Biden Nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson to Replace Breyer on Supreme Court

On Feb 25, President Biden announced that he will nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court.

Jackson is currently a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. When she worked as a private practice attorney, Jackson represented pro-abortion advocacy groups, including NARAL Pro-Choice America.

National Right to Life pointed out that Joe Biden was asked in 2020 by The New York Times what he would look for in a Supreme Court nominee. He told them:

"They have to have an expansive view of the Constitution. Recognize the right to privacy, unenumerated rights that exist in the Constitution… that means I know they will in fact support Roe v. Wade."

"President Biden made a campaign promise to impose an abortion litmus test on his nominees and we think it is extremely important that Senators take the time to carefully examine Judge Jackson’s record and her judicial philosophy, said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “The American people deserve a Supreme Court justice who will interpret the Constitution according to its actual text and history rather than one who would trample the Constitution to promote the radical pro-abortion agenda of the Democratic party and Biden administration."

Life-Threatening Emergency Documented at Aurora Planned Parenthood

Ambulance at the Planned Parenthood in Aurora, IL
photo credit: Operation Rescue

A newly released 911 recording and incident report reveal that a woman suffered a life-threatening injury after a second-trimester abortion at the Planned Parenthood abortion business in Aurora, Illinois.

The abortionists at Planned Parenthood suspected that they tore a hole in the woman's uterus, an injury that can cause severe hemorrhaging and future infertility. The bleeding caused by such an injury is life-threatening. Planned Parenthood did not prioritize the woman's life during this emergency, however. When employees called 911 to request an ambulance for the patient, they asked that the ambulance respond without using sirens.

Not using sirens slows the response time of emergency vehicles, as they will have to navigate traffic normally. The time lost could be put to use saving the life of a person suffering from a medical emergency, but abortion businesses often request no sirens anyway.

Operation Rescue, a pro-life organization that documents medical emergencies at abortion businesses, writes that this is the 12th documented hospitalization since Aurora Planned Parenthood opened in 2012.

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California AG Moves to Exclude Evidence from Daleiden Trial

CMP Investigative Journalist David Daleiden
photo credit: American Life League / Flickr

The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) continues to fight a legal battle against the state of California, which has pressed charges against the CMP for its undercover journalism exposing abortion businesses' practice of harvesting and selling body parts from aborted children. In a recent development, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed a request to exclude evidence that would help the CMP establish the legality of its undercover journalism.

In 2015, the CMP started releasing recordings of undercover conversations with employees of Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses. Those conversations exposed that Planned Parenthood was illegally profiting from the sale of fetal body parts and that the abortion business was altering abortion procedures for the purpose of harvesting more intact body parts.

California has accused the CMP of breaking state privacy laws during its investigation, but those laws expressly allow undercover recordings if they are intended to reveal evidence of violent crimes. That exception is the focus of the CMP's defense, and it is the focus of the evidence that the state of California is attempting to block.

The evidence in question is sworn testimony from former Orange County District Attorney and former Superior Court Judge Tony Rackauckas. He is willing to testify that his office responded to CMP recordings by taking action against Da Vinci companies, which admitted to selling body parts harvested from aborted children.

In response to California's attempt to block Rackauckas's testimony, CMP attorneys filed a statement:

"The AG castigates Mr. Daleiden as an agent provocateur who sought only to damage Planned Parenthood. Mr. Rackaukas[‘] testimony would be extremely relevant to Mr. Daleiden’s credibility and character concerning his search for violent crimes. In addition, there is probably no greater expert on what constitutes evidence of all crimes than the five-term District Attorney of Orange County, Tony Rackaukas."

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Virginia Withdraws from ERA Revival Effort

The Commonwealth of Virginia is withdrawing from radical efforts pushing the Archivist of the US to certify the long-expired Equal Rights Amendment as part of the Constitution.

On Feb 18, Virginia submitted a motion to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. In that motion, Virginia Solicitor General Andrew Ferguson wrote that he now agrees that the ERA is dead.

The ERA, as interpreted by pro-abortion activists, could create a constitutional right to abortion. Fortunately, three-fourths of the states are required to ratify a constitutional amendment. This did not happen before the ERA's ratification deadline of March 22, 1979. This deadline was written into the original amendment, but radical pro-abortion activists have chosen to ignore it.

