothers who are hospitalized or killed by abortion providers. Pro-abortion advocates could not even allow a law like this to stay on the books, however.

Hopefully, Arkansas Attorney General Rutledge can successfully argue against the injunctions blocking these rightfully passed laws and save lives in the process.

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New Illinois Billboard Campaign Advertises Medicaid-Funded Abortions

Illinois state capitol
photo credit: Jim Bowen / Flickr

The Chicago Abortion Fund started a new billboard campaign designed to promote taxpayer-funded abortions through Medicaid.

The pro-abortion organization has paid for six billboards statewide which read, “Abortion is Healthcare. It’s Covered by Illinois Medicaid. We’re Here to Help,” followed by the Chicago Abortion Fund’s website address. Three of the billboards are next to heavily-trafficked interstates near Chicago, two are in Peoria, and one is by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The signs are currently scheduled to remain posted through the month of September.

One of the billboards is pictured in an article by the Journal Standard. Click here to see.

Unlike most states, Illinois allows Medicaid funding to go directly toward elective abortion. Other states require Medicaid funding to adhere to the requirements of the Hyde Amendment, which prevents tax dollars from funding elective abortions. This taxpayer-funding caused a notable increase in abortion after its passage under former Governor Bruce Rauner in 2018.

Illinois lawmakers have made the deadly practice of abortion increasingly accessible to residents, and has gone as far as to make the state an "abortion hub" for anyone in the midwest seeking an abortion. As pro-life lawmakers in nearby states enact laws regulating abortion, more and more women come to Illinois from those states because the gruesome practice is almost completely unrestricted.

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Tennessee State Representative Forced out of Democrat Party Due to Pro-Life Beliefs

Tennessee State Rep. John DeBerry Jr.
photo credit: Sean Braisted / Flickr

After being ejected from the Democrat party, ordained minister and pro-life Tennessee state Rep. John DeBerry Jr. will be running as an independent this year.

DeBerry was forcibly removed from the Democrat party after the Tennessee Democratic Party’s executive committee voted 41-18 to remove him from the August primary ballot. Luckily for him, legislators passed a measure which allowed him to be on the ballot for re-election even though he was unable to participate in the primaries. The Democrats removed DeBerry from their party after the filing deadline had passed to run as a Republican or independent, so he would have been unable to run at all even though he was currently an incumbent.

DeBerry, who serves as a minister for the Church of Christ, told the Catholic News Agency, “My work in Nashville as a legislator is nothing more than an extension of my work as a child of God, as a Christian,” he said. He added that it was ridiculous for the Democratic party to claim voters don't understand what he has been doing in office, or what his stance on abortion is. “So for them to say that folks don’t know where I stand, they actually said that the people in my district don’t have sense enough to elect their representative.”

CNA also wrote that DeBerry “was one of more than 100 Democrats at the federal, state, and local levels who recently asked the platform committee of the Democratic National Convention to moderate the abortion language in the party’s platform.”

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President Trump Releases New List of 20 Potential Supreme Court Nominees

photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

At a white house press conference on September 9, President Donald Trump announced a new list of 20 people he would consider as potential Supreme Court nominees if a vacancy appears.

Among the names he listed are Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, and U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Pitlyk. All three senators take pro-life stances, and Pitlyk used to be part of The Center for Medical Progress's defense team after it was sued by Planned Parenthood for releasing videos exposing its sale of fetal tissue harvested from aborted children.

Senator Hawley has since stated that he is not interested in holding a position on the high court. He has stated that he would ask Supreme Court nominees if they believed Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided as a "litmus test" for whether he would accept them, however.

The full list of potential nominees can be found here in the transcript of the president's Wednesday press conference.

Pro-life organizations applauded the president's list of potential constitutional conservative nominees. Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser said it was "full of all-stars," and National Right to Life President Carol Tobias wrote,

“President Trump’s expanded list of potential Supreme Court justices is laden with an impressive assembly of well-qualified men and women who would make outstanding additions to the Supreme Court, and who have demonstrated a commitment to defending the text and history of the Constitution and the principles of judicial restraint. President Trump’s list stands in stark contrast with the judicial-legislation activists who would be nominated by Joe Biden.”

