Doctors Refused to See Pregnant Woman Because of COVID-19 Pandemic. She Died Shortly After Giving Birth.

Screenshot from Amber Isaac's Twitter account

First-time mother Amber Isaac died early on the morning of April 21 at Montefiore Medical Center after giving birth to her son during an emergency C-section. New York doctors refused to see her for a month even though her partner attests that her condition was worsening since February.

“She had mentioned to me that she feels like she’s not gonna make it,” McIntyre told The City. “And I would try my best to cheer her up. She would tell her mom she’s really glad the baby is healthy, but she’s scared that she’s not gonna make it.”

After her family insisted that doctors see her, she was allowed to have a checkup in April, when doctors diagnosed her with HELLP syndrome. The condition is deadly if left untreated, so doctors at Montefiore Medical Center performed a C-section to end Isaac's pregnancy (note that this process is significantly faster than an abortion) and begin treatment. Sadly, the mother died after the C-section and was never able to see her child.

“As soon as they took the baby out, her heart stopped,” McIntyre said.

Isaac tweeted four days before her death that she would write a "tell-all" about her experience with Montefiore Medical Center after everything was over. 

The hospital's refusal to see her before the last minute is a deadly display of the effect healthcare rationing can have, especially on disadvantaged and minority populations with few options.

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California Doctor Criticizes State Governments for Taking Some Rights Away While Allowing Abortions During COVID-19 Pandemic

California Governor Gavin Newsom
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

“I'm here representing thousands of physicians around the country, whose voices must be heard,” said Dr. Jeffrey Barke at a California rally in opposition to government overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I'm here representing thousands of physicians across the country whose voices are being silenced because we don’t agree with the mainstream media and the experts who are telling us what to do.”

Dr. Barke criticized the California state government picking and choosing which actions citizens can take during the pandemic. “Never in the history of this country have we been told that you can’t go to church because it’s ‘non-essential’ but you can go get an abortion because that’s ‘essential,’” he said. Dr. Barke also pointed out that liquor stores and pot dispensaries were allowed to remain open while citizens with other businesses were forced to remain closed.

The Illinois state government faces all the same criticisms. It allows abortionists to continue providing elective surgical abortion while other businesses are forced to stay closed or provide their services in a much more limited capacity.

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ACLJ Submits FOIA Request to Illinois Asking Why Elective Abortions were Exempted from Surgery Restrictions

Photo Credit: Illinois Public Radio / Flickr

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the state of Illinois to find out why elective abortions were exempted from any restrictions on elective surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The fulfillment of this request would expose any collaboration between pro-abortion organizations and decision-making officials.

An excerpt from the ACLJ's FOIA request states:

"The Request is made by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) on behalf of itself and more than 137,000 of its members (nearly 4,000 of whom reside in Illinois) who have signed a petition to ban elective abortions during the pandemic and who object to, and demand accountability for, the inclusion of reproductive healthcare providers in Executive Order 2020-10, which will allow abortion during a pandemic, while all other elective procedures are halted. 

To summarize, this Request seeks records regarding communications concerning Executive Order 2020-10 between Governor JB Pritzer and/or Lt. Governor Julianna Stratton (or their staff), and the Illinois state legislature, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois  Attorney General, Illinois NARAL, Personal PAC, and Planned Parenthood Illinois Action.  This Request also seeks any other records of which the Executive Offices or the Department of Public Health are custodians which concern the inclusion of reproductive healthcare providers in Executive Order 2020-10."

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Zoom Founder Signed Letter Calling Abortion Restrictions "Bad for Business"

In June of 2019, Zoom founder Eric Yuan signed a letter organized by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL Pro-Choice America, The American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Reproductive Rights which called pro-life laws enacted in several states "bad for business" among other things.

The pro-abortion sources of the letter received signatures from over 180 U.S. companies and had the letter printed as a full-page ad in the New York Times.

