Summer Of Mercy Closes Carhart's Abortion Mill For One Week

Operation Rescue and the rest of the leadership team for the Summer of Mercy 2.0 has confirmed that Germantown Reproductive Health Services, where Carhart is employed, will be closed for the week.

"This is a huge victory," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "While this event is in progress no babies will die in Germantown. That is an answer to our prayers."

The Summer of Mercy 2.0 nine-day pro-life event kicked off over the weekend with two well-attended rallies and prayer vigils featuring powerful national speakers, a live-ultrasound of a pre-born baby, and testimony from a woman who was scheduled for a late-term abortion at Carhart's but instead gave birth to a healthy daughter.

With the clinic closed, Summer of Mercy 2.0 participants are drawing attention to Carhart's true track record including:

· A criminal investigation in his home state of Nebraska based on affidavits from his former employees who allege Carhart engaged in criminal conduct.

· A medical board investigation in Maryland for allegations he misled authorities to gain licensure in that state. Carhart claimed to be a university professor, but was stripped of any formal duties by the University of Nebraska in the 1990s. He claimed to be an emergency room physician even though he has had no relationship with any hospital since 1987. Never once did he mention his long work history at abortion clinics around the country or his defense of partial-birth abortion in two cases that were decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

· A non-disciplinary agreement made with Nebraska authorities where Carhart agreed to stop falsifying medical records, falling asleep during abortions, and interrupting abortions to take personal phone calls.

· Shoddy abortion practices resulting in numerous emergency hospitalizations.

· At least one patient death from a botched third-trimester abortion.

· Evidence that Carhart and his nurse falsified ultrasounds to avoid complying with late-term abortion restrictions.

· Carhart committed late-term abortions illegally referred by Ann Kristin Neuhaus, who faces possible license revocation in Kansas for failing to provide proper patient evaluations and making unfounded psychiatric diagnoses for late-term abortion patients so they could "qualify" for abortions under a mental health exception.

· Other devious practices that are meant to deceive patients, authorities, and the public. Most recently, Carhart told the Washington Post that he only did late-term abortions in Germantown for fetal anomalies. However, personal testimony from Dr. Grace Morrison and a former Carhart patient named Keisha, who recently gave birth to a healthy daughter, prove that many of Carhart's late-term abortions are for no medical reason whatsoever.

"After years of investigation, we can confidently say that Carhart is a dishonest man who is a danger to the public that belongs behind bars. We can document everything we say about him. He cannot do the same," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

"Twenty years ago during the original Summer of Mercy, Operation Rescue led protests in Wichita, Kansas, that resulted in over 2,500 arrests for peaceful civil disobedience. Today, our tactics have changed and now we are using every legal tool available to expose abortion abuses and see to it that abortionists like Carhart are arrested and jailed and their clinics closed. One of the goals of the Summer of Mercy 2.0 is to encourage authorities to act now to bring Carhart to justice and shutter his shady late-term abortion business for good."

