Pro-life politicos were pleasantly surprised yesterday when House Democrats failed to attach hostile amendments to two pro-life riders that were part of the Financial Services Appropriations bill, which passed 228-195.

During committee debate, House Pro-Choice Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Louise Slaughter expressed her disdain for both the Harris Amendment, which ensures Multi-State Plans under Obamacare do not cover elective abortions, and the DC Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding for most abortions. So did the White House in a statement, and District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton squawked about DC Hyde during the Rule debate.

Even had they not publicly griped, Democrats as a matter of course add hostile amendments to these annual pro-life riders, even if it’s obvious they’ll lose. (The amendments, if passed, would gut the riders.) They like to showboat.

But yesterday the hostile amendments never materialized. Why?

Abortion activists can’t walk and chew gum?

This was a calculated decision, because even though yesterday was a big day for abortion proponents in the Senate, there were certainly enough members in their cabal to stir trouble in the House.

Yesterday the Senate held a vote on the dubbed “Not My Boss’s Business” bill, which sought to overturn the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision. Abortion proponents considered this a a great opportunity to advance the “war on women” meme, even if passage was impossible. Never mind the House, the bill needed 60 votes to break the Republican filibuster in the Senate and failed, 56-43.

Also yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee debated the inaptly named “Women’s Health Protection Act,” which would invalidate all state laws that limit access to abortion in any way – parental notification, waiting periods, clinic regulations, etc.

This is another pro-abortion bill that stands zero chance of making it to the president’s desk.

While abortion proponents obviously wanted to highlight offensive rather than defensive moves yesterday, they still could have done both.

But they didn’t.

It’s really about abortion funding, but shhh

The working theory among pro-lifers on the Hill is abortion proponents were afraid if they forced a vote on abortion funding with their hostile amendments, it would show their true colors and detract from their contraception and women’s health messaging.

The pro-abortion agenda is indeed to make taxpayers fund abortion. But they didn’t want to muddy the messaging yesterday.

by Hans Johnson and Kelli

FOX’s Megyn Kelly recently took on Patricia Ireland, the former president of NOW (where is the current president, by the way?), regarding the organization’s decision to place the Little Sisters of the Poor on their “Dirty 100” list. What “dirty” deed are they accused of doing? Opposing Obamacare’s contraception mandate.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/8sLRvgIR2fg[/youtube]

You’ll note that from 3:20 to 4:35, Megyn discusses the abortifacient properties of the IUD and the other contraceptives in question in the Hobby Lobby case. Ms. Ireland tells Megyn that she is wrong and needs to “do a little research”. Apparently, Megyn did – and it confirmed exactly what Megyn said. Be sure to note, in particular, 1:16-3:22:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/tSidMhotsNI[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: Thomas S., Susie Allen, Jill]

by Kelli

SofTouch® is the safest, most noninvasive method. The doctor simply inserts a soft flexible tube through the natural opening of your cervix, and applies gentle pressure. This quietly “releases” your late period and induces a miscarriage. Because it is a natural release there is immediate recovery and you can rest assured that when you are ready, you can become pregnant again….

You have an early pregnancy if you have only missed one or two periods. At this stage, it’s more like having a miscarriage. It’s comforting to know that you’re ending the pregnancy before you would even know if it may be viable. An early pregnancy consists of tissue similar to your menstrual tissue and a “bubble” of fluid, called the gestational sac. The pregnancy itself is invisible.

~ A very “nuanced” description of surgical abortion (and accompanying photo, found here) from New York City’s Early Options abortion clinic, as quoted by Live Action News, July 14

As the one-year anniversary approached of the passage in Texas of House Bill 2, a wide-ranging piece of pro-life legislation, I wrote a post, “Texas abortion allies try to ‘recapture the energy’ they said they’d never lose.”

When July 12 came and went without much more than Twitter angst, it became clear to those on the outside the 2013 spark had died.

But does the view from the inside match?

Notes from the July 2 meeting of Dallas for Reproductive Justice, attended by six people, give a glimpse of a statewide movement that is a dying ember of its momentarily fired up former self. And if the pro-abortion furor we saw inspired by Wendy Davis in Texas last year can’t be sustained, where can it be?

In its notes, D4RJ first reported on efforts by Rise Up Texas, the Texas abortion movement’s parent organization:

[A g]roup of core organizers has helped kept it going. Rise Up holds general assemblies…. In RU, people burned out, because of all the time and energy that they spent at the capital…. RU needed time to get back some of their energy…. RU is having a planning meeting on Sunday, 7.6.14…. Long term they aim to rebuild their base - not with the same expectation of #s but stronger….

