Pro-Life Woman Wins Final US House Race of 2020

New York Rep. Claudia Tenney (R)

Last Friday, pro-life Republican Claudia Tenney declared victory in the close race for New York's 22nd congressional district seat. This comes after the courts took months to check ballots and ensure the integrity of the election- largely at the request of Tenney's Democratic opponent.

When a state judge certified the results on Feb. 5, Tenney led by the slim margin of 109 votes over Democrat Anthony Brindisi.

“We celebrate a record-breaking 30 pro-life women elected to the House as proof that life is winning in America,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, on Friday.

Ironically, Brindisi tweeted on Feb 5: "I am shocked and surprised by this decision because of the countless errors and discrepancies that have occurred throughout this initial count. I believe a full audit and hand recount is the only way to resolve this race."

Tenney's rematch with Brindisi, whom she had lost to in the 2018 election cycle, was the final race to be certified.

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Daily Caller: SBA is Hiding Communications with Planned Parenthood over $80 Million in PPP Loans

Emails obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show that the Small Business Administration (SBA) hid its communications with Planned Parenthood regarding Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. This comes after Republican lawmakers asked for an investigation into how the abortion giant received $80 million PPP loans meant for small businesses and non-profits.

Republican lawmakers have repeatedly claimed that Planned Parenthood obtained the PPP loans illegally, but the SBA has so far declined to comment on those accusations.

“Americans have a right to know why their tax dollars went to Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinics instead of struggling small businesses, non-profits, and churches,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) told the Daily Caller. “The Small Business Administration ought to disclose how Planned Parenthood affiliates gamed the system to illegally receive PPP loans—and then refer those affiliates to the Department of Justice for prosecution.”

The Daily Caller issued a Freedom of Information Act request to the SBA in May 2020, and now they have received heavily redacted emails showing previously unreleased communications between the SBA and Planned Parenthood employees.

According to the Daily Caller, some of those emails appeared to discuss the concerns regarding whether the loans were legal.

The Daily Caller wrote:

"Due to the redactions, it is not clear what the SBA decided or how the SBA rationalized its decision. However, one May 18, 2020 email from an SBA employee to a Sun Trust email address said that the SBA did not have the ability to make a final determination on eligibility as 'these decisions are the responsibility of the applicant and the lender.'

The email noted that an unnamed applicant met the needed 501(c)(3) criteria.

'If other eligibility criteria is met then the submission may be eligible,' the email said."

The SBA also actively avoided answering the Daily Caller's questions about an email with the subject line "PPP funds in new account." SBA spokeswoman Megan Moore originally told the Daily Caller that the financial director's name was left unredacted by mistake. She also said that the SBA could not release information on applicants who “did not ultimately receive a loan.”

The Daily Caller knew, however, that Planned Parenthood of Northern England had received $2.72 million. When the news outlet pushed Moore to explain, she acknowledged that what she had said was false, but insisted that she still couldn't provide information about communications with Planned Parenthood. This included communications between the SBA and Planned Parenthood of New England that happened after its PPP loan was issued.

Click here to read the full article from the Daily Caller.

48 Senators Say They Will Oppose Spending Not Protected by the Hyde Amendment

Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R)

Last Friday, 48 Republican senators sent a letter to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) declaring that they would oppose any spending bills that do not contain the Hyde amendment (which is supposed to prevent federal tax dollars from paying for abortions) or other pro-life protections.

Every Republican senator signed the letter except for Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. No Democrats signed the letter.

A copy of the letter was received by the National Review Online, which wrote:

"'Abortion is not health care; rather, it is a brutal procedure that destroys the life of an innocent unborn child,' the letter states. 'The Hyde Amendment reflects a consensus that millions of pro-life Americans who are profoundly opposed to abortion should not be coerced into paying for it or incentivizing it with their taxpayer dollars.'"

The National Review writes that Montana Sen. Steve Daines, who founded and chairs the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, spearheaded the effort.

Daines, in a statement to the National Review, said, “We have a message for Democratic leader Schumer: We will vote to block any radical, pro-abortion agenda. That includes any bill that undermines the Hyde amendment and other longstanding pro-life protections.”

Because 60 votes are required to overcome a filibuster, these senators hold enough votes to block any abortion-promoting legislation from being passed.

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Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act Voted Down

In a roll call vote in the Senate last Thursday, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act failed to meet the 60 votes required to be passed as an amendment to the 2021 Budget Resolution.