Visit SummerofMercy.com

Catholic Education Based On Liberalism Of NCEA

Today a leading Catholic educator expressed exasperation with the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) for its willingness to feature high-profile, left-wing speakers at its national convention. On the heels of last year's keynote speaker, pro-abortion media icon Garrison Keillor, the NCEA has invited controversial Sr. Helen Prejean to serve in the same capacity this year. "This overt lurching to the extreme left-wing of American politics by the NCEA means the organization no longer represents all Catholic schools," said Dr. Kevin Roberts, who is leading an effort to start an alternative organization to the NCEA. "In fact, considering Helen Prejean's participation in the Democratic Convention in 2008, it politicizes an event that has no business being politicized." Roberts expounded on that point, saying that lay Catholics who might be described as politically conservative are constantly reminded by bishops not to be "political" or "partisan." He says, "this double standard, for many of us, is very frustrating. I don't know why the Church's sacrosanct non-profit status is not threatened by Prejean, whose public involvement has been so partisan." "The NCEA's decision to invite Keillor and Prejean is reflective of an organization that has become irrelevant--if not harmful--to the promotion of authentic Catholicism in Catholic schools," Roberts concluded. "The organization sees 'social justice' as the full extent of Church teaching, when, in fact, it is but one component. Of course, the liberals in the Church ignore that fact." "Unfortunately, the NCEA has taken the wrong side of this debate. Our authentically Catholic schools need an appropriate networking, accreditation, and professional development organization, so there will be many of us working tirelessly to build that group." Roberts pointed to the success of the Cardinal Newman Society, which has highlighted the Catholic identity problems of many Catholic universities nationwide. "The Cardinal Newman Society has changed the conversation about Catholic higher education," Roberts said. "We aim to do the same with Catholic secondary education." An extended analysis of the problem, and more information on the effort to start a new Catholic schools organization, can be found at the website of Roberts' regular internet radio show,Capitol Hill Catholic. Roberts has founded and heads a Roman Catholic school, and is considered a leading voice nationally among Roman Catholics who are concerned about the leftist lurch of some major voices in the Church. His regular internet radio show, Capitol Hill Catholic, has thousands of followers nationwide, and he is regularly invited to speak on topics of Catholic education, John Paul II's New Evangelization, and the principle of subsidiarity in the ever-growing welfare state.

HLI Interim President Blasts Political Attacks On Pro-Lifers In Kansas And New York City

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula, interim president of Human Life International (HLI) today responded to recent reports of fellow pro-lifers suffering attacks from governmental agencies.

"It is a grave injustice that defenders of the dignity of human life increasingly find themselves under attack from those who wield the power of the state," said Monsignor Barreiro. "Whether these attacks are directed at a person or at organizations, the aim is clear: to stop any speech or activity which in any way challenges the anti-life orthodoxy that has infected our governing institutions."

Referring to an ethics trial against former Kansas attorney general Phill Kline, the first part of which concluded yesterday, Monsignor Barreiro said: "Mr. Kline had less than one day to defend himself after enduring over seven days of testimony against him. No one can call this a just trial, it is rather an offense to justice, clearly perpetrated by those in power who want to see Mr. Kline punished for having the integrity to do his job and try to protect the women and children of Kansas."

Referring to a recent decision by the New York City Council to restrict the language available to anti-abortion pregnancy centers within the city, Monsignor Barreiro said: "Can you imagine any other service being told by its opponents what language they are allowed to use to promote themselves? And yet Planned Parenthood is still allowed to call itself a 'women's healthcare provider' while they destroy unborn human life through abortions and prescribe carcinogenic medication to unsuspecting women."

"America is running out of time to stand up against what Blessed Pope John Paul II called the 'thinly disguised totalitarianism' of a state that has given up on true human values. May Our Lord have mercy on us and deliver us from such assaults, so that we can serve and defend His weakest ones during this time when true freedoms are being eroded, and false freedoms exalted."

About HLI: Human Life International: Pro-Life Missionaries to the World. Founded in 1981, HLI is the world's largest international pro-life organization and has affiliates and associates in over 100 countries on six continents. www.hli.org

More Abortion Mills Close In San Francisco Area

Life Legal Defense Foundation joins San Francisco Bay Area pro-lifers in celebrating the closure of Golden Gate Community Health (GGCH). GGCH was the successor corporation to Planned Parenthood Golden Gate (PPGG), the organization that last summer was stripped of its affiliate status by Planned Parenthood Federation of America amidst allegations of financial and administrative mismanagement.

Before its closure, GGHC operated five abortion clinics in four Bay Area counties, already a considerable decline from its heyday in the '90's, when it operated four abortion clinics in San Mateo County alone. Its website boasted that, as PPGG, it had been in continuous operation for over 90 years.

PPGG was not only one of the oldest Planned Parenthood affiliates; it was also one of the most litigious. PPGG instigated frequent litigation against pro-life activists from the '80's to as recently as a year ago. The affiliate was a party in at least six lawsuits against pro-life activists, as well as the impetus for a seventh suit in federal court. In each case, LLDF represented the pro-life activists whose free speech rights were threatened, including (but not limited to) Ross Foti, Lowell King, Fr. Edward Cleary, Robert Cochran, and Jeannette and Louis Garibaldi. This litigation resulted in five published court opinions.