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Assisted Suicide "Doctor" Says he Experiments on Patients to Find More Efficient Ways to Kill Them.

In response to a Mercury News article that celebrated the experimentation of an assisted suicide "doctor" trying to make the process of dying quicker, National Review Columnist Wesley Smith wrote an article criticizing the media for lifting up doctors like Lonnie Shavelson.

The Mercury News article was titled “How California Doctors are Fixing How We Die” and included quotes from Shavelson, who said that he is actively changing the drug cocktails he gives to patients who wish to die. His goal is to make the process faster so they don't suffer for hours after taking the poison he prescribes them, but his action amount to human experimentation.

Smith hits the nail on the head with his analysis of the situation, writing, "Let’s label this what it is: Shavelson using sick suicidal people as human guinea pigs in being made dead".

Not only will death doctors take advantage of sick and depressed individuals for a profit (Shavelson himself charges $2,000 for his services), but they will use these people as test subjects for their newest ways to kill people.

Every human being has value, and no doctor should reinforce the idea that disability or depression makes someone disposable.

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Church in Washington State Asks 9th Circuit to Overturn Ruling Forcing it to Cover Elective Abortion

Cedar Park Assembly of God, a church in the state of Washington, filed its opening brief with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday. A lower court already dismissed the church's lawsuit against the state for forcing the church's health insurance plan to cover elective abortion, but the church hopes that the 9th circuit will overrule that decision.

The church's opening brief explains that  SB 6219 (the law forcing insurance providers to cover abortions), “contains no religious exception despite many religious organizations’ belief in the sanctity of human life and strong opposition to abortion. When churches protested, the bill’s sponsor suggested they sue if they did not wish to comply. This extreme abortion-coverage mandate had its desired effect: insurance providers began inserting abortion coverage into ministries’ health plans in direct violation of their religious teachings…. State officials thus deliberately targeted houses of worship for mandatory abortion coverage and, in so doing, intentionally violated their religious beliefs about the sanctity of human life.”

SB 6219 was signed into law back in March of 2018 and threatens criminal penalties if an organization refuses to provide abortion coverage as part of its maternity care.

“No church should be forced to cover abortions, and certainly not a church that dedicates its ministry to protecting and celebrating life like Cedar Park does,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Elissa Graves. “Cedar Park believes and teaches that every human life begins at conception and is worthy of protection until natural death, so providing insurance coverage for abortions is clearly not something the church can or should be forced to do. And Cedar Park doesn’t simply believe in the importance of human life, it puts those beliefs into practice by partnering with a local pregnancy care center, hosting an annual camp for foster care children, and ministering to hundreds of couples struggling with infertility. The state has no legitimate legal basis to force this church—or any other—into contradicting its foundational belief that human life is sacred.”

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys are assisting Cedar Park Assembly of God in its argument to the 9th circuit.

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Exposed University of New Mexico Logs Show Gruesome Details of Fetal Tissue Harvesting

photo credit: Andrew Malone / Flickr

A gruesomely detailed set of logs from the University of New Mexico was recently released by the pro-life group Abortion on Trial. The logs describe baby body parts obtained by the university through its partnership with the abortion business, Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO).

SWO provided the body parts to UNM for the sake of scientific research, and the logs show specifically what body parts researchers were able to dissect from each abortion victim. In addition, notes following some of these entries show the flippant attitude with which researchers regard each child; completely ignoring their humanity.

The notes show researchers' excitement or disappointment at the level of development a child reached before being harvested. In one instance, a researcher was clearly excited they were able to obtain a completely developed pancreas. When writing the log, the researcher wrote that they collected an “ENTIRE PANCREAS — whoo hoo!!!” In another instance, a researcher drew a frowning face after noting that a child's stomach was broken and no pancreas was obtainable.