All 50 Senate Republicans supported the amendment, along with Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA). All other Senate Democrats voted against the amendment. This meant that the final vote was 52-48, but a simple majority is not enough to pass legislation in the Senate.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act requires health care professionals to give the same degree of care to a child born during a failed abortion as they would to any other child born at the same gestational age. It further requires them to immediately transport the baby to a hospital.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), when arguing against the bill, referenced the infamous abortionist Kermit Gosnell. He said that because Gosnell was convicted of three counts of murder in 2013 for killing newborn babies, current federal laws already address the issue of babies being killed after they survived abortions.

National Right to Life President Carol Tobias disagrees. “Senator Durbin’s comments regarding convicted abortionist Kermit Gosnell were disingenuous,” she said. “Kermit Gosnell was discovered not because he was killing babies born alive but because law enforcement was conducting a raid on Gosnell who was suspected of selling prescriptions for narcotics.”

“This vote shows just how extreme the majority of Senate Democrats are,” said Tobias. “This bill is not about abortion but pro-abortion groups and their allies in the Senate have tried to make it about abortion.”

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Texas Judge Grants Restraining Order to Keep Planned Parenthood on State's Medicaid Program

photo credit: Bill Oxford / Unsplash

It was expected last week that Planned Parenthood would no longer be awarded Medicaid funding by the state of Texas; since the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the government's decision to do just that. Before the ruling was scheduled to take effect, however, a county judge undercut the Appeals Court by issuing a restraining order preventing Texas from removing three Planned Parenthood clinics from the state's list of eligible Medicaid providers.

After Planned Parenthood argued that Texas did not issue a "proper termination notice" under the state law, Travis County Judge Maya Guerra Gambala issued a restraining order late on Feb. 3 to prevent Texas from blocking Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding. Gambala set a hearing for Feb. 17 to determine whether she will issue a temporary injunction to keep Planned Parenthood in Texas's Medicaid program.

Texas argues that it did issue a termination notice in Jan. 2016, sparking five years of litigation.

National Right to Life, which has been following this battle since the beginning, wrote,

"Planned Parenthood was notified of the final decision to terminate contracts in December of that year, more than a year after Texas officials first moved to remove Planned Parenthood from all Medicaid programs. The following month, after three days of testimony and arguments in the U.S. District Court in Austin, Judge Sam Sparks, a reliable Planned Parenthood ally, issued the initial injunction."

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Argentina Judge Blocks Legalization of Abortion in Northern Province

After a movement partially funded by Planned Parenthood succeeded in legalizing abortion up to the 15th week of pregnancy in Argentina, a judge has blocked the law from taking effect in the country's northern province.

After Argentina's Law 27.610 on Access to Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy (IVE) was passed in the early morning of Jan 27, 2021, pro-lifers filed an injunction against its enforcement. Now, Argentina Judge Marta Aucar of the country's northern province of Chaco has blocked the law from being enforced there. For the time being, the province will revert to Argentina's previous laws governing abortion. Those laws state that abortion is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison.

LifeSite News writes that the legal proceedings in this case, as they often are in the United States, will be slow; eventually culminating in a battle in the Argentine Supreme Court. It also writes that more regions are preparing to take similar pro-life actions to protect unborn Argentinians from the threat of this new legislation.

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Ulrich Klopfer's Brother-in-Law Tells Story of Discovering Hoard of Aborted Baby Bodies

Live Action News recently published an article summarizing the stories told by Dr. Ulrich Klopfer's brother-in-law during an I Choose Life podcast last year. In it, Mark, who chose to keep his last name anonymous, told his personal story of dealing with abortion, since he and his girlfriend were pressured into aborting their child when he was a teenager, and how that experience struck him with guilt. After he became a pro-life advocate, he married a pro-life woman who happened to be Klopfer's sister.

After Klopfer died in 2019, 2,246 bodies of aborted children were found in his Illinois home; transported from the Indiana abortion clinics he worked at.

You can listen to Mark in the I Choose Life podcast below or click here to read the summary from Live Action News.

I Choose Life · Klopfer, A Year Later 9/12/20

Kansas Legislators Approve "Value Them Both" Amendment. Voters to Decide in 2022.

Hopefully following in the footsteps of Louisiana, Kansas voters will have the opportunity next year to declare whether their state's Constitution can be interpreted to include a right to abortion.