An excerpt from the letter states:

"Restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the health, independence and economic stability of our employees and customers. Simply put, it goes against our values and is bad for business. It impairs our ability to build diverse and inclusive workforce pipelines, recruit top talent across the states, and protect the well-being of all the people who keep our businesses thriving day in and out. The future of gender equality hangs in the balance, putting our families, communities, businesses and the economy at risk."

Zoom, which received a surge in popularity as a work-from-home tool during the COVID-19 pandemic, proved that it would rather have its employees kill their children so they don't miss work than support them as mothers. This letter further supports the idea that women who choose to be mothers can't be valuable employees, and perpetuates the practice of employers discriminating against women during the hiring process.

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Researchers Find 10 out of 16 COVID-19 Vaccine Development Front-runners Don't Use Aborted Baby Cells

Photo Credit: Nathan Forget / Flickr

The Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life research organization, published an article covering how many developing COVID-19 vaccine programs are using cells from aborted babies to try to accomplish their goals. The institute found that only five out of the 16 programs currently “now in registered trials or in early stages of pre-clinical development,” use cells harvested from aborted children.

The institute identified 115 vaccine programs, but only those 16 had finished their investigation stages and chosen a strategy for development. Of those 16, five were found to use cells from aborted children, ten were found to use other cells, and the source of cells in one program could not be identified.

Scientists have proven that vaccine development can move forward without taking advantage of innocent children. Hopefully, the other programs still in their investigation stages can learn from this and choose to avoid ethically questionable sources of cells.

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Pennsylvania Governor Vetoes Telemedicine Expansion Bill for Using FDA Standards on Abortion Pills

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have expanded the availability of telemedicine, which could have saved lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. His reason? The bill included a ban on drugs not approved under the FDA's Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) standards.

In response to criticism, Gov. Wolf said, “As amended, this bill interferes with women’s health care and the crucial decision-making between patients and their physicians.”

The REMS requires that abortionists be physically present to provide abortion pills to women because the pills are linked to dangerous complications such as hemorrhage and even death if they are given to women with undiagnosed conditions such as ectopic pregnancy. Gov. Wolf's veto not only doesn't reverse the FDA policy, but it prevents Pennsylvanians from the opportunity to receive other important medication through telemedicine.

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ACLU Teams up with Abortionists to Sue Arkansas over COVID-19 Mitigation Requirements for Elective Surgeries

Arkansas State Capitol
Photo Credit: Mike Rastiello / Flickr

The American Civil Liberties Union and abortion businesses in Arkansas are suing the state for its new COVID-19 mitigation policy requiring people who want elective surgeries to test negative for the coronavirus.

Their lawsuit states: “Delaying abortion care across the board for a COVID-19 test is especially unwarranted in view of Arkansas’s otherwise permissive approach to letting individuals mix and mingle in restaurants and gyms without negative COVID tests. For women who cannot obtain access to COVID-19 NAAT testing within 48-hours of their procedures, the Directive entirely bars them from exercising their constitutional right to receive pre-viability abortion care in Arkansas.”

The Arkansas policy is not a simple case of the governor singling out abortion businesses, however. The policy affects all providers of elective surgeries, including dental procedures. It was put in place because social distancing is not possible during surgical procedures such as abortion. Furthermore, businesses like restaurants and gyms do not use the supply of personal protective equipment needed by physicians treating patients with COVID-19, while elective surgery providers (including abortionists) do.

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Illinois Reproductive Health Act Fact 7: More Legal Inconsistency Regarding the Rights of Unborn Children

The Illinois Reproductive Health Act creates exceptions to the criminal code for when an unborn child is killed due to an abortion. Now, typical punishments for “Intentional Homicide of an Unborn Child”, "Voluntary Manslaughter", "Involuntary Manslaughter", "Reckless Homicide", "Battery", and "Aggravated Battery" cannot apply to cases when the child was killed due to an abortion (though they were unlikely to apply before).

This creates a strange inconsistency under the law. The Illinois Criminal Code calls an "unborn child" an "individual of the human species," while the Illinois Reproductive Health Act says "A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this State."  Either this was an unintentional disparity, or state politicians outwardly acknowledge their bigoted belief that some humans deserve more rights than others. Learn more by clicking the link below:

GET THE FACTS - Click here to view or download this week's fact sheet.

