Department of Justice Agent Changes Testimony Regarding Letter

California DOJ Agent Brian Cardwell
Photo Credit: Jim Hale / LifeSiteNews

On Tuesday, September 10 Department of Justice special agent Brian Cardwell testified under oath that he saw a letter from Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch to then California Attorney General Kamala Harris requesting that Harris start an investigation of pro-life journalists. On Friday, September 30, he took back that statement, saying the letter he saw was not from Lynch. It was likely an already-known letter from Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.; Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.; Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y.; and Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y that was sent to both the Federal and State Attorney Generals.

Peter Breen, a lawyer for David Daleiden, had this about the incident: “[The change in testimony] doesn’t in any way diminish the fact that this is a political prosecution and everyone knows it." Click here for more.

20,000 Pro-Lifers Held Silent Protest in front of Ireland Government Buildings

On September 6, approximately 20,000 Northern Ireland protestors marched to parliament buildings to hold a silent protest of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Act 2019. The legislation requires Northern Ireland to make a provision for abortion laws if its government does not assemble before October 21, 2019.

The protestors silently held lights for six minutes to represent the six counties of Northern Ireland, none of which were represented in the vote for this legislation. “We want our silence to say two things," said Sarah Crutchley, a spokeswoman for the pro-life event. "...First, we, as the people of Northern Ireland, were not asked about this change in legislation, and that it actually goes against public opinion here, and that every sitting MP from Northern Ireland voted against this change, and that the unborn children, they have no voice, they cannot speak so they were not considered in this legislation.”

Click here for more.

Facebook Prompts Investigation of Abortionist "Fact Checkers"

Credit: www.shopcatalog.com

Facebook removed restrictions on pro-life news source Live Action on Wednesday and prompted the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to start an investigation on the abortion advocates who falsely claimed a Live Action post was "false news."

The "fact check" was applied to two Live Action videos which claimed abortion was never medically necessary. They back up this claim by saying that in situations where the life of the mother is in danger, doctors can avoid purposefully killing a baby by simply performing a preterm delivery. In these cases, the preterm children can still be given a chance to live without being purposefully killed by a doctor.

After Facebook contacted the IFCN, the IFCN issued a statement saying that it will conduct a transparent investigation of the fact-checkers. To read more about this story, including the IFCN's description of its investigation procedure, click here.

North Dakota Abortion Pill Reversal Notification Law Blocked by Federal Judge

On Tuesday, September 10, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against a North Dakota law requiring that parents be notified about abortion pill reversal after their daughter starts the abortion pill regiment. Doctors have stated that high doses of progesterone, if taken soon after the first part of the two-part abortion pill regiment, can safely stop the abortion process.

In Judge Daniel Hovland's ruling, he stated,

"State legislatures should not be mandating unproven medical treatments, or requiring physicians to provide patients with misleading and inaccurate information. The provisions of H.B. 1336 violate a physician’s right not to speak and go far beyond any informed consent laws addressed by the United States Supreme Court, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, or other courts to date."

The law does not mandate the treatment, and there are many doctors that attest to the effectiveness of abortion pill reversal. Hundreds of children have been saved by the practice already. Click here for more.

Online Abortion Pill Seller Sues FDA After it Blocks Sales

The FDA intervened in the sale of dangerous abortion drugs over the internet and is facing a lawsuit as a result.

Rebecca Gomperts owns an online abortion pill business in Europe and was selling mifepristone and misoprostol to women who contacted her on the internet. The drug is used to complete early-stage medical abortions, but this online process did not include the approval of a physician. Illegal online sales of abortion-inducing drugs have been linked to forced abortions. Even without being sold illegally, the drugs have been linked to complications or death in some cases.

Gomperts and her lawyer claim that the FDA is using its power to bully her and reduce access to abortion for women in rural states, but the FDA says this action was taken purely to protect women's' safety. A representative of the agency had this to say in an interview with NPR.

“FDA remains very concerned about the sale of unapproved mifepristone for medical termination of early pregnancy on the Internet or via other channels for illegal importation because this bypasses important safeguards designed to protect women’s health,”

Click here for more.

Republicans Hear Testimony at Minority Hearing for Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

43 Congress members gathered at a minority hearing to hear moving testimony from several sources about children left to die after an abortion procedure fails. Republican Congress members rallied together and signed a discharge petition designed to force a vote on the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, a bill brought forward by Representative Ann Wagner from Missouri requiring healthcare practitioners to provide the same level of care to children born when abortions fail as they would to other children born at the same gestational age.

