By Dave Andrusko
The March edition of the “pro-life newspaper of record” is a record 49 pages long but that still only allows us to scratch the surface. There is a lot—a lot—going in Congress and the state legislatures. Let’s dig into the issue and see what we can discover.
Since the Dobbs decision, pro-abortionists have reached deep into their bag of obfuscations, distortions, and (to be polite) half-truths to cover the genuinely radical agenda that is close to their hearts. Pro-lifers have countered with a truth campaign which begins with our insistence that women are not at war with their unborn children: we proposed win-win solutions, not either/or. The pro-abortionist can only scratch their heads in amazement at such generosity of spirit.
This edition of NRL News begins with a front page that alerts you to the upcoming pro-life educational event of the year: the National Right to Life Convention to be held in Pittsburgh June 23-24. If you’ve attended previously, you know what a gold mine of information, motivation, and camaraderie those two days present.
As the late Dr. Jean Garton said, “The National Right to Life Convention represents the annual gathering of America’s Pro-Life ‘family’ and it is like coming home again.”
Also on page one, Federal Legislative Direction Jennifer Popik, JD, offers an insider’s analysis of the 117th Congress. The pro-abortion Democrats are up to their usual tricks, the goal of which never changes: Find as many creative ways as possible to multiply the number of dead babies while accusing pro-life Republicans of being “extremists.”
Last November, for example, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer tweeted out the following (NRLC has no position on immigration):
Now more than ever — we’re short of workers. We have a population that is not reproducing on its own with the same level that it used to. The only way we’re going to have a great future is if we welcome and embrace immigrants…get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many of the undocumented there are here.
Never mind “the shrieking hypocrisy of lamenting fertility rates while pushing for unrestricted abortion,” as Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey said. This advice came out of the mouth of a politician who has no regrets over the extinction of over almost 65 million unborn babies. No wonder “We’re short workers” and “have a population that is not reproducing on its own with the same level that it used to.”
It’s enough to give hypocrisy a bad name.
We have article after article on the “abortion pill”—which while referring to misoprostol is typically shorthand for the lethal two-drug combination of mifepristone and misoprostol. Dr. Randy O’Bannon, NRLC’s Director of Education & Research, has closely monitored the issue of chemical abortion for nearly thirty years. Randy and I have a “Q&A” which is both an up-to-the-minute summary of the FDA’s decision to allow pharmacies to stock and sell the abortion pill mifepristone and a corrective to the misinformation floating about.
Casey Coffin, Legislative Assistant in the Department of State Legislation, offers a terrific overview of what NRLC’s affiliates are undertaking in the Post-Roe era. She writes “The positive post-Dobbs momentum is strong in these early days of state legislative sessions and, as pro-lifers know, we never give up on helping mothers and children in need.”
Holly Gatling, executive director of South Carolina Citizens for Life, explains her state’s wonderful outreach to the Hispanic community. Amy Baker who attended the National Right to Life Academy in 2022, developed a campaign called “Love the Baby Humans.”
There is the very encouraging news that what was Mississippi’s last abortion clinic has been turned into a consignment store selling high-end home goods and furniture. The new owner, David Carpenter, has a different goal. He told NBC News back in January “I really don’t want to get into the political side of it,” adding “That was then. This is now. I want to do something that the community will embrace. I want it to be a positive thing.”
There’s much, much more which we will write about over the next week. Do let me know what you think of the edition, won’t you?
My email is daveandrusko@gmail.com