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The Republican Effort to Defund Planned Parenthood Was a Good Start: Keep It Up
Planned Parenthood has not been defunded, and probably never will be. Republicans gave it a go, but, as Ricochet editor Tom Meyer explains, the votes were not there, Obama would have vetoed the measure anyway, and the Democrats would have another arrow in the quiver of their self-righteousness in their constant war on those who they see prosecuting the war on women. Practically speaking, the move was doomed before it hit the floor. As a sad and disappointed lifelong prolifer, I will concede the pragmatic point of view.
Nonetheless, the barbarism and unfathomable cruelty of Planned Parenthood (and other abortion factories) simply must be challenged.
Earlier this week, our local pro-life group met to plan the upcoming 40 Days for Life campaign. After working out the details, we turned, as we always do, to the abortion issues of the day. Planned Parenthood’s baby parts business came up, and all expressed disgust. But no one was surprised. We can no longer be shocked. Planned Parenthood’s baby parts business depravity falls right in line with Kermit Gosnell, sex/race selective abortions, and conspiracy to hide sexual assaults perpetrated on minors. All follow inextricably from the killing of innocent children. Why should the recent revelations surprise us? If a baby in the womb is just a clump of cells -– to the abortion industry cells of the lowest form (but ironically, of a high cash value) -– selling the bits and pieces to the highest bidder is no more morally significant than a garage sale.
That is why we demand that Congress defund Planned Parenthood. Sure, this would be nothing more than a symbolic gesture. But symbols are powerful weapons.
Planned Parenthood’s approximately 350,000 abortions per year would make an Aztec priest throw up, and the videos offer a golden opportunity to trigger nausea in the voting public. That means taking every opportunity to show the videos.
On Monday, Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke on the Senate floor with a level of bellicosity that reveals the moral depravity of the pro-abortion movement:
The Republican scheme to defund Planned Parenthood is not some sort of surprised response to a highly edited video. Nope! The Republican vote to defund Planned Parenthood is just one more piece of a deliberate, methodical, orchestrated, right-wing attack on women’s rights. I’m sick and tired of it. Women everywhere are sick and tired of it. The American people are sick and tired of it.
One would think this odious woman would be sickened at the sight of an “intact” baby being picked over to find salable body parts. Instead, she tries to rally the troops while virtually ignoring the horror revealed in the videos. She is a coward.
But what if the Republicans and other pro-life organizations were to produce television spots juxtaposing Warren’s rhetoric with pictures of the babies harvested for useful organs after having been yanked from a woman’s womb? Would that put Warren on the defensive? Granted, she lacks even a modicum of human decency, and so may repeat her ludicrous arguments. But commercials would tell the tale.
The Republicans must seize every opportunity to expose Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry. The effort to take away Planned Parenthood’s funding may be doomed, but even a pyrrhic victory has advantages. Particularly now, when Planned Parenthood is on the defensive.
Tom is right in arguing for Congressional hearings. However, too often such hearings result in moral grandstanding, with little done to get to the bottom of the issue at hand. Chances are the controversy will die down if Republicans fail to seize the day every day. Rod Dreher reminds us that the videos are an enormously powerful, and the defunding effort draws clear lines between abortion apologists and opponents:
It’s hard to get around the fact that a majority of the American people just don’t want to know, or rather, are prepared to live with it, in the name of defending Science and the Sexual Revolution.
Note well that the Democratic Party is the party that embraces these atrocities, and calls them progress. I am not accustomed to defending the Republicans, but when it came right down to it, and US Senators had to declare themselves, every one of the Democrats (except one) sided with the abortionists and fetal miners.
But the majority must know. As Fr. Frank Pavone, of Priests for Life, insists:
America will not reject abortion until America sees abortion. The video footage released today gives Americans yet another opportunity to do precisely that.
Planned Parenthood personnel, looking at the body parts they sell, talk about legs, spinal columns, kidneys and hearts, not “blobs of tissue.”
In order to sell baby body parts, there first has to be a baby. It is time for those who have been denying that fact to admit it, and for those who have been admitting it only in private to admit it in public as well.