The testimony included a story from Jill Stanek, a nurse who in 1999 found a baby with down syndrome abandoned in a utility room after a late-term abortion failed. The discharge petition currently has 201 signatures, but 218 are required to force a vote on the bill. You can watch the full testimony below or click here to read more.

California DOJ Agent Testified that Investigation was Sparked by Letter from Loretta Lynch

[Note: This agent took the stand again since this testimony and stated that there was no letter from Loretta Lynch. This is likely true because the defense would have received this letter as part of court proceedings and they did not. He was likely referring to a letter from several members of US Congress instead.]

On September 10, testimony in the ongoing legal case against pro-life undercover journalists showed that the investigation was sparked by a letter from Loretta Lynch, the Attorney General under Obama's administration. California Department of Justice agent Brian Cardwell testified that Lynch wrote to Kamala Harris, who was California's Attorney General at the time, asking that she investigate David Daleiden, Sandra Harris, and the Center for Medical Progress. "We've always said it was a political prosecution, but hearing that Loretta Lynch was the one that instigated it, that's a huge, huge factor," David Breen said in an interview with LifeSiteNews. David Breen is a defense attorney for David Daleiden.

Lynch's letter led to the current prosecution of the journalists for 15 counts of illegally taping confidential conversations. They could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Click here for more.

San Francisco Attorney General Moved to Silence Press Coverage of Daleiden Trial.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Deputy Attorney General Johnette Jauron filed a motion on September 10 to place a gag order against the lawyers of the undercover journalists defending against a privacy lawsuit. In the preliminary hearings for the case against David Daleiden and Sandra Merrit, several pro-life news sources have been covering the story intently, and LifeSiteNews has been filming video interviews with lawyers on the defense team to get their takes on each day's events. The prosecution claims that the coverage was causing undue stress to the "victims" (the Planned Parenthood prosecution). Thankfully, this request was denied by the judge in the hearing that took place on September 11.

The prosecution cited an incident of road rage involving one of the Planned Parenthood witnesses, but could not back up the claim that the incident was caused by pro-life coverage of the proceedings. The Planned Parenthood witnesses are already referenced with "Doe" pseudonyms to protect their identities in public coverage. Luckily, the right to a public trial was protected in this instance. Click here for more.

Judge Says Testimony on Whether Live Babies Were Born and Harvested for Parts is Irrelevant

U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick dealt with procedural matters in the upcoming jury trial of undercover journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt. Planned Parenthood is prosecuting them for recording conversations about the sale of human body parts that they claim were confidential under California law. Orrick stated on Tuesday that whether “videos exposed illegal conduct, or whether Planned Parenthood affiliates made a profit from selling fetal tissue, or whether there were any live births during abortion...not particularly relevant to these proceedings."

The journalists' legal team planned to bring forth evidence and witnesses to prove several of those points and argued against this ruling. They say that these points are important to the case because California privacy law excludes recordings related to violent conduct. If a baby was born alive and then killed so that its heart could be sold to Stanford, that would be considered a violent crime and could theoretically acquit the journalists.

Orrick responded that these details, which apparently aren't considered proven, are "not as important or not important at all, as far as what is actually done." He said the only thing the jury will concern themselves with is, "were the defendants allowed to do the things they actually did." Click here for more.

Two Planned Parenthood Facilities in Ohio Close After Losing Funding

Jill Stanek

Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio recently announced that the Springdale Health Center and Western Hills Health Center in West Price Hill will close by September 20. The two clinics in the Cincinnati area could not keep their doors open after losing Title X funding just a month ago. In 2016, Ohio defunded Planned Parenthood from several state programs as well, making operations even more difficult for them.

According to a story from Cincinnati.com, neither of the clinics even performed abortions, but because Planned Parenthood refused to stop referring patients to abortion clinics they still lost federal funding. A New York Times editorial expressed fear that that was likely to happen to many more clinics in the near future. Click here for more.

September 14 Marks the 7th Annual National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children

On Saturday, mourners across the country will visit over 180 locations to mourn and hold memorial services for victims of abortion across the country. Many of these will take place at the burial sites for aborted children. Pro-Life Action League organizer Eric Schiedler says that participation in the event has been increasing over time, and he seemingly expects it to continue that trend this year.