D4RJ is planning on meeting up the same time of RU’s Sunday meeting, 7.6.14, at 8PM so that we can be a part of the next conversation.

Whoops, ixnay on that meeting and any conversation. From Rise Up’s Facebook page:

But then there is Movable Mob, right? Movable Mob is another spoke in the Texas abortion activists’ wheel, writing about itself: “We are gonna get an RV and go around TX, learning about local repro justice organizing, live-streaming it, and encouraging the unruly mob. Summer 2014.”

Well, hey, that’s now! So what’s happening with that unruly RV caravan? From D4RJ’s notes:

Moveable [sic] Mob is a tour that was planned for 11th of June to end on the 25th (anniversary of the filibuster) but was delayed due to being behind on fundraising, promoting & relationship building. It has been postponed to take place in September although it is still being organized….

Movable Mob’s last Facebook entry was May 12, at which point they were revising the dates of their unruly RV tour to September 8-22, “BUT WE CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT YOU!” An interesting factoid from D4RJ’s notes:

One proposed purpose of MM was to have it two-way as a fundraiser for the Wendy Davis campaign. Rocío communicated that RISE UP discourages this approach since Wendy Davis has tried to distance herself from the issue and since they don’t want to divert energy away from the movements to political campaigns….

Thoughtful of Rise Up to try to conserve energy, since there’s not much of it.

So even though abortion activists were there for Wendy Davis, don’t count on a return favor. She has realized the abortion movement that propelled her to fame is radioactive.

But the passage of HB2 should certainly draw minorities to the abortion movement, right? After all, we were told minorities are the most negatively impacted by a 20-week abortion ban and abortion clinic safety regulations. But no, from the notes:

RU has tried to coordinate with Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition. Some initial reactions were that not seeing anything wrong with HB2 (partially due to stances on abortion). Part of RU’s approach is to inform women of color of the basic facts as who is going to be impacted by HB2 and expanding the issue beyond abortion.

So the abortion issue is radioactive not just with a certain blonde liberal politician but also with women of color. And the only way the abortion movement thinks it can draw them in is to not talk about abortion.

But Texas abortion activists will always have July 12, apparently akin to 9/11. To that end, they held a “#WeRemember HB2 Anniversary Vigil” to mark that somber day. I couldn’t find any photos by any of their groups anywhere, which I thought was odd. Apparently, the vigil wasn’t easy to find…

I finally found video by KEYE CBS News. Here’s a screenshot of attendees…

[HT: Andrew Smith; top photo via Ms Magazine]

UPDATE 2:35p: Annnd SB 1696 goes down in flames. It needed 60 votes to break the filibuster and the final vote is YES 56, NO 43.

by Kelli

Yesterday on Capitol Hill, two panels of witnesses gave testimony on Senate Bill S. 1696, the “Women’s Health Protection Act”, which, if passed, would nullify nearly every state restriction on abortion.

S. 1696 is primarily sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Barbara Boxer (D-CA). Full committee testimonials can be found here.

The Fox News All-Stars panel weighed in last night, with the consensus being that pushing this bill was a bad idea for Democrats.

Charles Krauthammer called it “supreme cynicism on the part of the Democrats,” since “there is no chance in the world that this will ever become law. Harry Reid won’t even allow a vote on it in the Senate…. Even if by a miracle it did pass, there is no way it would survive constitutional scrutiny, because it is such a violation of federalism…. At every level it’s a sham and a show”:

Pro-life Democrat Kirsten Powers and radio commentator Monica Crowley also discussed the bill on The O’Reilly Factor. Powers called it “obviously an election year stunt” adding that it was “destructive, since most laws were put in place to make abortions safe”:

Among those testifying in favor of the bill were abortionist Willie Parker and the head of the Center for Reproductive Rights, Nancy Northup. From the House, Tennessee Reps. Diane Black (also a registered nurse) and Marsha Blackburn testified against the bill.

Black spoke of personal experience in dealing with a woman who died as a result of an abortion from an unregulated clinic. Blackburn mentioned the extremely broad scope of the bill and how it could prevent states from enacting any laws enforcing abortion facility safety, “mak[ing] the abortion process less safe”. She also brought a special exhibit along to put perspective on abortion. (Be sure to watch abortionist Willie Parker’s reactions in the left background when Blackburn mentions the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and when she displays her exhibit.)

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: Thomas S. and Jill; graphic via teapartyorg.ning.com]

Did US Catholic leaders look the other way as to fatten their coffers and beef up sagging numbers?