Between the years 2017 and 2020, the legislatures of Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia voted to "ratify" the dead amendment. After Virginia voted in favor of the amendment in January 2020, these radical activists argued that the amendment had surpassed the 38-state minimum required to ratify an amendment. This, of course, refuses to take into account both the deadline and the fact that many states that voted to ratify the amendment 40+ years ago might now hold different stances.

Finally, Virginia has come to understand the ruling of Judge Contreras, who ruled in Virginia v. Ferriero that the ERA's deadline expired decades ago. In his decision, he said that it would be "absurd" for the Archivist to certify the ERA as part of the Constitution. His ruling follows a streak of decisions by federal judges who have all ruled that the amendment is dead.

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4th Circuit Ruling Upholds Injunction Blocking South Carolina Heartbeat Law

On Feb 22, a three-judge panel upheld a district court's ruling blocking South Carolina's new heartbeat law while it is being challenged in court.

The "South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act" was passed into law in 2021. Immediately afterward, abortion businesses filed a lawsuit to block it. US District Court Judge Mary Lewis issued a ruling to temporarily block the law on Jan 27.

The law would prohibit abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectable, which happens at the sixth week of gestation. Additionally, the law requires abortion businesses to perform ultrasounds on each abortion patient, display the results of those ultrasounds to women, and offer women the opportunity to listen to the child's heartbeat if one is detected.

Twenty states filed an amicus brief siding with South Carolina's defense of the new law. They argued that the ultrasound provisions could exist separately from the six-week abortion ban, but the 4th Circuit disagreed in its 3-0 ruling.

"These provisions serve to carry out the six-week abortion ban and make little sense without the ban. As such, the district court did not abuse its discretion by declining to sever the remaining portions of the Act," Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote in the court's decision.

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Abortion Business's Medical Waste and Patient Info Anonymously Left at Pastor's Home

One of many ultrasound images found in the trash
bags left at Fr. Terry Gensemer's home.
Redacted by Operation Rescue

Pro-life groups are filing charges against an Alabama abortion clinic after trash bags filled with medical waste and patient information were anonymously left at the home of a pro-life minister.

Fr. Terry Gensemer, director of CEC for Life, found the bags on his property when he returned home one evening. Upon opening the bags, he and his wife found bloody surgical pads, tubes of fluids, and human tissue. The couple also found papers with the header "West Alabama Women's Center." Those papers contained private medical information and ultrasound photos.

In response, a coalition of pro-life organizations including the Life Legal Defense Foundation, Operation Rescue, and CEC for Life has filed complaints against West Alabama Women's Center (WAWC) with state officials. They demand that the state conduct a thorough investigation into the abortion business's HiPPA violations and illegal disposal of medical waste.

Since 2020, there have been at least two major medical emergencies at WAWC, one of those resulting in a woman's death. In both instances, the women experience heavy bleeding after uterine perforation. The Alabama Department of Public Health has mostly ignored complaints stemming from these incidents, and the clinic maintains its license.

Life Legal Attorney Allison Aranda said, "Though ADPH may appear to have total authority over licensure, ADEM [Alabama Department of Environmental Management] has authority to respond to medical waste violations, and the Attorney General and Lt. Governor certainly have the authority, and hopefully the desire, to investigate a state agency refusing to do its job or a facility injuring and killing the very citizens officials are required to protect."

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Medical Journal Pushes Assisted Suicide for "Terminal" Anorexia

The Journal of Eating Disorders recently published an article suggesting that psychiatrists be allowed to end the lives of anorexia patients who say they would rather die than struggle against mental illness.

The article, titled "Terminal Anorexia Nervosa," argues that some patients suffering from anorexia should be given terminal diagnoses. From the article:

"Designating terminal AN may more readily enable patients to receive palliative care, hospice care, and emotional and practical resources for loved ones, as well as access to medical aid in dying (MAID) where legal. Therapeutic goals in these situations are to ameliorate suffering and honor the life lived."

The article goes on to say that MAID "is offered to individuals whose death is inevitable within six months from an underlying disease process..."