PPGG was also one of the plaintiffs in challenging the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

PPGG lost $2.8 million during the tax year 2008-2009 and had not broken even since 2006. GGHC was reported to have run up a shortfall totaling $536,000 in 2010 and had attempted, apparently unsuccessfully, to raise $1.5 million in order to keep its clinics open.

At the same time it was struggling to survive financially, PPGG contributed over $750,000 to defeat three California ballot initiatives, in 2005, 2006, and 2008, that would have required parental notification before a minor could have an abortion.

"As Congress debates continued funding of Planned Parenthood, it should take note of the organization's spending priorities," said LLDF President Dana Cody. "Furthering Planned Parenthood's political agenda apparently was more important than providing all those 'critical health services' that we keep hearing about."

CNW

Ohio's Ban On Human Cloning And Animal-Human Hybrid

"For the past eight years, OCA has been working with members of the Ohio Legislature to ban embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and in recent years, animal-human hybrid. Science has advanced to the point where DNA from animals and humans can be intermixed in scientific laboratory experimentation. These experimental practices simply are outrageous! Animal-human hybrid research is currently being conducted in England, which many in the international medical community now consider to be a rogue medical state. It is now known that some experimentation has taken place in some U.S. laboratories. Ohio Christian Alliance commends State Senator Kris Jordan from Ohio's 19th District for taking the leadership role in sponsoring this key legislation."

Leading the testimony on this legislative ban will be Dr. David Prentice of the Family Research Council who states, "Creating 'experimental humans' through nuclear transfer cloning or as animal-human hybrids is an unethical use of science, and will not lead to useful medical treatments for patients. This bill should be passed quickly and the focus should be on ethical and successful research that puts the patients first."

Ohio Christian Alliance believes that no human life should begin and end as the subject of an experiment. We attest that a process that knowingly encourages human life to be created, manipulated for research, and ultimately destroyed is immoral and should be prohibited. And all who believe that human life, including nascent human life, is a unique and precious gift from our Creator have an obligation to support efforts to ban it. The bottom line is still that any ban short of a total prohibition on human cloning further devalues the sanctity of human life.

For more information contact Chris Long 330-887-1922

CNW

Conference Opposes Euthanasia, Honors "Italy's Terri Schiavo"

On Wednesday, February 9th, pro-life leaders and anti-euthanasia activists will gather in Rome to remember the death of Eluana Englaro, who is often referred to as "Italy's Terri Schiavo" for the many similarities between the ways they were unjustly killed. The one-day conference will also raise awareness and support for an Italian anti-euthanasia bill that is circulating in the Italian Parliament.

Eluana Englaro, who was severely disabled, died on February 9, 2009 of dehydration, after her father, Beppino Englaro, was successful in having her feeding and hydration treatment removed. The case was widely publicized as Italian politicians took opposing sides in the matter, and many pro-life advocates from Terri Schiavo's late father, Bob Schindler, to the Vatican, pleaded for her life to be spared.

"There are many similarities between Terri's and Eluana's cases: both boiled down to a family member and the courts trying to end their lives, and being opposed by other family members, national politicians and the Church," said Joseph Meaney, Acting Director of HLI's Rome office, and one of the presenters at the conference. "Eluana's case has national and regional significance, as Italian legislators are trying to pass an anti-euthanasia bill. Euthanasia advocates are also busy throughout the European Union trying to expand this grisly practice, which is already sadly legal in several member nations."

Human Life International, Italia Christiana and Militia Christi are co-sponsoring the one-day conference at the prestigious Roma Cavour Conference center.

CNW

Aquinas College Hosts Marriage And Family Conference

In an age when traditional marriage is under assault from all sides, Aquinas College is preparing to equip area youth and young adults with the knowledge to defend what they know to be true.