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Daleiden Attorneys Plan to Appeal Guilty Ruling in Baby Body Parts Case

David Daleiden
Photo Credit: American Life League / Flickr

Lawyers representing undercover investigator David Daleiden and others who helped uncover the truth about Planned Parenthood harvesting and selling aborted baby body parts have appealed a court decision finding the investigators guilty of 10 counts, including racketeering.

Thomas More Society attorney Peter Breen, one of the lawyers who served on the investigators' defense team, said, "The legal theories that Planned Parenthood employed in the case against David Daleiden could be used by any entity or politician or person against an undercover journalist who was exposing wrongdoing, whether it be corrupt politicians, whether it is those who are abusing animals -- anything. They can use these same legal theories against undercover journalists."

The verdict Daleiden faces, if nothing is overturned, includes $2.3 million in compensation to Planned Parenthood for security upgrades and reputation management services. It paid for these services after the investigators released videos of abortionists discussing how they harvest organs from aborted children.

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56 Pro-Life Leaders, Including National Right to Life President, Push FDA to Enforce Ban on Abortion Drugs Sold Over Internet

Photo Credit: mattza / Flickr

In a letter sent to the Food and Drug Administration, 56 pro-life leaders urged officials to enforce already-existing policies banning the sale and distribution of abortion drugs online.

Websites that sell abortion pills and ship them directly to a patient without them needing to meet with a doctor to have an ultrasound violate the FDA's Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). The federal government applies these protections to abortion pills because women with undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies or without good direction from a doctor are at risk for potentially deadly complications if they attempt DIY abortions using the abortion pill regimen.

“Internet sales of mifepristone have the potential to multiply the inherent dangers of the drug combination, further endangering women’s lives which are already at risk in the abortion procedure,” said National Right to Life President Carol Tobias.

Click here to read the National Right to Life Statement.

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Indiana Asks Supreme Court to Hear Medicaid Abortion Funding Case

Indiana State Capitol
Photo Credit: Drew Tarvin / Flickr

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill filed a request with the Supreme Court to review a case regarding states' right to determine whether abortion businesses can receive Medicaid funding.

“States have authority to determine who is a qualified Medicaid provider,” State Solicitor General Tom Fisher told CNA on May 1. Because Indiana officials did not want to subsidize abortions "even indirectly," they excluded abortion providers from their list of qualified Medicaid providers.

The Solicitor General told CNA that he was hopeful the Supreme Court would take this case.

“We pointed out to them this time that the lower courts are in conflict over whether Planned Parenthood or other Medicaid providers who get disqualified can sue a government,” Fisher said.

In 2018, the Supreme Court denied requests from Kansas and Louisiana to hear similar cases. Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas filed a dissent arguing that the court should have taken the case. The three justices noted that lower courts had ruled on both sides of the issue, and the Supreme Court needed to clarify the situation.

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Federal Judge Refuses to Grant Restraining Order Against Arkansas Surgical Abortion Restrictions During Pandemic

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker refused to grant a temporary restraining order against Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s second executive order restricting elective surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After Gov. Hutchinson's first executive order expired, she issued a new order aimed at starting to open up the state to business once again. There are three criteria elective surgeries must meet to be legal under the governor's new order:

1) The patient must test negative for COVID-19 48 hours before the procedure.

2) The surgery must be an out-patient procedure.

3) The surgical facility must have an "ample supply" of personal protective equipment.

The ACLU stepped in to challenge the requirements on behalf of Arkansas's only surgical abortion facility, claiming the requirements put too much of a burden on women seeking abortions. Without a temporary restraining order, a judge would have to hear the entire case and make a full decision if the ACLU were to press further to block the executive order.

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137 Members of Congress Urge Supreme Court to Keep Planned Parenthood from Using Federal Courts to Get Medicaid Funds

Photo Credit: Joe Gratz / Flickr

On April 29, 137 members of Congress filed a brief with the Supreme Court asking them to keep third parties, such as Planned Parenthood, out of the decision-making process regarding which medical providers will be reimbursed with Medicaid funds.