Mental illness does not have an underlying disease process that will end a patient's life like other diseases might. Anorexia can be combated by compelling an individual to receive nutrition.  By diagnosing cases of mental illness as terminal, psychologists will simply be giving up on providing them with treatment. Instead, those who suffer from mental illness can be simply tossed aside.

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US Senate to Vote on Bill Codifying Roe v. Wade

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer scheduled a cloture vote for a bill that would codify Roe v. Wade into law. It was passed last fall by the House of Representatives. If passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Biden, this legislation would force every state to allow abortion with virtually no restrictions.

The deceptively-titled Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA) would establish a federal right to perform and obtain abortions. This right would extend past the point that the child could survive outside of the mother's womb. Additionally, the bill would prevent states from enforcing ultrasound requirements, waiting periods, informed-consent requirements, bans on discriminatory abortions (based on a child's race, sex, or disability), and other safety regulations.

President Biden has already voiced his support for the WHPA, but the legislation is likely to face a significant challenge in the Senate. To pass the WHPA, pro-abortion politicians would need to garner enough votes to bypass the Senate's 60-vote filibuster threshold. This means that every Democrat and at least ten Republicans would need to vote for the WHPA.

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Judge Rules Winnebago County Must Pay $374,000+ for Firing Pro-Life Nurse

Last week, Circuit Court Judge Eugene Doherty issued a decision that Winnebago County must pay over $374,000 in attorney fees for firing a nurse who exercised her conscience rights to refuse to refer for abortions.

After working there for 18 years, pediatric nurse Sandra Rojas lost her job with the Winnebago County Public Health Clinic. In 2015, Winnebago County Public Health Administrator Dr. Sandra Martell fired Rojas for refusing to take on duties including abortion referrals and contraception.

The Court noted in its decision that by "vigorously" pursuing this case over the past five years, Winnebago County has only increased the attorney fees that it must now pay.

“Nurse Rojas’s case set significant precedent and now stands as a seminal case under the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act,” said attorney Noel Sterett, who was part of the team that filed the case on Rojas's behalf. “The Court’s fee award will hopefully encourage other public and private health care employers to respect their employees’ rights of conscience.”

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Supreme Court Asked to Block NY Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers

Healthcare workers in New York petitioned the Supreme Court on Feb 14 to block the state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare employees.

New York's vaccine mandate for healthcare workers does not allow for religious exemptions- something that is particularly problematic for pro-life workers. Many pro-lifers take issue with the fact that all currently available COVID-19 vaccines were either developed or manufactured through the use of cell lines harvested from aborted children. For that reason, those pro-lifers often choose not to take these vaccines.

New York is one of only three states that don't allow workers to file religious exemptions to its vaccine mandate. Workers who do not conform to the mandate will be fired, and they will not be allowed to receive unemployment benefits.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Thomas More Society filed the lawsuit against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on behalf of 17 healthcare workers. These workers argue that the mandate violates their religious beliefs.

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Biden Admin Launches Pro-Abortion Task Force

A new task force created by the Biden administration plans to "protect and bolster" abortion in the US and abroad.

Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched the "Reproductive Healthcare Access Task Force." A Jan 21 press release stated that the task force "is composed of senior-level HHS officials who have been designated by their respective agencies to identify and coordinate activities across the Department to protect and bolster access to essential sexual and reproductive health care."

The press release listed several actions that this task force might consider to promote abortion access. One example involved partnering with other organizations to support policies that promote abortion globally, while another suggested that the task force could initiate a PR campaign to counter pro-life arguments that abortion is not health care.

This task force comes as a response to the upcoming challenge to Roe v. Wade and the increasing number of pro-life state laws. The HHS argued in its press release that pro-life laws lead to an increase in infant mortality, but this argument fails to account for the glaring fact that every "successful" abortion ends the life of a child.

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Nurse Sues CVS after being Fired for Refusal to Prescribe Abortifacients

photo credit: Mike Mozart / Flickr

A former nurse who worked at CVS is suing the company for firing her after she refused to prescribe contraceptives that can work as abortifacients.