"This year, we've seen a real interest in this issue, I think because so many Americans have thought about abortions this year because of the battles over heartbeat bills in some states like Ohio and Georgia. And we've also seen states like Illinois and New York and others sweeping away abortion restrictions, so as blue states seem to go more pro-abortion and red states seem to be pushing more pro-life, the issue is in front of the public, in front of voters, in front of churchgoers."

The event is co-sponsored by Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Priests for Life and the Pro-Life Action League. Click here to see if there are any memorial sites near you.

Vice Article Argues Pro-Lifers Should Never Have Nursing Jobs

In response to the recent story in which a Vermont Medical Center nurse was forced to perform an abortion, Vice has written a piece stating that "we need to be more discerning about who is worthy of serving the public." In an article titled "If You Don't Want to Provide Abortions, Don't Go Into Healthcare," author Monica R. McLemore makes the argument that nurses who don't provide abortions for patients are not willing to provide necessary medical procedures and therefore not suitable to be medical professionals.

She defines healthcare as any procedure that happens under medical supervision. This is obviously ridiculous because any number of things can happen under the supervision of medical professionals and it would not have to be considered healthcare simply due to that person's presence. This assumption is dangerous and we should be careful to protect the right of medical practitioners to object to performing abortions. Click here for more.

26 Canadian Organizations Denied Public Funding for Being Pro-Life

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

In a move that is apparently the complete opposite of the recent Title X rule in the United States, which reduced government funding for organizations that practiced abortions, the Canadian government has now denied federal funding to 26 organizations due to their pro-life stance on abortion issues. This rule applies to organizations that utilized the Canada Summer Jobs program, an employment and skills initiative.

Pro-life organizations are required to declare that their organization does not actively work to limit access to abortion (which is available during all 9 months of pregnancy for any reason in Canada) or forego funding that was previously used to fund summer jobs. This rule even applies to pro-life pregnancy centers, severely limiting mothers' options for life-affirming pregnancy care. Click here for more.

Mother Who Chose Life After Incestuous Rape Tells Her Story

A brave woman recently came forth to share the story of a daughter she bore even though she was conceived in rape. This woman (who identifies as Angie in the story) was raped by her father and chose to carry out the pregnancy anyway, eventually asking a friend to adopt the baby. She believed that she was in no position to be a mother to this child, but that did not prevent her from allowing the child to live.

Later a similar situation occurred when she was raped by her uncle. This child was born with a heart defect and autism but was able to survive due to early medical treatment. She chose to keep this boy however because she believed he would be safer than a girl would have been in her family. "I love that baby girl and I don’t regret having either of my babies or the choice to give her to someone safe. I chose to hurt so she could live. They were the only beauty to come from tragedy." Click here for more.

Daleiden Hearing: Planned Parenthood Once Again Admits Selling Intact Baby Parts

Daleiden and Center for Medical Progress Legal Team
Lianne Laurence / LifeSiteNews

In part of the ongoing Daleiden hearings, "Doe 12" admitted under oath that Planned Parenthood sold intact skulls and hearts of aborted children. This again bolsters the defense that Daleiden and Merrit were investigating violent acts and the California law prohibiting the recording of private conversations does not apply. She elaborated that a baby's head could be procured either attached or unattached to a body, meaning that completely intact children were born and sold for parts.

The prosecution also attempted to argue that the undercover journalists were given non-disclosure agreements, but had no records of when they were sent. The defense stated that these agreements were not sent to the journalists until a month after conversations had been recorded. Click here for more.

Senator Bernie Sanders Endorses Use of Taxpayer Funds to Subsidize Abortions Abroad

In a CNN town hall on climate change, Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders stated that he supported the use of United States federal aid to help fund abortions in low-income countries.

An audience member asked this question of Bernie Sanders:

“Empowering women and educating everyone on the need to curb population growth seems a reasonable campaign to enact. Would you be courageous enough to discuss this issue and make it a key feature of a plan to address climate catastrophe?”

To which he responded,

"Well the answer is yes. And the answer has everything to do with the fact that women in the United States of America, by the way, have a right to control their own bodies, and make reproductive decisions.

“And the Mexico City agreement, which denies American aid to those organizations around the world that are — that allow women to have abortions or even get involved in birth control to me is totally absurd.