Abortionists in states with pro-life governments have sued states in federal courts when state officials deemed that abortion businesses were not qualified to receive Medicaid funds. Circuit court judges have ruled on both sides of the issue. It is now up to the Supreme Court to determine which side of the circuit court opinions will stand.

“Planned Parenthood pulls in over a billion dollars a year, largely through Medicaid reimbursements, and the abortion giant has no qualms pursuing every penny of profit,” said National Right to Life President Carol Tobias. “It’s no surprise they are willing to go to court to keep their profit margin.”

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Court Orders Pro-Life Undercover Investigators to Pay Over $1.5 Million in Baby Body Parts Case

Pro-Life Undercover Investigator David Daleiden
Credit: American Life League / Flickr

Following the six-week trial that took place in November of last year, a San Fransisco Judge has now ordered pro-life defendants sued by Planned Parenthood for recording conversations that were supposedly private to pay over $1.5 million. This number will be even larger once it includes Planned Parenthood's attorney fees.

The pro-life undercover investigators found to be "joint and severally liable" by the court include Operation Rescue President Troy Newman; David Daleiden, who became the face of the undercover investigation; Sandra Merritt; Albin Rhomberg; and Gerardo Adrian Lopez.

The undercover investigators working with the Center for Medical Progress released videos in 2015 showcasing their conversations with Planned Parenthood abortionists. The investigators posed as potential buyers for baby body parts, and abortionists working for Planned Parenthood detailed what their procedures were for procuring intact body parts from children. Some of these conversations revealed that abortionists would go out of their way to alter an abortion procedure to make sure body parts remained intact and usable by interested buyers.

The $1.5 million includes reimbursement for Planned Parenthood security upgrades the abortion company purchased after realizing they had been recorded.

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Illinois Reproductive Health Act Fact 6: The State of Illinois Can Hide Abortion Information and Statistics

Before the Reproductive Health Act was passed, the public could request abortion statistics from the Health Department, which collects reports from every legal abortion in the state. The Reproductive Health Act created an exception to the Freedom of Information Act, however. Now, the state will hide information in these reports and could even keep abortion statistics from citizens. Learn more by clicking the link below:

GET THE FACTS - Click here to view or download this week's fact sheet.

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Biden Calls Abortion "Essential Health Care" During Virtual Town Hall

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

In a virtual town hall, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called abortion "essential health care" and criticized state politicians for temporarily banning abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Finally, we need to ensure that women have access to all health services during this crisis,” Biden said, adding, “abortion is an essential health care service.”

“States should not be using public health crises to infringe on a woman’s constitutional right” to abort her child, the candidate later added.

The town hall was themed around the impact of COVID-19 on women and included a presidential endorsement from former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. During her time on screen, Clinton said, “every form of health care should continue to be available, including reproductive health care for every woman in this country.”

Biden's stance in favor of abortion is in stark contrast to President Donald Trump, who altered Title X funding requirements to prevent abortion businesses from taking that taxpayer funding. He also became the first sitting president to speak at the annual March for Life rally in Washington D.C earlier this year.

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Louisiana Clinic Hospitalizes Woman While Defying Temporary Abortion Ban

Even during a state order that is supposed to temporarily shut down abortion businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak, an abortion clinic in Louisiana not only continued to do business but hospitalized a patient.

The Women's Health Center in New Orleans, Louisiana was supposed to be closed due to an emergency order from the state. Several states have chosen to ban elective medical procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic to slow the spread of the coronavirus and lessen the strain on medical equipment like surgical masks. Louisiana was one of those states, but abortionists continued business as usual.

On April 21, the Women's Health Center hospitalized one of its patients. A pro-life activist outside the clinic provided a photo to Operation Rescue showing an African American woman in a gurney being loaded into an ambulance. The organization attempted to learn more by filing a public records request, but it was rejected by the New Orleans City Attorney’s office.

Abortion clinics don't only hurt their patients when they continue their deadly procedures during a pandemic, they put an unnecessary strain on emergency medical workers and put even more people at risk.