Reality may break out all over if Americans are inundated with the images of baby bodies being picked apart. Republicans must force the truth on the public at large if the party has any chance of actually ridding the nation of the Culture of Death which, by the way, has now been exposed as the culture of unimaginable depravity.
One other thing. As I’ve said above, pro-lifers have come to expect inertia when it comes to abortion. But the Republicans should not forever mistake our calmness for patience. For us, abortion is the defining issue, and if Republicans are going to hide anyway, we have little reason to remain in the fold. A third party may win few elections, but if Republicans again defer real action, we may well depart. Even if we took away as few as two percent of GOP votes, the Republicans would suffer significant consequences. But we will not sacrifice children for thirty pieces of prosperity.
We must hammer on the issue relentlessly. And Republicans must prove themselves in the fire — at every opportunity.
Published in Domestic Policy, General, Politics
Yes, “America will not reject abortion until America sees abortion.” Now the question is how to get America to see abortion.
Of note, there will be a contingent of human beings who will see abortion and still rally to that side of the equation. The worship of death won’t end merely because they see what happens to the child, or the child’s mother.
My concern that choosing the particular strategy of defunding Planned Parenthood at this particular time will make Warren’s attempt more likely to succeed.
Many people do not immediately associate Planned Parenthood with abortion: they think of contraceptives, gynecology, and host of related things. That’s not terribly surprising considering that most interactions between PP and its clients are not about abortion. To many of these people, abortion is something PP does, not something that typifies it.
As such, defunding Planned Parenthood turns the debate away from the specifics of the abortion videos to the totality of all of Planned Parenthood’s activities. It’s like the difference in saying “Your brother did an immoral thing” and “Your bother is an immoral person.” The former is something that someone close to his brother might consider — and which may eventually lead them to conclude that his is fundamentally immoral — but the latter is going to immediately get their hackles up as they recount all the wonderful things their brother has done. And since there’s already plausible deniability built-in (as federal funds are not available to pay for abortion itself), it’s all the more difficult.
This isn’t a matter of pulling punches: it’s about what will be the most effective means of moving people away from Planned Parenthood’s ghoulishness.
Videos. The low-information crowd gets all their info from videos. We need to get cogent clips into short spots that we can spread all over the internet via social media.
Evening Mike,
Scruton comments that we live in a culture which drives people to want to be an individual above everything else. He says as a consequence we are alienated. I think this alienation and worship of self leads to this type of self destruction in which you sacrifice your own child. It may be that the videos will prompt a level of disgust to change the government funding, however to reconnect people to a meaning greater than themselves may take more. How do we persuade people that this focus on the self is a dead end?
I am not sure about this analysis. I have known several women who had abortions: every single one of them did it to please somebody else, and every single one went to a man, in most cases the boyfriend, and said, “I am pregnant, what do you think I should do?” One of the women went to her own father and said, “I am pregnant, what do you think I should do?” In every single case, they were told to get an abortion.
Obviously, the women I know may not be typical, but I suspect that the women I know have far more in common with most women than the stereotype of the brave new independent woman who would never ask a man’s opinion on anything that feminists like to trot out. There is a wide gap between the way women are and the way feminists want us to be.
So much of the pro-life message is geared towards women, and that is as it should be, but we shouldn’t ignore men and parents either. It is a mistake to assume that women who get abortions are doing out of selfishness or a total focus on the self: in many if not most cases, they are doing it to please somebody else, usually, either the boyfriend or the parents or both. We should gear our message not just towards individual women, but towards those who may pressure them as well.
Evening Judithann,
I was not trying to characterize the women as modern, cool, brave. I was trying to suggest that men and women are not connected to people or places or a type of life which would make this choice almost impossible. I was not trying to describe how women make this choice. I am wondering how to persuade people that culture that champions individual liberty as the highest good will not lead to a happy or moral life. Sorry, that I wasn’t clear.
Hi Jim :) Thank you for the clarification. You ask a very important question. Here is my attempt to answer: the answer is to instill people with the right kind of pride. I know that God exists, but I don’t know how to convince others that He exists, and even if I could, I still wouldn’t know how to convince people that God is a conservative and not a liberal. For those reasons, I don’t believe that religion is the cure all that some think it is.