In one incredibly disturbing case, an intact brain harvested from a 24-28 week old preborn child was planned to be dissected at a high school summer camp.

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Media Refuses to Run Ad for Class Action Lawsuit Against Planned Parenthood

Screenshot from Thomas More Society ad

The pro-life Thomas More Society produced two video advertisements seeking California women who were deceived by Planned Parenthood into believing their aborted children's tissue was being donated when it was actually being sold. The organization is putting together a class-action lawsuit against the abortion giant, and it originally planned on airing the ad on every major television network in the state of California, but each and every local affiliate has refused to let the Thomas More Society purchase an ad slot.

The class-action lawsuit is a response to the Center for Medical Progress's viral videos which came out in 2015. They featured clips from undercover conversations pro-life investigators (posing as potential buyers of fetal tissue) had with Planned Parenthood officials. The Center for Medical Progress exposed that Planned Parenthood was selling tissue from aborted children against federal laws, but Planned Parenthood has yet to face any legal repercussions for its actions. Instead, the investigators are being prosecuted for allegedly breaking California privacy laws.

In response to local affiliates refusing to show the advertisements, Thomas More Society Special Counsel Paul Jonna said, “The facts contained in these short little video clips have been corroborated by reports from Congress, the select investigation panel, and the Senate Judiciary Committee. We’re not just making stuff up – these are facts documented in the public record already. These companies actually asked for further information, and they still refused to air [the] [ads].” 

The streaming services Hulu, Pandora, and Premion also refused to air the advertisements normally. Hulu refused outright, Pandora requested that mentions of Planned Parenthood be removed, and Premion said it would only air the advertisements outside of primetime hours.

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Study Finds Mothers who Abort First Child are More Likely to Abort Future Pregnancies.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a new study published in the Journal of Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology finds that women who abort their first child are more likely to abort future children.

The study analyzed the outcomes of 7.3 million pregnancies of women eligible for Medicaid who were over the age of 13 between the years of 1999 and 2014. The pregnancies analyzed were in 17 states which allow state taxes to fund abortions.

The study found that women who abort their first pregnancy are more likely to have abortions during their next pregnancy than women who give birth to their first pregnancy or experience a miscarriage. The study also found that the likelihood that a woman will have an abortion during their next pregnancy increases with each subsequent abortion they have. The study noted that this trend was particularly prominent among black mothers who aborted their first children.

The authors wrote, “low-income women who have abortions are more likely to have more overall pregnancies, including more subsequent abortions, [and this] would tend to support the body of evidence indicating that abortion is associated with greater subsequent reproductive health risks.”

The researchers also wrote, “The hope that easier access to abortion would decrease maternal mortality has been rebutted by evidence to the contrary.”

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4th Circuit Blocks Enforcement of Title X "Protect Life Rule" in Maryland

On Thursday last week, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Trump administration's "Protect Life Rule." The rule requires recipients of Title X funding to not provide abortion, refer patients to abortion providers, or co-locate with organizations that provide abortions. The ruling, which conflicts with a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, means that Maryland is now the only state that does not have to conform to the Trump administration's rule.

In an 8-6 decision, the court upheld an April decision denying a Trump administration motion to stay an injunction against the rule.

Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote for the majority, saying the administration, “failed to recognize and address the ethical concerns of literally every major medical organization in the country, and it arbitrarily estimated the cost” associated with the new regulations.

“Moreover, considering the time-sensitive nature of pregnancy and access to legal abortion, this attempt to hoodwink patients creates ‘unreasonable barriers’ to ‘appropriate medical care,’ and ‘impedes timely access’ to health care services.”

Due to the conflicting rulings from the 4th and 9th circuits, a resolution from the Supreme Court is likely.

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Trump Campaign says Administration would 'fully defund' Planned Parenthood in a Second Term

President Donald Trump
photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

In a letter to pro-life supporters, President Donald Trump promised he would work to fully defund the abortion industry if he is re-elected.

