Tag Archives: Pro-Life

Commentary

Mark Steyn on big government and the violence of abortion

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From his web site. He reflects on the Philadelphia abortionist, Dr. Gosnell.

Excerpt:

Oh. Well, “Dr” Gosnell’s just one rogue abortionist. How about the “right to choose” over at Planned Parenthood? There are a whole range of choices – not so much for the illegally smuggled underage foreign sex slave, but at least for her pimp. If you’re a middle-aged guy running a child-sex business, you have the “right to choose” what’s best for that 13-year old Venezuelan hottie you brought over a couple weeks back. As the Falls Church clinic assures him:

We don’t necessarily look at the legal status, like I said.

That’s good to know. With Planned Parenthood aiding and abetting child prostitution, my friend Rich Lowry argued that the back alley is back:

With Planned Parenthood aiding and abetting child prostitution, my friend Rich Lowry argued that the back alley is back:

Legal abortion was supposed to end “back-alley abortions,” both their dangers and their entanglements with shady characters. But the practice and the mores of the back alley are with us still, tolerated by people for whom the ready provision of abortion trumps all else.

Rich is right. Ever since Roe v Wade, proponents of a woman’s “right to choose” have warned us against going back to the bad old days of rusty coat hangers and unsterilized instruments from money-grubbing butchers on the wrong side of town. Now, happily, the back alley is on the main drag, and with a state permit framed on the wall. In Philadelphia:

Furniture and blankets were stained with blood. Instruments were not properly sterilized. Disposable medical supplies were not disposed of; they were reused, over and over again. Medical equipment – such as the defibrillator, the EKG, the pulse oximeter, the blood pressure cuff – was generally broken; even when it worked, it wasn’t used. The emergency exit was padlocked shut. And scattered throughout, in cabinets, in the basement, in a freezer, in jars and bags and plastic jugs, were fetal remains. It was a baby charnel house.

In New Jersey:

The Department of Health and Senior Services investigated the abortion facility and found dirty forceps, rusty crochet hooks used to remove IUDs, and a quarter-inch of dirt and debris under an examining table.

For years, the supposed regulators averted their gaze – as a matter of policy.

Yes, big government makes abortion worse, which is which pro-life social conservatives should be fiscal conservatives. Stop government from subsidizing abortion and a lot fewer people will be having them. Parents would be a LOT more serious about telling their children to be careful about sex.

This is why I support the use graphic visual aids when talking about abortion. When you see human blood being spilled, it’s pretty clear what abortion really is: violent murder.

News

North Dakota Republican Dan Ruby wants to slash tax rates and ban abortion

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Rep. Dan Ruby
Rep. Dan Ruby

Wow, this guy is perfect!

He managed to get this pro-life bill passed in North Dakota.

Excerpt:

A strong majority of lawmakers in the North Dakota House of Representatives on Friday afternoon passed a law that would make it illegal to murder any human being from the moment of their conception.

The Defense of Human Life Act, HB 1450, recognizes every human being at any stage of development as a person under state law with a right to protection.

“The overwhelming community and legislative support for HB 1450 proves that North Dakota could be the first state to recognize the value and dignity of every living human being,” stated Representative Dan Ruby. “The Defense of Human Life Act is just common sense. Of course every human being is a person, and every innocent person should receive legal protection. I am motivated to see women and children protected by HB 1450, and I look forward to its passage in the Senate in the near future.”

While the bill prohibits chemical abortifiacients such as RU-486, it does not apply to emergency contraception, or other “contraception administered before a clinically diagnosable pregnancy.” The bill also exempts legitimate medical procedures that may lead to the death of children in the womb when a woman’s life is in danger. The bill also exempts pregnant women seeking abortions from criminal prosecution.

The bill, supported by ND Right to Life, ND Life League, ND Family Alliance, ND CWFA, and the ND Catholic Conference, passed 68-25 in Friday’s vote.

“HB 1450 simply states that all human beings will be equal under North Dakota state law.  Our law would treat all children as human beings,” said Republican Rep. Gary Paur in an email to supporters.

Daniel Woodard, a legal consultant for North Dakota Right to Life and the North Dakota Life League, told LifeSiteNews.com that the bill would put the one remaining abortion clinic in the state out of business. “This bill should shut down that clinic,” said Woodard.