To think that US bishops will have aided and abetted that is too sad to contemplate.

~ Michael Voris, analyzing the alleged cooperation of some US Catholic bishops and the Obama administration in enabling the wave of illegal immigration at the southern border, Church Militant.TV, July 14

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade in January 2013, Time magazine published a surprising and iconic cover story about how the pro-choice side has been losing ever since it thought it won in 1973. The reasons Time listed were spot on:

1. Pro-life laws
2. Public sentiment
3. Pro-abortion generational in-fighting
4. Playing defense (defending the status quo)
5. Science
6. Stigma
7. Aging abortionists

Indeed, abortion advocates have been in an admitted state of panic for quite some time over building pro-life momentum.

But within the past several days two abortion advocates have separately admitted their side is losing…

• “It’s not just Hobby Lobby: the pro-life movement is winning” ~Sarah Kliff, formerly of the Washington Post, now senior editor at Vox.com
• “Ten reasons women are losing while gays keep winning” ~Dr. Jay Michaelson at The Daily Beast.

Other recent abortion articles have hit on the same theme…

• “How bad medicine is sweeping the country, one state at a time” ~Tara Culp-Ressler at Think Progress
• “Pro-life movement winning the battle over abortion, birth control accessibility” ~Jessica VanEgeren at The Cap Times

Here are 15 reasons why abortion proponents think pro-lifers are crushing them, as lifted from the aforementioned abortion articles. A couple were included in Time’s list, but most are in addition:

1. Obama’s election and reelection prompted pro-life groups to focus on state avenues to pass legislation rather than federal.
2. Due to the Republican wave of 2010, in part in response to Obama’s election in 2008, there has indeed been a huge spike in pro-life laws passed on the state level - 226 since 2011, more than the entire previous three decades combined.
3. The convoluted passage of Obamacare in 2010 was “rocket fuel” to the pro-life movement, writes Kliff, quoting Americans United for Life’s Charmaine Yoest, which led to the introduction of some of those bills.
4. A profusion of abortion clinic closures, 81 in 2013 alone, according to Operation Rescue. The number of abortion clinics has decreased by 73% to 759 from a high of 2,176 in 1991.
5. Moves to defund Planned Parenthood.
6. The Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision.
7. The Supreme Court’s buffer zone decision.
8. The abortion lobby’s inability to reframe the debate into one about discrimination. “Unfortunately, even the name ‘pro-choice’ reinforces that the movement is about acts and not identity,” writes Michaelson.
9. The abortion lobby’s inability to reframe the issue into one all can relate to.
10. The abortion lobby’s shortage of poster children. Sandra Fluke, for instance, was a dud.
11. Their opponents (us!) are “sophisticated… smart and methodical,” according to Michaelson.
12. Even liberals as a political body aren’t united in support of abortion, because as Michaelson admits, “Abortion is a kind of murder.” Ew.
13. No Fortune 500 corporations are lining up to support abortion, as they are with the homosexual lobby, which would bring “movement dollars and public awareness,” writes Michaelson.
14. “Feminism has an image problem,” writes Michaelson.
15. Religion: “Secular arguments about the separation of church and state may play well to the base,” writes Michaelson. ”But they don’t move the middle.”

In a nutshell, quoting VanEgeren:

Whether it’s through hundreds of laws passed at the state level or the recent Hobby Lobby decision that allows companies to deny birth control coverage to employees on religious grounds, the pro-life movement is on a winning streak over access to abortions and birth control.

“It’s kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager with the Guttmacher Institute, a think-tank focused on sexual and reproductive health policy. “I’m not entirely sure what will happen next.”

Well, here’s another shoe, impossible for abortion proponents to fill. Quoting Sarah Weddington (pictured right), the lawyer who successfully persuaded the Supreme Court in Roe v Wade, speaking at an event on July 12, via KnoxNews.com:

“Today, the young people are so much further (along) than I was at their age,” she said. “They speak more languages. They go on more trips. They have to show me how to use my iPhone … but one of the things we haven’t quite managed to do is to give them the same burning motivation to change things that we believe are wrong in the way that we did.”

In other words, the pro-choice crowd has no rear guard. They killed them.