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Mother Shares Story of Arguing with Doctors Who Wanted to Let Her Son with Down Syndrome Die

Photo from Facebook

In an article she wrote for The Mighty, a mother named Jackie Tang told the story of how doctors repeatedly tried to convince her to abort her son or allow him to die by ending his treatment for his medical issues after his birth.

Tang had recently separated from her husband before learning she was pregnant. Doctors diagnosed her child with a heart defect, blockage in his bowels, fluid in the lungs, and a high chance of Down syndrome. They repeatedly pressured her to take tests that would confirm the Down syndrome diagnosis, but she refused.

"I was advised to get an amniocentesis test done before it was “too late” to terminate. I knew that the test would be invasive and risky, so I told the doctors that I was satisfied to work with the assumption that my baby did have Down syndrome. I told them that termination was out of the question."

As the diagnoses piled up, she was given a choice:

"I was told my baby was dying and would not survive to term. I was given three options: to let him die in the womb and deliver him stillborn, to have him delivered immediately with no likelihood of survival, or to prolong the pregnancy as much as possible by presenting at the hospital three times a week (from memory) for a few hours each visit, for steroid injections and monitoring of the baby’s heartbeat. I chose the third option."

Tang writes that her son, Noah, was born at 34 weeks gestation and required resuscitation. He underwent many medical procedures at the beginning of his life to treat numerous medical difficulties. His mother writes that doctors pulled her aside on multiple occasions even after his birth asking her to stop providing him medical care so they could let him die.

"[A doctor Tang refers to as 'doctor 2'] said she wanted to check in because most NICU parents start to question the wisdom of continuing treatment when they’re at the 6-8 week mark, and they start to feel that they need to get their life back on track. She wanted to give me the option to withhold treatment and let him die. I said that wasn’t me, and I didn’t care about the screaming, I wanted them to throw the book at Noah when it came to saving his life."

Noah is now 5 years old and has completely overcome many of his medical problems, but his mother says that he still faces discrimination.

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Planned Parenthood in New York City Hospitalizes Patient During COVID-19 Pandemic

A Planned Parenthood clinic hospitalized a patient in New York City last week, forcing emergency medical workers in the largest hotspot in the country to respond to a completely unnecessary injury. 

Operation Rescue reported that the Margaret Sanger Planned Parenthood in New York City had to load one of its patients into a Mount Sinai Hospital ambulance on April 24, 2020. A video recorded by a pro-life bystander shows New York Fire Department personnel with an additional ambulance helping to load the patient into the Mount Sinai Hospital ambulance.

New York's state government ordered that all non-essential surgeries be postponed during the COVID-19 outbreak, but it falsely classifies abortion as an essential medical service. While many workers, including medical workers, lost their jobs during the outbreak, Planned Parenthood continues to profit from its deadly work.

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US Bishop Calls Catholics to Stop Vaccine Research Using Aborted Babies

Photo Credit: St. Philip Institute / YouTube

Bishop Joseph Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler in Northeast Texas released a letter calling Catholics to oppose the development of COVID-19 vaccines using cells from aborted babies.

In his April 23 letter, the bishop wrote, “Tragically, people are not aware of or have chosen to turn a blind eye to the advances in medical science which allow vaccines to be developed with the wholesale use of aborted children’s bodies... Just because the crime of abortion is considered legal in our nation does not mean it is morally permissible to use the dead bodies of these children to cure a global pandemic. Emphatically, this practice is evil.”

The bishop elaborates that in his conversations with scientists he has learned of many other sources of cells that can be successful in the development of vaccines, including umbilical, placental, adult stem, and insect cells.

“As your Shepherd, I urge you to join me, NOW, in passionately but prayerfully speaking out against this practice,” Strickland wrote. “We must insist that legislators create legislation which establishes the illegal and immoral nature of any use of the remains of aborted babies for research. Further, we must insist that pharmaceutical companies comply with such legislation. I believe this can be a significant building block in a culture of life which eliminates the taint of economic gain that too easily infects the abortion industry.”

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