Last Thursday, the Kansas Senate approved the Value Them Both Amendment by a vote of 86-38. It was previously approved by the House of Representatives by a vote of 28-11. As a result, Kansas voters will have the opportunity to vote on the constitutional amendment in August 2022.

The Value Them Both Amendment, much like Louisiana's Love Life Amendment, would state that “the constitution of the state of Kansas does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion.”

Kansas lawmakers were motivated to approve the amendment after the 2019 case Hodes & Nauser v. Schmidt, in which the Kansas Supreme Court declared that the state's constitution included a broad right to abortion. The verdict threatens various pro-life laws in the state, which together have reduced the Kansas abortion rate by 50% since 1999.

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Flurry of Pro-Life Bills Introduced in US Congress

photo credit: Daniel Mennerich / Flickr

Last week, several US legislators introduced pro-life bills in Congress. While they approach the issue of abortion from different angles, they all have the goal of saving the lives of unborn children.

The SAVE Moms and Babies Act

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Congressman Bob Latta (R-Ohio) reintroduced the Support and Value Expectant (SAVE) Moms and Babies Act last Thursday. The bill would prevent already-approved abortion drugs from having their regulation status changed. If the bill is passed, regulations such as the FDA's Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy could not be removed from current abortion drugs, and the FDA would be prevented from approving any new abortion drugs.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Also last Thursday, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) reintroduced the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act in the US Senate. Representatives Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) followed up last Friday by introducing the same legislation in the House of Representatives. This bill would require physicians to provide the same degree of health care to babies who survived attempted abortions as they would to any other child born alive at the same gestational age. Physicians at an abortion clinic would then be required to transport the child to a hospital.

The Defund Planned Parenthood Act

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) reintroduced two pro-life bills over the weekend as well. The first of these is the aptly-named Defund Planned Parenthood Act. This would prohibit federal funding from being given to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America or any of its affiliates. The abortion business kills more unborn children than another other US organization and while receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer funding.

The Life at Conception Act

Sen. Paul's second bill, the Life at Conception Act, would give unborn children the protections of the 14th Amendment. These protections would begin at the moment of conception.

Chicago Woman Hospitalized by Abortion Clinic on New Year's Eve

Family Planning Associates abortion clinic in Chicago
photo credit: Operation Rescue

To close out 2020, newly released records show that a Chicago abortion clinic sent a 27-year-old woman to the hospital after aborting her child.

Family Planning Associates on West Washington Boulevard in Chicago, according to 911 records obtained by the Pro-Life Action League, damaged the young woman's womb during an abortion on New Year's Eve. An audio recording of a 911 call made by the clinic was made public by Operation Rescue.

While on the 911 call, an employee with Family Planning Associates said, “We have a patient who just had a surgical abortion.  We believe that she has an injury to her uterus, and we need an ambulance to go to Northwestern Hospital.”

The damage caused by a lacerated or perforated uterus is potentially deadly. Some cases require emergency surgery or even hysterectomy- the surgical removal of a woman's uterus.

According to Operation Rescue, this is the eleventh known medical emergency requiring an ambulance to transport a patient from Family Planning Associates in the past three years.

“I’m sure that no woman ever walks into an abortion facility thinking she will suffer a botched abortion or end up sterile, but this happens more often than people think,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “We want women to know that no matter what the abortion businesses say, abortion is not safe. Women seeking abortions are literally rolling the dice with their health future and their lives. We pray instead that pregnant women will seek out life-affirming help with whatever challenges they face.  It may just save them much grief in the end.”

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Report Shows Planned Parenthood and Marie Stopes International Received Nearly $2 Billion in Taxpayer Funding over 3 Years

photo credit: Giorgio Trovato / Unsplash

A December 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and Marie Stopes International (recently rebranded to MSI Reproductive Services) received almost $2 billion of taxpayer funding.

The GAO works for Congress as a watchdog to find how tax dollars are spent. In its report, it stated that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) provided the majority of the funds given to the abortion organization.

The data comes from the years 2016-2018.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America received $1.6 billion, the International Planned Parenthood Federation received almost $21 million, and MSI Reproductive Services received $86.5 million.

Additionally, the GAO report found that $124 million from Medicaid and the HHS went to four other US abortion providers: Family Planning Associates, American Women's Services, All Women's Health Center, and Whole Women's Health.