Robyn Strader worked as a nurse practitioner at a CVS Pharmacy in Keller, Texas for 6.5 years. During that time, she refused to prescribe birth control medication because it can often function as an abortifacient. Emergency contraception medication attempts to prevent the egg from implanting in the mother's womb. If that egg has been fertilized, it is a human life. Preventing that egg from implanting will abort that life.

The First Liberty Institute is representing Strader in her lawsuit. The organization sent a letter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on her behalf. According to the letter, Strader asked for religious accommodation before she was hired, to which CVS agreed. “[f]or the next 6.5 years,” the letter explains, “CVS accommodated Ms. Strader with no issues. On the rare occasions someone requested contraception, Ms. Strader referred them to the other nurse practitioner at her location or to another CVS MinuteClinic two miles away.”

The letter goes on to state that CVS changed its position in 2021, announcing that “all nurses must perform essential services related to pregnancy prevention.” CVS's definition of "essential services" included the prescription of emergency contraception medication.

“I am a Christian and longtime member of a Baptist Church,” Strader said. “I believe that all human life is created in God’s image and should be protected. For this reason, I cannot participate in facilitating an abortion or participate in facilitating contraceptive use that could prevent the implantation of an embryo, cause an abortion, or contribute to infertility.”

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Senate Confirms Pro-Abortion Robert Califf as FDA Commissioner

Robert Califf
photo credit: Christopher Michel / Flickr

On Feb 15, the US Senate voted 50-46 to confirm Robert Califf as the new commissioner for the FDA.

Califf previously held this position during 2016 under the Obama administration. During this time, the FDA extended the approved use of the abortion pill to the tenth week of gestation. Before then, the use of the abortion pill was limited to the first seven weeks of pregnancy.

Under Califf's direction, the FDA also modified regulations so that abortion businesses could give women abortion pills to take without medical supervision. The second part of the abortion pill regimen causes a woman to go into labor and "miscarry," her aborted child. Without supervision, this process could pose significant risks to the mother's health.

The FDA also decided in 2016 to alter regulations so that the abortion pill's manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, would no longer be required to report adverse events (other than death) linked to abortion pills. After this change, it has been impossible to know for sure just how many women have suffered complications after taking abortion pills.

Califf's past actions demonstrate that he is willing to sacrifice the safety of women to empower the abortion industry.

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New House Bill Would Require Abortion Pill Complications to be Reported to FDA

A new bill introduced by Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) would create reporting requirements for adverse effects associated with abortion pills.

Walorski introduced the Safeguarding Women's and Children's Health Act of 2022 this month to ensure that complications caused by the abortion pill are accurately documented. The legislation would require abortion pill complications to be reported to both the pill's manufacturer and the FDA. Currently, abortion businesses only need to report adverse events to the abortion pill's manufacturer. The manufacturer can then report those events to the FDA, but it is only required to report deaths.

Only 28 states require abortion businesses to report complications directly to the government.

“As chemical abortions become more frequent, American women need to know the risks of abortion pills such as mifepristone. While the Biden Administration’s FDA recklessly removes guardrails on chemical abortion drug prescribing, too many of the facts are unknown. Women who take abortion drugs are ending up in emergency rooms – or worse,” Walorski said.

There is currently an upward trend of prescribing women abortion pills without first examining them to verify the gestational age of the child or if there are any rare pregnancy conditions. If the child is past the gestational age at which the abortion pill regimen is designed to work, attempting the abortion pill regimen could pose major medical risks. The same would be true if the mother had an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy. This is especially risky if the woman attempts this kind of abortion while home alone, which is also increasingly common.

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Fauci NIAID Funding Over $20M for Fetal Tissue Experiments

NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci

An analysis by The White Coat Waste Project (WCW) found that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) run by Dr. Anthony Fauci is putting over $20 million towards studies involving fetal tissue.

The WCW report found that the experiments include such things as transplanting fetal lungs, liver, and thymus into mice.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) is putting $27 million towards such studies. Almost 80% of those funds are coming from NIAID. The NIH plans to spend $88 million on similar research throughout its 2022 fiscal year.

"A majority of Republican and Democrat taxpayers don’t want to be forced to pay university white coats tens of millions of dollars each year to implant fingers, scalps, eyes and other parts from aborted human fetuses into monkeys and mice for nightmarish experiments," WCW Development Manager Christine McPherson told Fox News.