My father has never been a particularly religious man. He went to Church, and He told us that God exists, but he made no attempt to explain Christianity to us. I don’t think I have ever even heard him say the word “Jesus”. But he did instill a moral code that was brilliant in its simplicity: he told us that the strong must protect the weak. Obviously, there can be a great deal of room for debate on how to do that, but abortion is pretty blatantly a violation of that moral code. And really, no one who has any kind of pride-the good kind of pride-wants to be someone who stomps on the weak and helpless.
We need to bring back the idea of death before dishonor. It’s a lot simpler and easier to communicate than trying to convert somebody to a religion, and I suspect most people instinctively understand it.
That’s my attempt :)
Evening Again Judithann,
I love the idea of the strong protect the weak to push against the assertion of personal rights. It is not moralistic in the way that puts off many young folks and it has an appeal to our sense of fairness. Even our secular world claims to value fairness. Terrific, thanks Judithann.
Congress didn’t try hard enough. Republicans should adopt the slogan, “Death to America!” Obama would send John Kerry over to ask what he needs to do to honor their dignity, and would throw in any extra concessions he could think of. It’s a choice of that or war.
Thank you, Jim :)
Fantastic idea.
would a judge put an injunction on said videos?
Maybe. But that should not dissuade us in our efforts. The pro-abortion crew will always try to hide the evidence. This time we need to squeeze them. This may even be the time for civil disobedience, i.,e., refusing to follow such injunctions.
I’m not sure about this. Imagine images from the videos flashing as Warren rages on. The defunding effort will result in many such sideshows from Warren, Hillary, Cecile Richards, and all the rest of them. Joe Scarborough called Warren out on this lie. We may fail. But at some point we have to attack with everything we’ve got.
Yes. Death before dishonor. That is why Repubs should take note. There are a great many of us prolifers who are ready to bolt if the GOP sits on its hands. Why should we support them? If all they have to offer is rhetoric in the platform, but without much action, then our loyalty will run thin.
Agreed. Although I do very much believe that God is indispensable. We should definitely tell people that God loves them and forgives them; we all fail. We all dishonor ourselves in some way, and we are all in need of forgiveness. God forgives everyone, and we must extend forgiveness to all who have been involved with abortion in any way, but that forgiveness does not entail voting for politicians who clearly have no intention of ever doing anything to end abortion.
like to the 10th power.
Scruton’s analysis of individualism is quite powerful. I’ve read a number of his books, and watched many of his Youtube presentations. The culture is so steeped in individualist thought that I fear it will take a catastrophe before we awaken again to the idea of man is relation to man, not as atoms, but as members of an enduring community of love.
I don’t understand. Why not pass it and make Democrats override the Veto. What is the downside? More time to try to do with this issue what Democrats do with all issues, get it rolling so that some Democrats face heat, pro life groups have time to raise money etc.. They had their symbolic vote, so jobs done I guess and besides they might get some of those donations.
I’ve only encountered Scruton’s arguments about this on audio (I like Scruton and really enjoyed his book On Beauty). Am I wrong in saying that the way he uses “individualism” is synonymous with “soft narcissism”?
There is so much wisdom and truth in everything I read above.
And I’m going to go dark. Forgive me.
“Reality may break out all over if Americans are inundated with the images of baby bodies being picked apart.”
Today’s movies, tv offerings and computer games – are so dark, so vivid in their depictions of graphic violence and evil.
I wonder. Will the real-life images of dead babies – the horror – be as effective as it might have been a decade ago? Has the response to the visual/audio assault of violence and carnage available in today’s media – has it caused the human heart to -defensively – grow harder?
I agree wholeheartedly on showing abortion. When Justice for All goes to campuses with their graphic bioethics displays, the inspiration for it is Emmett Till. Despite his casket being sealed by the coroner, his mother insisted on an open casket during his funeral. She wanted people to see what racism looks like. It changed the world.
People have to see what abortion looks like. And having it juxtaposed with the grandstanding and self-righteousness of Elizabeth Warren would make the depravity all the clearer.
It’s time. Let’s get this done.