Each state has control over how its Medicaid program is run, including whether it will spend its federal funding to cover abortions. Texas, for example, stopped giving funding to abortion providers this week.

The Biden administration has already done away with Trump's pro-life Title X rules and the Mexico City Policy. Biden has also stated that he supports getting rid of the Hyde Amendment, an amendment applied to congressional spending bills designed to prevent federal tax dollars from funding abortions. Given these policies, government spending to promote abortion could increase dramatically under the new administration.

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Polish Parents Outraged After Son was Starved to Death by UK Hospital

photo credit: Ante Samarzija / Unsplash

The Polish patient publicly known as "RS" died from starvation in UK hospital on Jan. 26, even after Polish authorities advocated that he be transferred back to his home country to receive further treatment.

RS was admitted to the hospital on Nov. 6 after experiencing cardiac arrest. He was kept alive in a coma, but University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust applied to the Court of Protection in London at the end of the month to end life support treatment. It argued that RS had little hope of regaining anything more than minimal consciousness.

A judge ruled in the hospital's favor on Dec. 15, with Polish officials and some family members objecting to the decision. Their appeals did not succeed, however.

The organization Christian Concern, which helped fund the legal effort to have RS transferred to a willing hospital in Poland, said that RS had been deprived of fluids and nutrition since Jan. 13. This means he was starved for nearly two weeks before he died.

A statement by Christian Concern said,

“Following a courageous legal and diplomatic battle fought by members of his family and the Polish government to have RS repatriated to Poland, RS lost his life just as Poland was seeking to enforce a judgment of its courts to have him airlifted to a Polish hospital for further treatment and care.

Last night (Jan. 25), the family’s lawyers urgently wrote to the hospital’s lawyers, insisting that nutrition and fluids be reinstated in view of the diplomatic status granted by Poland and the decision of a Polish court. The hospital refused to re-commence life-sustaining treatment in the morning, and reported RS’s death later during the day.”

Christian Concern's press release also included a statement by RS's mother, who opposed her son's treatment by the UK:

“What the British authorities have done to my son is euthanasia by the back door. Depriving him of nutrition and hydration is functionally the same as giving him an injection to end his life, except that the entire process is longer, degrading and inhumane treatment.”

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136 Congressmembers Sign Letter Calling on Biden to Reinstate Mexico City Policy

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) addressing
March for Life in 2017

136 Members of Congress signed a letter last week urging President Biden to reconsider his decision to end the Mexico City Policy.

Biden issued an executive order last week reversing Trump's Protect Life Rule, which reinstated and expanded on President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City Policy. As a result, federal tax dollars will now be used to promote and fund abortion in other nations, even those that do not support abortion.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) authored the letter. In it, he wrote, “Many countries throughout the world have been besieged by aggressive and well-funded campaigns to overturn their pro-life laws and policies.” 

In a statement, Smith said, “U.S. foreign policy—and the foreign entities we fund with billions of dollars in grant money—should consistently affirm, care for, and tangibly assist women and children—including unborn baby girls and boys.”

Smith also referenced a new Marist Poll which found that 77% of Americans oppose using taxes to support foreign abortions.

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Africa Speaks Out Against US Abortion Imperialism: "Help us. Don't kill us."

Screenshot from Obianuju Ekeocha's
YouTube video

As President Biden touted his plan to end Trump's ban on using federal tax dollars to fund or promote abortion in other countries, people across Africa are speaking out against the new administration's imperialist policy.

Even before Biden acted on his campaign promise to end the Mexico City Policy, social activist and Culture of Life Africa founder Obianuju Ekeocha criticized Biden's plan in a tweet, saying, “So Pres Biden intends to repeal the Mexico City Policy so that the United States can resume funding abortion organizations in Africa and other parts of the developing world…to kill our innocent unborn children. We will object”.

She went on to contact people across the continent of Africa and so they could respond to the US change in policy. Together, they created a video showing their unified stance against the Biden administration's plan to change the culture of Africa through foreign spending.

Ekeocha has long-criticized western leaders for using their wealth to push less-developed nations toward support for abortion. In a report released by Culture of Life Africa last year, she called out the UN and many Western nations for using COVID-19 as an excuse to push for more abortions in the continent. Humanitarian aid for the pandemic was often mixed with funding and equipment used to commit abortions.