Recently, the government has come under fire for funding several studies involving "humanized mice." Studies such as these utilize cells and organs harvested from aborted children.

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Ohio State University "Sex Week" Asks Students to Make Valentines for Abortionists

Ohio State University is sponsoring an event called "Sex Week" from Feb 13-19. As part of this event, the school is encouraging students to send valentines to thank abortionists.

"Sex Week" is being hosted by a pro-abortion campus group, and it is being funded by Ohio State University and NARAl Pro-Choice America.

In addition to the valentines event, the school will host a panel discussion about how to fight for "reproductive rights" and an open-mic fundraising event for Texas abortionists.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, criticized Ohio state for hosting such "Sex Week" events:

"It’s pathetic that schools are ignoring their mandate to educate students and instead act as though their real purpose is facilitating the parties. This is a great disservice to students. And a huge waste of money for parents. Almost always ignored by these sponsors is the fact that you can’t protect emotionally vulnerable students from a broken heart when they follow the false pitch that all consequences — babies included — can be ignored."

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Marist Poll Finds Support for Abortion Restrictions

A Marist poll released last month found that 71% of respondents support significant restrictions on abortion.

When asked to choose between statements that reflect their opinions on abortion, 71% responded that abortion should be limited to either the first three months of pregnancy, cases of rape and incest, to save the life of the mother, or prohibited entirely.

The poll also found that 73% oppose using tax dollars to fund abortion abroad, 63% oppose mail-order prescriptions for abortion pills. 54% said that organizations with religious objections to abortion should not be required to provide insurance coverage for abortions.

“When it comes to the direction of government policy, there has been consistency and consensus in American public opinion on the issue of abortion over the decades,” explained Dr. Barbara Carvalho, director of the Marist Poll.

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Senators Promote Bill to Help Pregnant Women Keep Working

Legislators are pushing to pass legislation that would make it easier for pregnant women to keep working rather than quit their jobs, delay having children, or feel pressured into abortion.

The Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act has been introduced in every Congress since 2011, but Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have voiced an intent to get it passed this year. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives last May by a vote of 315-101. Since then, it has advanced through several Senate committees.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 protects women from being fired or denied employment due to pregnancy, but it does not require businesses to provide accommodations that would help them to continue working. Proponents of the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act argue that new legislation would help pregnant women by creating a requirement for businesses to provide "simple and reasonable accommodations." Such accommodations might include a place to sit or water to drink.

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Pope Francis Denounces Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Pope Francis spoke on Feb 9 about the importance of providing the sick, elderly, and dying with palliative care rather than euthanasia or assisted suicide.

“We must accompany people towards death, but not provoke death or facilitate assisted suicide,” Pope Francis said.

“I would point out that the right to care and treatment for all must always be prioritized, so that the weakest, particularly the elderly and the sick, are never discarded,” the pope continued. “Indeed, life is a right, not death, which must be welcomed, not administered. And this ethical principle applies to everyone, not just Christians or believers.”

Pope Frances has often commented on modern "throwaway culture" that treats the sick and elderly as if they no longer have worth. The practices of euthanasia assisted suicide, and abortion purposefully and immorally end the lives of human beings with inherent value.

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6th Circuit Allows Federal Funding of Abortion Through Title X

One of the first actions of the Biden administration was to end President Trump's "Protect Life Rule," which prevented Title X family planning dollars from going to organizations that commit or refer for abortions. Now, as the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a preliminary injunction that would have paused Biden's rule change, those funds will start going back to abortion organizations.

Additionally, Biden's rule change mandates that Title X recipients counsel and refer women for abortion.

12 attorneys general led by Ohio AG Dave Yost filed a lawsuit to block the rule change in October 2021. Yost wrote in a statement that the purpose of the Protect Life Rule "was to build walls to prevent the funding of abortion with taxpayer money – which remains illegal."

US District Judge Timothy Black did not agree, and he denied the states' request to temporarily pause the rules pending the results of the states' lawsuit. On February 8, 2022, the 6th Circuit followed suit; also denying a request for a preliminary injunction.

The next round of federal grants to Title X recipients will go out in March.

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