The states are energized to pass life-affirming laws in 2021. Of the eleven gubernatorial races, Republicans held seven and picked up Montana, bringing their total to 27 states. Montana Governor-elect Greg Gianforte recently signed onto AUL’s amicus brief in support of the FDA’s safety laws regulating the chemical abortion pill.
The consequences of an election
Once every four years comes a day when there is only one serious topic in public discourse, and failing to address it head on is just evasion. Welcome to Election Day 2020. And since I’ve never been one to whistle past the pachyderm in the drawing room, I offer an analysis of the possible election result scenarios as I see them and their implications for the fight for the human right to life. These scenarios are likely to have a shelf life of just twenty-four hours. By this time tomorrow, three out of four of these scenarios will have proven me a liar, and maybe all four. If the Year of Our Lord 2020 has proven to be anything, it’s an exercise in Chaos Theory. But since, as we all know, “elections have consequences,” and it’s impossible to restrain the human will to prognosticate, here goes.
Life on the ballot in Louisiana and Colorado
Louisiana, which ranked #1 on AUL’s 2020 Life List, has a robust history of passing bipartisan pro-life laws. The Love Life Amendment ensures that there is no “right to abortion” or to taxpayer funding for abortion in the state constitution. It defends against judicial overreach and is a direct response to six judges in Kansas discovering a right to abortion in the state constitution nearly 160 years after it was drafted. The purpose of the amendment is to keep lawmaking authority in its appropriate place, which is the legislative branch.
‘The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God’
During his inaugural address in 1961, John F. Kennedy, the newly elected president and standard bearer for the Democratic Party, stood before the nation and proclaimed, ‘The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe–the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.’ Protecting those fundamental human rights has been a vital part of the work of Senator Katrina Jackson and Senator Regina Barrow.
(Un)happy birthday, chemical abortion: profit first, patient health and safety second
Pushing the FDA-imposed gestational limits for chemical abortion and the time limit for taking the RU-486 dosages, even though abortionists know doing so raises the danger level for women; disregarding the danger of refusing to properly screen for ectopic pregnancies; failing to take into account whether a patient has access to emergency care, are all par for the course for an abortion industry that seemingly cares more about its bottom line than about patient safety.
‘You feel like the world’s potential’
Got one last SCOTUS update for y’all, hopefully for quite some time! Yesterday morning, Justice Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in at the Supreme Court in a ceremony attended by all the Justices except for Breyer (who joined by phone). She moved in chambers and begins work immediately.
Lady Justice takes her seat
Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana was confirmed and sworn in last night as the 103rd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
‘We are going to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court.’
Today is the day. Around 7:30 pm, the Senate will vote on the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
The Werther effect vs the Papageno effect
From Juno, to Gilmore Girls, to life-affirming posts on Facebook and Instagram sharing an honest culture of life that acknowledges the challenges, but revels in the joy and shows women there is a path towards motherhood that is inclusive of their hopes and dreams.
An Instagram moment on Capitol Hill
Senate Democrats have chosen an Instagram moment over substantive political engagement – a whimper instead of the flash-bang tactics of past Supreme Court nomination proceedings. The boycott – like the walkout they conducted after the committee’s approval of Justice Brett Kavanaugh – may have been less combustive than past antics, but it was not more high-minded. One can only hope that future nomination proceedings are better models of civility.
About that misleading abortion rate meme…
The biggest victory for life is that the national abortion rate continues its downward trend, and it is now the lowest rate since 1973, when Roe v. Wade legalized abortion. State lawmakers, emboldened by this summer’s June Medical decision, should press forward and pass life-affirming laws everywhere they can regardless of who’s running the show in Washington come January 21, 2021.
(Un)happy birthday, chemical abortion
Over the next few weeks, Advocates for Life will take a hard look at chemical abortion: its genesis in France and adoption in the U.S., the known risks that caused the FDA to approve it only upon stringent conditions, and the ways in which abortion advocates are pushing increasingly dangerous risks on women for the sake of abortion access and their bottom line.
‘A judge must apply the law as written’
Much like the World Series-bound Tampa Bay Rays, Judge Amy Coney Barrett hit it out of the park last week.
On the stump for Judge Amy Coney Barrett
At the swearing-in ceremony for Justice Antonin Scalia in 1986, President Ronald Reagan set the stage for this very moment in our history, he said: “Today we mark one of those moments of passage and renewal that has kept our Republic alive and strong—as Lincoln called it, the last, best hope of man on Earth—for all the years since its founding.”
‘Waiting to exhale’
The recent documentary on Justice Thomas’s life, “Created Equal,” is essential viewing for anyone wishing to understand the depths to which this process can sink. For the sake of Judge Barrett, and her family, let’s hope and pray that doesn’t happen in her case.
‘Judges don’t have campaign promises’
The role of a judge was a theme throughout the day yesterday. Judge Barrett stuck to the Ginsburg rule–“no hints, no forecasts, no previews”–when she was repeatedly asked to opine on the specifics of past and upcoming cases. It would be inappropriate for any judge to tip her hand to how she might rule in a future case, and Judge Barrett’s commitment to judicial independence was on full display.