Foreign interference in the abortion debate can also be witnessed through Argentina's recent legalization of abortion. Planned Parenthood openly touted that it helped to fund the country's political movement to legalize the killing of unborn children.

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Biden Reverses Trump Title X Rule, Restoring Billions in Funding to Planned Parenthood

photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

Planned Parenthood finally cashed in on its investment in political advertising to get President Joe Biden elected on Thursday, as a presidential memorandum signed by Biden ended Trump's 2018 Title X "Protect Life Rule." Biden's action restores millions of dollars in federal funding to organizations that commit abortions or refer patients to abortionists.

Trump's rule required businesses that received federal funding through Title X to separate family planning services from abortion services. Recipients were not allowed to co-locate with organizations that committed abortions or refer patients to organizations that committed abortions.

Live Action News reports that between the years 2013 and 2015, Planned Parenthood received $1.5 billion through the Title X family planning program. The Protect Life Rule caused Planned Parenthood to leave the program rather than comply with the rule.

This new funding could allow Planned Parenthood to abort children in America in higher numbers than ever before, and may even subsidize future political efforts to expand abortion nationwide.

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Biden Ends Mexico City Policy, Allowing Taxpayer Dollars to Promote Abortion Worldwide

photo credit: jlhervàs / Flickr

On Thursday, President Joe Biden followed through on his promise to end the Mexico City Policy, allowing the US to once again use federal tax dollars to fund and promote abortions in other nations.

Biden's presidential memorandum revoked former President Donald Trump's policy, which both reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy after former President Obama left office. Trump's policy banned federal foreign aid funding, not only from being used to commit abortions, but also from being used by organizations that promote abortion in any way.

Furthermore, Biden's memorandum directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to “review the Title X Rule and any other regulations governing the Title X program that impose undue restrictions on the use of Federal funds or women’s access to complete medical information.”

The memorandum also withdraws the United States's signature from the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which said “that there is no international right to abortion, nor any international obligation on the part of States to finance or facilitate abortion, consistent with the long-standing international consensus that each nation has the sovereign right to implement programs and activities consistent with their laws and policies.”

Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser heavily criticized Biden for his decision, accusing him of using federal funds to interfere with the pro-life cultures of less wealthy nations.

“Funneling U.S. tax dollars to abortion groups overseas is an abhorrent practice that flies in the face of the ‘unity’ Joe Biden and Kamala Harris promised to inspire. Rather than rally the nation around common ground policies to affirm and promote life, today they force taxpayers to bankroll abortion businesses overseas, opening up a slush fund for groups like Marie Stopes International and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. These abortion industry giants shamefully push their agenda on deeply pro-life nations and cultures. Americans across the political spectrum oppose the use of taxpayer funding to promote abortion and abortion businesses. Despite this, the new administration is moving forward with a payout to the abortion industry that backed their political campaign.”

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New Marist Poll Says Most Americans Oppose Taxpayer-Funded Abortion

photo credit: American Life League / Flickr

A new poll released by Marist Poll and the Knights of Columbus on Wednesday suggests that most Americans oppose the use of federal tax dollars to fund abortions both overseas and in the US. 

77% of respondents said that they either opposed or strongly opposed the use of federal funding to pay for foreign abortions. Only 19% supported federal tax dollars being used for that purpose. 

53% of respondents said they were pro-choice, but almost 60% of respondents from that subset still said that they opposed using federal funds to pay for abortions in other countries. 55% of Democrats responded this way as well.

Respondents were also asked their opinion on abortion restrictions. The findings show that 76% wanted abortion either banned or limited to the first three months of pregnancy. Only 58% of Americans agreed, however, that federal tax dollars should not be used to fund abortion in the US.

Marist Poll director Dr. Barbara Carvalho said in a press release accompanying the poll results that the statistics show a "consensus" between Americans on abortion restrictions.

“While the number of people who identify as ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice’ tends to fluctuate with the public debate, when given a broader choice of policy options, there is a strong consensus among Americans on abortion,” Carvalho said. “Survey results reveal support for abortion restrictions and an aversion for use of taxpayer funding for abortions abroad.”

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Thousands of Advocates Across the Midwest Participate in March for Life Chicago Tour

On Jan. 23, 2021, almost 600 cars filled with pro-life advocates paraded through downtown Chicago in the culminating event of March for Life Chicago's Moving the Movement tour. The rallies may have been different this year, but organizer Kevin Grillot still calls the tour a success.