After touting his administration's pro-life efforts, the letter gave several bullet points outlining how he would continue to fight for unborn children in a second term. These claims list that he would: “continue nominating constitutionalist Supreme Court and lower court judges”; “protect unborn life through every means available”; and “defend the freedoms of religious believers and organizations.”

Earlier this week, the Trump administration received criticism from pro-life advocates after his campaign released a document listing Trump's priorities for a second term. The document did not include anything about protecting unborn children from abortion or defunding abortion clinics like Planned Parenthood. After receiving criticism, the campaign quietly added pro-life points to the president's goals over the weekend.

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Alabama Abortion Clinic Under Criminal Investigation After Patient Dies

Photo credit: Operation Rescue

Operation Rescue reported last month that a woman who visited the West Alabama Women’s Center abortion facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama died on May 7 after visiting an abortion clinic. Now, the organization has learned that the clinic is currently under criminal investigation for this death.

Pro-life advocates reached out to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences (ADFS) to learn more about the details of the woman's death, which they believed would be public record. The ADFS surprised them with its response:

“District Attorney Hays Webb has notified the Alabama Department of Forensic Science that this case remains under criminal investigation. . . Consequently, the final reports in this case are not currently public record.”

Pro-life advocates saw the woman exiting West Alabama Women's Center on the day of her death. According to those bystanders, she seemed sickly pale and needed to be supported by a clinic worker while she walked to a car.

Fr. Terry Gensemer, the Director of the Charismatic Episcopal Church For Life, commented, “We are glad to discover that at least one state agency seems to be looking into this woman’s death. Perhaps the Department of Public Health can take a cue from the District Attorney and finally look into whether or not this abortion clinic followed proper protocol in the incident, as well as explain to citizens why a new owner is being allowed a pass on applying for a new license, which their own regulations clearly require.”

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Pro-Abortion Groups Sue Tennessee to Block Patients from Learning About Abortion Pill Reversal

Tennessee State Capitol
photo credit: Matt Turner / Flickr

Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) all sued the state of Tennessee on Monday over a law that requires women seeking abortion pills to hear about abortion pill reversal.

Other parts of the omnibus law have already hit legal roadblocks, including a fetal heartbeat provision, but now the abortion lobby has taken aim at a provision that simply informs women that they have a chance to take back their decisions o abort if they have second thoughts.

Specifically, the law requires businesses dispensing abortion pills to inform women about abortion pill reversal in-person or over the phone (depending on how the pills were dispensed). Those who fail to do so would receive heavy fines and felony charges.

The abortion lawsuit claims that the law violates abortion providers' First Amendment rights by requiring them to “communicate a content-based, viewpoint-based, and/or controversial government-mandated message that they would not otherwise recite concerning an experimental medical treatment that has not been shown to be safe or effective.”

In reality, abortion pill reversal is a proven and simple treatment that has saved over 1,000 children since 2007. The first pill in the abortion pill regimen, mifepristone, blocks a pregnant mother's natural flow of a chemical called progesterone. By doing so, a mother's body no longer properly provides nutrients and oxygen to her child. Abortion pill reversal simply has a woman take additional progesterone so that the flow of nutrients is restored. Progesterone has even been used by pregnant mothers who haven't taken the abortion pill to help them with other pregnancy-related problems. If done within 24 hours of taking mifepristone, abortion pill reversal can have a good chance of saving a child's life.

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20 Senators Call on FDA to Ban Abortion Pill

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

On Tuesday, 20 Senators led by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking it to classify the abortion pill mifepristone as dangerous and remove it from the market.

The letter, sent to FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn, reads:

“[G]iven the devastating impact this drug has had on American women and children, we must now urge the FDA to exercise its authority … and classify the abortion pill as an ‘imminent hazard to the public health’ that poses a ‘significant threat of danger’ and remove this pill from the U.S. market,”

The abortion pill was subject to the FDA's Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) restrictions until recently, when a federal judge halted the restrictions. The reasoning for the sudden ruling was that women may be unable to get elective procedures such as abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic. The judge believed that the REMS restrictions became a burden on abortion access when coupled with the circumstances of the virus, so they have been suspended for the duration of the pandemic.