In partnership with the acclaimed Ruth Institute, Aquinas College will host "Love and Life in the Divine Plan (and in Real Life): A Marriage and Family Conference" on Friday and Saturday, February 25-26, 2011, at its campus located at 4210 Harding Road, Nashville.

The founder of the Ruth Institute, Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., is an economist who studies love and marriage. Dr. Morse has spent much of her career speaking against a declining understanding of lifelong, committed marriages in America.

"Americans are confused about the true nature of marriage because we live in an era of big government," said Dr. Morse. "Government did not create marriage. Marriage is a natural reality that pre-exists the state."

The "Love and Life" conference takes its name from a 2009 pastoral letter of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops entitled "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan," in which the bishops identified four threats to marriage. Along with addressing each of these threats, conference topics also include Christian anthropology and the real gift of God's love, covered in presentations by Dr. Janet Smith of Sacred Heart Seminary, Dr. Sam Gregg of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, Dr. Brad Wilcox of the University of Virginia, Sister Jane Dominic, O.P., of Aquinas College, and other noted scholars.

A modest fee of $25 includes continental breakfast, lunch, and conference materials. Scholarships are available for students, clergy, and members of religious orders. Everyone -- especially students, clergy and pastoral workers of all religious traditions -- is welcome. Register online at www.ruthinstitute.org/loveandlife. For more information, please call (615) 297-7545 or visitwww.aquinascollege.edu.

cnw

Congress Asks Sebelius To Come Clean On Telemed Abortion Funding

Rep. Steve King, (R-IA), has sent a letter signed by 71 Congressmen to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking for information about the extent to which Federal tax dollars may be funding "telemed abortions," which involves the distribution of the dangerous abortion pill, RU486 over the Internet, but denies women access to physical examinations or emergency care by licensed physicians.

Sebelius is a long-time radical supporter of abortion, even late-term abortions that are opposed by 80% of the American people. Over 70% of Americans oppose tax-funding of abortions at any stage of gestation.

"RU-486 is a dangerous drug that has been associated with at least 11 deaths and thousands of cases of excessive bleeding and infection," said King. "Evading FDA guidelines by dispensing RU-486 through telemedicine has the potential to increase complications and fatalities associated with its use. We cannot allow taxpayer dollars to be used to support 'telemed abortions.'"

Currently, this experimental abortion pill distribution scheme is being employed only in Iowa, but Planned Parenthood has indicated publicly that it is their intent to expand this dangerous abortion practice to all its member clinics nationwide.

"Planned Parenthood's telemed/webcam abortion scheme strips away any semblance of a doctor-patient relationship. After the abortionist electronically pops open a drawer to dispense the abortion drugs, the abortionist never sees the patient again, even if there are complications," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

"This is a mockery of the doctor/patient relationship and a complete misuse of telemedicine."

In the Fiscal Year 2010 Congress designated $11.6 million for HHS telemedicine programs, which are intended for the development of services in rural areas.

"A common misconception is that telemed abortion is for women in rural areas. However, Planned Parenthood's Iowa telemed sites are located in major population centers, including the county with the highest population in the state," said Newman. "Telemed abortions are Planned Parenthood's solution to a shortage of abortionists. It helps them access customers in otherwise abortion-free population centers in order to increase revenue while disregarding the health and safety of women."

"We support Rep. King and the other members of Congress in their effort to get to the bottom of where our tax money is going. If it is funding this telemed abortion scheme, the people have a right to know, and a right to demand that the funding be stopped."

Read the letter to Sebelius
Learn more about telemed abortions

About Operation Rescue®
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Operation Rescue is now headquartered in a former abortion clinic that it bought and closed in 2006. From there, Operation Rescue launches its innovative new strategies across the nation, exposing and closing abortion clinics through peaceful, legal means. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to stop abortion and ultimately restore legal personhood to the pre-born in obedience to biblical mandates.