Elizabeth warren is one of those leftist that view abortion from afar. An elitist who has probably never experienced abortion first hand, and have seen what it does to the women who have them and the people who work in the clinics who perform them. Maybe I’m wrong maybe she does have first hand knowledge but I’ve noticed when Elisabeth warren rails on something it’s usually on things she knows nothing about. You know her “you built a factory good for you” statements. But I love the idea of commercials juxtaposing her comments with clips from the planned parenthood videos. People have been lied to about what PP does. Yes they do Birth control and annuals but mostly to bring in patients who will eventually have an abortion. It’s a business and abortion is their business not women’s health
Although America’s (and the world’s) number one Abortion mega-business is the subject of these videos and should be used to demonstrate the moral bankruptcy of pp as a frontal assault they have tremendous value for moving the discussion forward as well. Here are some areas for consideration.
1. Forcing america to see the Abortion industry talking about hands and feet and spines of aborted babies show the babies humanity presented by the abortion businessperson not a pro-lifer. The power of admissions from adverse witnesses cannot be overstated. The power of talking about aborted babies in terms of their human body parts cannot be overstated.
2. Demonstrating that Democrats are in bed with with the abortion industry and will do anything to defend it even as they sell human parts could be politically devastating. Elisabeth Warren on the Senate floor is a great example. She should loose her seat next time around over that speech even in Massachusetts. The white house spouting pp talking points while not even having watched the film is another example. Make each Democrat declare his support for this kind of activity or vote against it.
Adjusting the Hyde amendment to deny public funding to any organization that performs abortions, not the abortion procedure itself.
Play the videos play the videos play the videos. Quote the abortionists on the video. Use small clips. Get the Audio into mp3 format. Spread the word.
Yes. Ultrasound is a very powerful tool for preventing abortion; a woman who sees an ultrasound is dramatically less likely to abort. Which is why pp types do everything in their power to make sure that women don’t see ultrasounds.
I would describe Senator Warren’s speech as impassioned, and a wake-up call to Republicans that their overconfidence in the political value of the abortion issue. You are waking a sleeping giant.
Internally, Republicans face minimal opposition on this issue, correct? Certainly no major Presidential candidate is pro-choice, and many of them use some fairly extreme rhetoric compared with e.g., what George W. Bush would say publicly. Heck, even on Ricochet an issue like same sex marriage has several vocal advocates, but few of us speak up in favor of abortion rights. It’s futile, and a magnet for distasteful invective.
So I’m not going to get into a conversation about the morality of abortion at various stages of fetal growth, etc., or whether it should be a state or federal issue. The silence you hear is tactical. It does not mean you are unopposed.
This is just a reminder that it’s easy to live inside a bubble on this issue. Democrats, Independents, and those of us who are conservative on all but the social issues, will oppose your agenda with more commitment than you might expect. I do not fear losing on this issue. I fear that abortion rights in the forefront will lead directly to President Hillary Clinton or President Elizabeth Warren.
Hello Jim :) I think that you are being way over confident; the poll numbers do not bear out what you are saying. Polls consistently show that Americans are deeply uncomfortable with abortion, even if they aren’t always totally opposed to it. The only real hope that organizations like Planned Parenthood have is for pro-lifers to just shut up and go away: abortion cannot stand the light of day.
Mr. Kearnery:
You accuse GOP Presidential candidates of “extremism.” Okay, what then is the “non-extreme” position? Is there a middle ground, or should we accept the absolutists position on abortion–no restrictions?
I fear Hillary or Warren as president. But prolifers fear absolute cultural collapse–with the attendant tyranny–if we decide it is acceptable for babies to be killed and dissected for body parts. Look at video 5, to see a baby being picked over, then tell us that we are the extremists. Also, could you offer a moral justification for abortion. I would argue that the “control over our bodies” argument is an exercise of absolute will, rather than reasoned argument. But I look forward to your defense.
Lastly, I appreciate your threat”: “This is just a reminder that it’s easy to live inside a bubble on this issue. Democrats, Independents, and those of us who are conservative on all but the social issues, will oppose your agenda with more commitment than you might expect.” We have been fighting against this for 42 years. Do not expect that we will run away.