“So I think, especially in poor countries around the world where women do not necessarily want to have large numbers of babies, and where they can have the opportunity through birth control to control the number of kids they have, it’s something I very, very strongly support.”

Several conservative voices have compared this statement with eugenics, a policy that restricts reproduction in order to prevent undesirable characteristics from becoming more widespread in the gene pool. The idea has been connected to racists throughout history who would prefer to limit the reproduction of those from a different race or a lower class. Because Africa has several countries with low incomes and high fertility rates, a policy like this could target African preborn children far more than other races. Click here for more.

Christine Ford's Lawyer Admits Abortion was Part of Ford's Motivation for Attacking Brett Kavanaugh

In a video obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation, Christina Ford's lawyer, Debra Katz, admitted that her client's motivation for accusing Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of rape was at least partially political. “[Brett Kavanaugh] will always have an asterisk next to his name,” Katz said. “When he takes a scalpel to Roe v. Wade, we will know who he is, we know his character, and we know what motivates him, and that is important; it is important that we know, and that is part of what motivated Christine.”

Katz was speaking at a University of Baltimore Feminist Legal Theory Conference entitled "Applied Feminism and #MeToo" last April when the footage was recorded. Click here for more.

Former Planned Parenthood Medical Director Lies Under Oath

On September 5th, a former Planned Parenthood medical director took the stand in the ongoing preliminary hearing against undercover journalists Daleiden and Merrit for recording supposedly "confidential" conversations with some of the most notorious members of the abortion industry. This abortionist, referred to as "Doe 9" in court documents, spoke openly with the journalists at a restaurant about abortion practices designed to leave the body parts of preborn children as intact as possible so that they could be sold more easily. The journalists were posing as potential buyers.

The defense asked Doe 9 if she cared whether the videos were released publicly. "Of course I care," she responded. The defense pointed out that she responded differently while under oath in the deposition of her suit. "I haven't done anything wrong in any of the videos. It doesn't matter to me if any of them are released publicly," she had said.

The statement in her deposition makes the entire lawsuit ridiculous, as it hinges on the confidentiality of conversations. If Doe 9 didn't care how public her statements were, then they couldn't have been confidential. “This is the DA, the attorney general coming forward to bring a prosecution on behalf of victims who don’t know they’re victims and who don’t care if these videos are ever published,” said Horatio Mihet of the defense's legal team. Click here for more.

Daleiden Trial: Late-term Abortionist Administered Potentially Dangerous Levels of Misoprostol

In the preliminary hearings for a suit in which undercover journalists Daeleden and Merritt are being accused of recording "confidential" conversations with abortionists at a National Abortion Federation conference, several big names in the abortion industry will be forced to testify about their dangerous and disgusting practices. On September 5, "Doe 3" took the stand to answer questions from the defense.

She said, "one of the worst nightmares" for her practice was "if a living fetus is delivered out of center." Their late-term abortion process took place over the course of several days, and if the mother gave birth in that period rather than completing an abortion, she considered that event a nightmare. Furthermore, she referred to a born child as a "living fetus," which tells us that the baby's life is not valued even after birth if the mother desired to complete an abortion. This statement is only tangential to the point the defense was trying to make, however.

The defense is pointing out that the amount of Misoprostol that the abortionists were administering to initiate labor in this procedure were harmful to the mother and offered little control to doctors as to whether the child was even aborted. If this is true, then the procedure could be considered a violent felony. The undercover journalists' recording could not be illegal if they were investigating crimes of that nature. Click here for more.

Australia Adopts Increasingly Permissive Euthanasia

New assisted suicide legislation became effective in June in the Australian State of Victoria. Applications for death are approved and at least one patient has already died. With this new legislation in one state of Australia, now others are debating euthanasia laws that are even more permissive. Doctors in West Australia might be allowed to suggest euthanasia to their patients for example, while it is illegal for Victorian doctors to do the same.

Chris Moye, the chair of the Australian Medical Association's ethics committee, is concerned that the Victorian law has started a slippery slope that will end up relaxing euthanasia law far more than intended. "...we haven’t seen how assisted dying works in Victoria and yet the slippage is happening across these various jurisdictions. I think there are two reasons: people were always going to be looking at it (the Victorian law) and the tendency always is to relax legislation.” Click here for more.