CNW

President Reagan, Anti-Abortion Protestors' Best Friend

Ronald Regan laid a foundation for activism like no other US President. His encouragement of the Solidarity Movement, which led to the end of communist rule in Poland, was less controversial than his stand on abortion. Most acknowledge that Reagan's policies and words paved the way for activists to tear down the Berlin Wall. Most do not know that Reagan's policies and words also paved the way for activists to reintroduce abortion into American politics.

Prior to the Reagan years there were no crisis pregnancy centers, only a handful of homes for unwed mothers and very, very few organized anti-abortion groups. The fall of Tunisia's dictatorial government in January inspired Egyptians to seek their own freedom. As pro-lifers watched the Berlin Wall fall in 1989 -- they were inspired; if something as entrenched as communism could be defeated by peaceful activism -- why not abortion.

Under this last of the Reagan years, Operation Rescue was born. Operation Rescue is the group that took the idea of holding peaceful sit-ins to block access to abortion clinics. It became America's largest civil-disobedience movement with over 80,000 arrests in a time span of less than ten years. Yet Operation Rescue could have been aborted on Easter weekend of 1989, had it not been for actions of then retired President Reagan.

National interest first came in 1988 as a few hundred activists held Rescues (sit-ins) in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and in Atlanta. Then on Easter weekend of 1989, the chief of police of Los Angeles followed through on his televised threats and brutalized, then jailed hundreds of peaceful rescuers offering no resistance who were blocking the front and back doors of the abortion clinic on 6th and Westmorland.

Over the next three days, in response to the violence used on them, 760 pro-life activists refused to give their names to their jailers. An unlikely hero came to rescue these Rescuers, including myself; the word went from cell to cell on Monday morning and came with real results; Ronald Reagan had personally called and asked that the pro-lifers be released from custody.

The Operation Rescue movement grew exponentially. Within weeks of this miraculous release on Easter, as many as 50 Rescues occurred across the country on any given weekend. And though an abuse of anti-racketeering laws (RICO) were interpreted by the courts to make peaceful protests at abortion clinics into felonies, pro-life activism would not go back into the box. Money to fund every kind of pro-life mission increased a thousand-fold, and today there are three pro-life centers to help women facing a crisis pregnancy for every single center that kills unborn babies.

Reagan's role, along with the Pope, in returning communism to the back-alleys of society is a prominent part of his legacy. When abortion clinics finally close their doors it should be in-part credited to the words and policies of President Ronald Reagan.

In 1989 and the years that followed, Jeff White was the National Tactical Director for Operation Rescue. He is presently the Executive Director of Survivors, and spends his time training teens and young adults in pro-life activism.

Survivors is a Christian, pro-life activism organization dedicated to educating and activating high school and college age individuals.

CNW

Caught On Tape: Planned Parenthood Aids Pimp's Underage Sex Ring

NEW JERSEY – A Planned Parenthood manager in New Jersey coaches a man and a woman posing as sex traffickers how to to secure secret abortions, STD testing, and contraception for their female underage sex slaves, and make their whole operation “look as legit as possible” in an undercover video released this morning.

Clinic manager Amy Woodruff, LPN, of Planned Parenthood Central New Jersey’s Perth Amboy center, warns the pimp and his prostitute to have their trafficked underage girls lie about their age to avoid mandatory reporting laws, promising, “even if they lie, just say, ‘Oh he's the same age as me, 15,’…it's just that mainly 14 and under we have to, doesn't matter if their partner's the same age, younger, whatever, 14 and under we have to report.” She says, “For the most part, we want as little information as possible.”

Woodruff also recommends how the pimp can get his prostitutes cheaper contraception by claiming they are “students”: “If they're minors, put down that they're students. Yeah, just kind of play along that they’re students--we want to make it look as legit as possible.”

If one of the young trafficked girls needs an abortion, Woodruff refers the pimp and prostitute to the Metropolitan Medical Association, where “their protocols aren’t as strict as ours and they don’t get audited the same way that we do.” The prostitute in the video asks how long after the abortion until the girls can have sex again, and when Woodruff says “minimum of 2 weeks,” she asks what sex acts the girls could still do to make money. Woodruff advises, “Waist up, or just be that extra action walking by” to advertise sex to potential clients.