The senators' letter responds to this situation:

“We believe that this rogue judicial activism is a gross breach of the separation of powers, undermining the FDA’s statutory authority to ensure drug safety, while recklessly endangering American women and children. The FDA must resist this opportunistic ploy to expand access to abortion under the fallacy that the REMS imposes an undue burden on women’s rights.”

The abortion pill regimen is a two-step process in which a pregnant mother first starves a child to death by taking mifepristone. After the child is dead, the woman then takes misoprostol to begin contractions and expel the deceased child from their body. This is often done at home without any medical supervision, and it can be extremely dangerous if the woman had undiagnosed pregnancy conditions such as ectopic pregnancy.

“[I]t is by now nakedly obvious that the abortion industry and its allies in the media, billionaire philanthropic circles, and special interest groups, have wanted an unregulated and demedicalized abortion pill since the moment the FDA first approved it in 2000,” the letter continues. “… We believe this deadly pill should never have been approved, yet the abortion industry was politically rewarded with an accelerated approval process normally reserved for high-risk drugs that address life-threatening illnesses like AIDS. As you are surely aware, pregnancy is not a life-threatening illness, and the abortion pill does not cure or prevent any disease.”

U.S. House, Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) leads a group of 72 representatives in sending a similar letter to the FDA.

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Black Leaders Write Letter to Planned Parenthood Criticizing it for the 'Systemic Racism' of Abortion

A coalition of over 100 black leaders from across the country criticized Planned Parenthood in a letter sent to Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill-Johnson on Tuesday. The coalition, which includes elected officials, pastors, and attorneys, called on her to “confront the systemic racism of America’s abortion practices.”

“Black women are five times more likely than white women to receive an abortion,” the letter stated. “In some cities, like New York, more Black children are aborted every year than are born alive.”

“This is no accident,” the letter continued. “79 percent of Planned Parenthood’s surgical abortion facilities are located in or near communities of color.”

The letter points out that 36% of abortions in the U.S. end the lives of unborn children carried by black women. This is statistically disproportionate to the population of black women, which only represents 13% of America's female population.

Many Planned Parenthood locations were strategically placed while the abortion giant was under the leadership of its eugenicist founder Margaret Sanger. She believed abortion was a tool whites could use to slow the growth of the black population and was known to have relationships with KKK officials, but still had a major Planned Parenthood clinic named after her in New York City up until July of this year.

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National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children Event

On Saturday, Sept. 12, Springfield Right to Life will be hosting a prayer service to honor unborn children whose lives were taken from them by abortion. The service will last for one hour, going from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM on the sidewalk in front of the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic located on 601 N. Bruns Lane in Springfield.

Springfield Right to Life's description of the event reads:

"Please join us for a prayer service to honor the children whose lives have been taken too soon by abortion. This will be a solemn memorial service in memory of God’s precious children. It will take place in front of Planned Parenthood, the very location that ends these innocent children’s lives for the sake of selfishness, convenience, and greed. White crosses will be placed on the city property between the sidewalk and the street. Pastors and prayer warriors will be invited to speak. Those who wish to bring flowers to place by the crosses are encouraged to do so. Lawn chairs are welcome. Cold bottled water will be provided."

This event remembering the lives of aborted children is co-sponsored by the Pro-Life Action League, Priests for Life, and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society. To learn more about the event and contact Springfield Right to Life, click here.

Trump Campaign Adds "Unborn Life" to Official List of Second Term Priorities

photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

Over the weekend, the Trump campaign added points regarding abortion and the nomination of pro-life judges to the incumbent's list of second-term priorities.