That’s good, but here is something that is also just as good: not taking money away from families, and not taking money away from the corporations that enable families to have money.

Excerpt:

Under the Republican governor’s proposal, the lowest individual income tax rate would decline from 1.84 percent to 1.63 percent, while the top rate would fall from 4.86 percent to 4.65 percent. The cuts would save North Dakotans about $50 million in income tax payments over two years.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers have offered alternatives. Rep. Jerome Kelsh, D-Fullerton, the House minority leader, has introduced a bill to exempt a person’s first $40,000 of income, and a couple’s first $50,000, from the state income tax entirely.

Kelsh said he wanted to focus the tax break on lower-income North Dakotans.

“I don’t think (state) income tax, to the top level of income earners in North Dakota, is really a problem,” Kelsh said in an interview. “Maybe their federal is different, but North Dakota income tax is not very burdensome to anyone.”

Reps. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, and Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, have proposals that offer larger income tax cuts than the governor’s proposal.

Ruby’s legislation would slash corporate and individual income taxes by 60 percent. The state Tax Department estimates it would reduce income tax collections by $634.7 million over two years. It would also cut taxes on so-called “pass-through” income that individuals receive from partnerships and limited liability companies.

Ruby’s bill would cut the top corporate tax rate from 6.4 percent to 2.56 percent, and reduce all five of North Dakota’s individual income tax rates below 2 percent. The top income tax rate would fall from 4.86 percent to 1.94 percent.

Oh, and I should note that he is NOT a poet. He is a small business owner and a father of 10!

News

Ohio Republican proposes ban on abortions after baby has a heartbeat

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Unborn baby scheming about moving to Ohio
Unborn baby scheming about moving to Ohio

From Fox News.

Excerpt:

An unborn child’s heartbeat can be detected as soon as 18 days after conception, and supporters of a bill slated to be unveiled in the Ohio Legislature Wednesday say that women should be prohibited from ending pregnancies beyond that milestone.

State Rep. Lynn Wachtmann is planning to unveil the “Heartbeat Bill” and a legislative aide for the Republican tells Fox News that 42 of the 99 representatives in the Ohio state House have signed on to the bill, which would make an exception to the heartbeat rule only in emergency medical situations.

According to 2009 data from the Ohio Department of Health, 56.6 percent of abortions in that state occur in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. And since the fetal heartbeat appears on monitors by six weeks into gestation in most cases, supporters of the bill believe that it could prevent thousands of abortions.

“When the Heartbeat Bill passes, it will be the most protective law in the nation,” Janet Folger Porter, president of conservative advocacy group Faith2Action, said in a release. Porter helped craft the bill, and was also instrumental in passing the nation’s first ban in partial-birth abortion when she was legislative director of Ohio Right to Life.

[…]And though Porter and former Ohio Right to Life president Linda Theis vocally support the Heartbeat Bill, the pro-life organization’s current executive director says the legislation is destined for failure.

“Unfortunately, the Heartbeat Bill will not survive a court challenge, and therefore not save one life,” Ohio Right to Life executive director Michael Gonidakis told Fox News, arguing that state courts and the Supreme Court would slap down the heartbeat cut-off in the same way they would reject a full abortion ban. “Because the Supreme Court, unfortunately, has ruled on countless occasions that any restrictions on abortion pre-viability are unconstitutional,” he says.

And in Georgia, another Republican is proposing a bill to ban all abortions once the unborn baby can feel pain. Can you imagine causing pain to a helpless little baby? That would be horrible – but that is exactly what abortion does. So, I hope both of these pro-life bills pass.

I also must note that poets will play no part in these initiatives to restrict abortion. These pro-life legislative efforts will be fought by lawyers and judges who have advanced legal training – training that takes effort and money to achieve. And their case will be grounded in science, not in poetry. The pro-abortion side is grounded in poetry, feelings and sad stories about poor, poor women who are not responsible for their own choices. The pro-life side is grounded in reason and evidence. And the more reason and evidence the pro-life side can muster, the stronger their case will be in the only place where it really matters – the legislatures and the courts.