Sex trafficking is punishable under federal law and carries a potential life sentence. The new video is released by Live Action, a pro-life new media organization led by 22-year-old Lila Rose. The video airs just days after Planned Parenthood’s leadership suspected the sting operation and sought an FBI probe of Live Action in order to deter the release of the exposé. Live Action is sending full footage to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, NJ Attorney General Paula Dow, officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and other law enforcement officials, requesting federal and state investigations into Planned Parenthood’s sexual abuse and sex trafficking cover up.

The abridged 11-minute video is available at: LiveAction.org

“This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Planned Parenthood intentionally breaks state and federal laws and covers up the abuse of the young girls it claims to serve,” said Lila Rose, President of Live Action. “Time and time again, Planned Parenthood has sent young girls back into the arms of their abusers. They don’t deserve a dime of the hundreds of millions they receive in federal funding from taxpayers. Congress must cease funding and the Department of Justice should investigate this corrupt organization immediately.”

Live Action has previously released more than a dozen hidden camera videos from ten states and shows the alarming trend of illegal Planned Parenthood activity including cover-up of sexual abuse of minors, the skirting of parental consent laws, citing unscientific and fabricated medical information to convince women to have abortions, and Planned Parenthood’s willingness to accept donations earmarked to abort African-American babies.

Illinois Family Institute Objects To Civil Union Legislation

MOKENA, Ill., In the waning days of the previous General Assembly, during a lame-duck session and by razor thin margins, Illinois lawmakers passed a bill that radically redefines marriage and family. "Marriage was not created by man or governments," said IFI Executive Director David E. Smith. "It is an institution created by God. Governments merely recognize its nature and importance." Marriage is the institution that societies worldwide have recognized and encouraged because this unique relationship between a man and a woman provides particular benefits to society, chief among them, the procreation and nurturing of the next generation. IFI's Director of School Advocacy Laurie Higgins says "If marriages were centrally or solely about affirming love between individuals, the government would have no reason to be involved in the business of sanctioning marriage. Government sanctions the type of relationship into which children may be born and raised because the government recognizes that that institution which best serves the needs and rights of children is the institution that best serves as the needs of a healthy society." "It is either ignorant or dishonest to suggest that the inclusion of sexual complementarity in the list of central defining criteria for government-sanctioned marriage denies homosexuals a civil right," says Higgins. Civil unions are merely a stepping stone to legalized same-sex marriage. Of the central defining criteria for marriage -- number of partners, blood kinship, minimum age and sexual complementarity -- sexual complementarity is the most enduring. Therefore, eliminating it constitutes the most radical redefinition of marriage imaginable. "Gov. Quinn should reject this anti-family bill and reject the efforts of the homosexual lobby to impose this highly contentious and controversial policy on the people of Illinois. Homosexual behavior is not equivalent to race and gender diversity is essential to marriage. It is intellectually dishonest to maintain otherwise," said Smith. Higgins states that "Once marriage is severed from procreative potential and gender, it becomes meaningless as a public institution." Philosophical conservatives and all people who are committed to rational argument need to openly, courageously, and persistently challenge the flawed analogy that suggests that homosexuality is equivalent to race. Likewise, the legislative push for special rights legislation for special interest groups based on sexual inclinations and volitional sexual behavior must be challenged. CNW

National Cancer Institute Admits Abortion Raises Breast Cancer Risk

-- A paper on the link between contraception and breast cancer published this past April also included an admission from National Cancer Institute researchers that abortion raises women's breast cancer risk by 40 percent. Yet advocates for women are wondering why major research groups and breast cancer advocacy groups still aren't telling women about the risk.

The paper, headed by Jessica Dolle at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, not only found that oral contraceptives are a probable cause of breast cancer in women under age 45, but also contained findings from NCI researchers that abortion raised the risk of breast cancer by 40 percent.