On August 23, the Trump campaign released a 50-point list of priorities the president would have if he were to win a second term in office as the president of the United States. To the surprise of many pro-life activists, this original list did not include anything about abortion or taking action to save the lives of the unborn.

TRUMP AGENDA: Trump Campaign releases set of core priorities and goals for president’s potential second term.

Campaign says Trump will further discuss these plans during his acceptance speech at RNC Convention on Thursday and over coming weeks while on the campaign trail. pic.twitter.com/aGh4ax05m8

— Mark Cavitt (@MarkCavitt) August 24, 2020

The new priorities added over the weekend are: “Continue nominating constitutionalist Supreme Court and lower court judges,” “Protect unborn life through every means available,” “Defend the freedoms of religious believers and organizations,” and “Support the exercise of Second Amendment rights.”

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Nancy Pelosi Says Federal Taxes will Fund Abortion if Democrats Win the House

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

According to the Los Angeles Times, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has signaled to House Democrats that funding bills will no longer include the Hyde Amendment next year if Democrats maintain a majority in the House of Representatives. The amendment prohibits federal taxpayer funds from going towards elective abortion.

The Hyde Amendment represents 44 years of bipartisan precedent on federal spending. After being passed in 1976 and named after Illinois Congressman Henry Hyde, the Charlotte Lozier Institute estimates that the policy results in 60,000 fewer abortions each year.

Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have similarly voiced their support of ending the precedent of the Hyde Amendment, while President Trump has been vocal in his support.

According to CNA, several House Democrats, including Illinois congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, have attempted to undo Hyde's legacy by repealing or undercutting the policy within the past two years.

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Surgeon Nun Speaks at RNC: The Largest Marginalized Group in the World is the Unborn

In her speech at the Republican National Convention last week, pro-life advocate and surgeon Sister Deirdre “Dede” Byrne gave empowering remarks in defense of the unborn. In her address, she said that life begins at conception, pointed out that unborn children are incredibly marginalized, and called on others to stand up for the lives of unborn children in the face of modern political correctness.

“As a physician, I can say without hesitation: Life begins at conception,” she said. “While what I have to say may be difficult for some to hear, I am saying it because I’m not just pro-life, I’m pro-eternal life. I want all of us to end up in heaven together someday.”

Later in Byrne's speech, she decried the marginalized status modern culture has thrust upon unborn children:

“...we tend to think of the marginalized as living beyond our borders, the truth is the largest marginalized group in the world can be found here in the United States,” she said. “They are the unborn.”

She argued that by fighting the politically-correct pro-abortion culture of today, pro-life advocates would be living like Jesus, who fought against the politically correct Jewish leaders throughout the Bible.

“As followers of Christ, we are called to stand up for life against the politically correct or fashionable of today,” said Byrne. “We must fight against a legislative agenda that supports and even celebrates destroying life in the womb.”

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Sept. Court Date Set for Lawsuit Challenging “Missouri Stands For the Unborn Act”

Last week, the date for oral arguments in the pro-abortion challenge to Missouri HB 126, known as the “Missouri Stands For the Unborn Act” was finally set. They will be heard on Sept. 24 in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

HB 126 was signed into law by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on May 24, 2019. The law includes numerous pro-life measures: a parental notification rule for when a child attempts to obtain an abortion; bans against discriminatory abortions based on race, sex, or Down syndrome diagnosis; and a "trigger-clause" designed to outlaw all abortion in the state immediately if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned by the Supreme Court. The law also includes tiered bans of abortion at 14, 18, and 20 weeks gestation. To overturn those aspects of the law, a judge would need to argue that banning abortion at all three of those stages violates Roe v. Wade.

Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Howard Sachs enjoined the ban against aborting children purely because of a Down syndrome diagnosis, as well as the bans against abortion at 14, 18, and 20 weeks gestation. The state appealed Judge Sachs's ruling to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, but the hearing was heavily delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Justice John Roberts's recent concurring opinion in June Medical LLC v. Russo may have an effect on this case, but those effects are currently subject to speculation.

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