[Top photo via The Cap Times; non-feminist photo via BuzzFeed (warning: vulgarity); bottom photo via Vox]

by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN, and Kelli

• The FRC Blog explains how Democrat Sen. Patty Murray’s hasty “Protect Women’s Health From Corporate Interference Act of 2014” bill is actually anti-civil rights, anti-constitutional, anti-business, anti-religion, anti-woman, and just downright discriminatory.
• At National Review, Michael J. New says a new poll from Rasmussen – though it records greater pro-choice sentiment than pro-life – actually suggests that “pro-life sentiment has reached an all-time high”. He also writes that despite mainstream media’s effort to spin this year’s decrease in pro-life legislation in favor of abortion supporters, “2014 ranks as the tenth-most-productive year on record in terms of the number such laws passed” since Guttmacher began tracking the laws in the mid-80’s.

• Expose Abortion shares a 2004 quote from abortionist Marilynn C. Frederiksen (pictured left), who admits that live-birth abortions can and do happen, despite abortionists’ efforts to end the life of the child in utero:
  

  I have been unable in certain cases to actually put a needle into the heart for technical reasons or because the mother is obese or the fetus is in a particularly difficult position to gain access to the heart. When you put these agents not in the heart or near the heart, you can’t guarantee fetal death.

  So the question is: what happens to the child in such cases? Does the abortionist then “guarantee neonate death” by committing infanticide?

• Clinic Quotes shares a statement which demonstrates the odd mental gymnastics abortion advocates must perform when they choose not to value human life at all stages. Abortion supporter Lana Clarke Phelan is quoted:
  

  Another cliche [used by doctors to refuse to do abortions] is the timeworn “life has begun and I cannot play god” bit, yet daily each doctor sees nothing unethical in excising a cancer, performing a vasectomy on a requesting male without question, or using antibiotics to frustrate the will of god regarding life and death.

  Though this statement was made in 1968, we hear the same rhetoric today among many in the abortion advocacy camp. Knowing how far we have come in our ultrasound technology, it is startling that human life is still compared to a cancer.

• At Live Action, Monica Kelsey (pictured right) says that as an adoptee, she did not learn of the circumstances surrounding her conception until she was an adult. Her story is a challenge to all those who consider themselves “pro-life with exceptions”:
  

  This idea of every life having value is rejected by the pro-abortion movement, but you may be surprised to learn that it’s a common attitude of some pro-lifers as well. As a child conceived in rape, I am constantly reminded by some in the pro-life movement that I am expendable, an exception. As a result, I am compelled to prove my worth professionally and personally every day of my life as if I’m a less valuable member of society due to the nature of my conception. My question is simple: Why?

  Why should I base my value on what others believe about the circumstances surrounding my creation? The answer equally is simple: I shouldn’t! But some in the pro-life movement have turned children conceived through rape into second class citizens for more than 41 years. This is an everyday struggle for me and others conceived in rape. It comes with its own set of challenges, which include the dehumanization of our very existence.

• At Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Dr. William Toffler of Physicians for Compassionate Care writes that when a patient requests assisted suicide, it is really a cry for help and affirmation – not a request for death:
  

  The truth is that we are not islands. How physicians respond to the patient’s request has a profound effect, not only on a patient’s choices, but also on their view of themselves and their inherent worth.

• Abstinence Clearinghouse adds a benefit to abstinence that isn’t often mentioned – a greater likelihood of marital faithfulness:
  

  Multiple studies have shown that individuals who remain abstinent before marriage have a better chance of remaining faithful in their marriage. When spouses are faithful within marriage, it allows the couple, and specifically the male, to build, save, protect, plan and prosper. So abstinence before marriage and faithfulness within marriage have historically protected the individual and society.

• Big Blue Wave links to an Express article from the UK which exposes the practice of aborting disabled babies mere days before their due dates. Some MPs have expressed outrage at the news:
  

  Conservative MP Fiona Bruce [pictured top left], co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-life Group, said: “I do not understand how we can have a law which allows the life of a baby with a disability to be ended at full term. It is a graphic illustration of society’s inconsistency on disability.

  After birth we work hard to ensure equality, but before birth we have laws to prevent the disabled taking their first breath. This medieval, cruel, discriminatory law must change.”

  Labour MP Rob Flello [pictured bottom left] added: “We have a Jekyll and Hyde approach to disability. One one hand the entire country can be united in praise of paralympians. On the other we can permit the abortion of children at nine months simply for the crime of having a disability.”…

  Last year a parliamentary commission called for change in the law after hearing rules even allowed abortions at 40 weeks on grounds of disability.

  It learned that abortions can be carried out on babies with a cleft lip or club foot, conditions that can be rectified after birth. One doctor reported that on some occasions a wrong diagnosis had been given and the dead foetus was found to have no disability.

[Photos via monicakelsey.blogspot.com, nmh.org, express.co.uk, sharonpavey.org]