The organizers of March for Life Chicago, rather than holding one large event in Chicago, took to the road this year to bring the pro-life movement across the midwest. The Moving the Movement Tour held rallies and processions at six tour stops in four states: Wisconsin, Nebraska, Indiana, and Illinois.

Event organizer and Executive Director of weDignify Kevin Grillot said,

“Our intention this year was to unite and inspire pro-life communities in Chicago and across the Midwest. We faced pandemic restrictions, denial of city permits, and weather challenges, yet the turnout at our stops in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Indiana, and Illinois exceeded our expectations. We were blown away by the dedication of speakers, volunteers and, most of all, the thousands of pro-life advocates who turned out en masse.”

Between in-person and livestream participants, March for Life Chicago estimates that over 8,000 people attended the tour.

The tour also collected diapers for donation to pregnancy resource centers. Organizers set the goal to collect 130,094 diapers, the same as the number of children aborted each year in the midwest. Amazingly, in-person and online donations exceeded that goal by over 25,000 diapers. In total, 156,518 diapers were distributed to 20 pro-life pregnancy resource centers.

March for Life Chicago 2022 is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2022. Organizers plan to once again feature the March for Life Chicago Convention, which was hosted to a capacity crowd.

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200 House Republicans Sign Letter Showing Refusal to Repeal Hyde Amendment

On Tuesday, a letter signed by 200 U.S. Representatives from the Republican Study Committee was sent to Congressional leadership, declaring their “unified opposition to Congressional Democrats’ efforts to repeal the Hyde Amendment and other current-law, pro-life appropriations provisions.”

The Hyde Amendment is a pro-life measure that has been added to federal spending bills for decades. The language is designed to prevent federal tax dollars from being used to pay for elective abortions.

The Republican Study Committee's letter targeted pro-abortion legislators, accusing them of trying to destroy “long-standing, bipartisan protections that generally prevent the federal government from using taxpayer dollars to support abortion procedures.” It continued, “Repealing these pro-life provisions would destroy nearly half a century of bipartisan consensus.”

Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks wrote in a statement of his own, “Despite decades of consensus on this issue, radical Democrats have signaled they no longer have an interest in protecting the conscience rights of millions of Americans who do not want their hard-earned money used to pay for abortions. My colleagues and I demand congressional leaders protect the ban on taxpayer-funded abortions and save the Hyde Amendment.”

Carol Tobias, President of the National Right to Life Committee, voiced her strong support of the Hyde amendment. “The life-affirming impact the Hyde Amendment has had cannot be overstated. The Hyde Amendment has proven to be the greatest domestic abortion-reduction measure ever enacted by Congress. The Hyde Amendment has enjoyed bipartisan support for over 40 years and is widely recognized as having saved over two million American lives since it was first adopted in 1976.”

“Not surprisingly, the Biden-Harris Administration, which enthusiastically embraced the pro-abortion movement’s agenda during the campaign, will be extremely hostile to the unborn child and her mother,” Tobias continued. “We can expect that the Hyde Amendment—which has had overwhelming public support over the years—will only be the first of many pro-life policies targeted.”

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Supreme Court Dismisses Ruling in Texas's Temporary Abortion Ban During Pandemic

photo credit: Ben Schumin / Flickr

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss a Texas abortion case. This means that in the future, this case will not be seen as a precedent for future decisions if similar situations arise.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbot ordered in March for non-essential medical procedures to be halted temporarily due to the pandemic. This was so medical resources could be preserved to help patients with COVID-19. The limited supply of equipment like gloves and masks at the time made it essential to make sure hospital workers had access first.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that the order included all types of abortions since abortion is an elective procedure rather than an essential one.

Planned Parenthood sued, and rulings went back and forth in federal court. A federal judge ruled against the temporary ban, but the Fifth Circuit restored the order in early April. The Fifth Circuit opinion argued that since states could temporarily restrict constitutional rights (such as worship and assembly) during the pandemic, there was no reason why abortion should be treated differently.

Gov. Abbott partially lifted the order on April 22, allowing abortions to resume in Texas, but Planned Parenthood went to the Supreme Court regardless. The abortion business was afraid that leaving the Fifth Circuit's ruling intact could negatively impact future cases. The Supreme Court granted their wish on Jan. 25, vacating the Fifth Circuit's ruling.

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