The paper included abortion on a list of "known and suspected risk factors" for breast cancer. The study cited was headed by Louise Brinton of NCI, who, critics say, was the chief organizer of the 2003 NCI workshop on the abortion-breast cancer link which falsely assured women that the non-existence of the link was 'well-established.'"

Brinton had also previously worked on a 1996 study study of women that found reported increased risk of breast cancer after abortion of 20-25 percent, according to the Coalition on Abortion Breast Cancer.

Coalition president Karen Malec stated that "[a]lthough the study was published nine months ago, the NCI, American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and other cancer fundraising businesses have made no efforts to reduce breast caner rates by issuing nationwide warnings to women."

"Obviously, more women will die of breast cancer if the NCI fails in its duty warn about the risk of [oral contraceptives] and abortion and if government funds are used to pay for both as part of any healthcare bill," Malec added.

Political Tone Should Demand Honesty On Abortion, Health Care

As pundits encourage us to engage in a national examination of conscience on the tone of our civil discourse, hundreds of thousands of students, young adults and pro-life veterans demonstrated civility in action over the past few days. At Marches for Life at the Capitol, on the West Coast, and at statehouses across the nation, the violence of abortion was met with a message of care and concern for both the woman and her unborn child.

The tone that we take in the public square is a legitimate topic of discussion. Yet in the debate on abortion and healthcare, some pundits and politicians have long overlooked the prerequisite condition of authentic civil discourse; namely, honesty about the terms of the debate.

President Obama recently noted that “only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation.”

Civil and honest – the two are indeed related. Civility in our public discourse is undermined if citizens have reason to believe that they are being misled. The most recent “Newspeak” rose out of the various health care mega-bills in the last Congress. While most citizens at town hall meetings were respectful in their tone, the scream-at-your-Congressperson approach taken by a few aptly expressed the hair-pulling frustration experienced by the vast majority of citizens across the political spectrum.

The indignation witnessed at town hall meetings was not only attributable to the sweeping scope of the bills that ballooned the deficit and blew past constitutional boundaries of federal power. Rather, the tone became intensified because the American people could not seem to get a straight answer on the life and death issues impacted by the massive legislation.

“Is public money going to subsidize coverage for elective abortion?” “Will there be politically appointed panels who will make life and death coverage decisions for seniors?” “Will I get to keep my current health plan?” (Yes, yes, probably not).

Without rehashing these issues, it is enough to say that the conflict between the bill language and the Administration’s rhetoric resulted in a level of intense emotional outbursts usually reserved for Italian-American dinner tables.

Now we begin again. The newly elected Congress is once again faced with a debate about tax-subsidized abortion coverage in the federal health care law. And State legislatures continue to debate “opt-out” bills that prohibit abortion coverage in any future state health insurance exchanges.

Those who peacefully march renew their call for elected officials to debate these critical issues with honesty. If we were truly honest, everyone would know about the empirical medical studies showing that abortion is not health care. It’s the opposite of care for the physical and psychological health of the woman, and it destroys the life of a unique and unrepeatable unborn child.

Those who nonetheless support tax-subsidized abortion coverage are required by that honesty so essential to civility to clearly state their goal and to make their case. No more outright denials of what is buried in the bill. No more hiding behind accounting schemes drafted behind closed doors in the middle of the night.

If a pro-life bill to prohibit abortion funding and protect health care provider rights of conscience makes its way to the President’s desk, honesty requires that he either sign it or veto it. No more empty and unenforceable executive orders.
It’s well past time for the honest terms of the abortion debate to be put on the table. Not only about who pays for it, but more importantly about the humanity of the unborn child and the coercive impact that it places on pregnant women.

The bottom line is that civil discourse does not preclude our duty to vigorously expose dishonesty in public policy. And it certainly does not require that we quietly look the other way as the culture of death marches on.

Note: Dorinda Bordlee and Nikolas Nikas are attorneys and co-founders of Bioethics Defense Fund. Contact us atinfo@BDFund.org to request model legislation addressing abortion coercion, ultrasound mandates, Obamacare abortion opt-out legislation, health care rights of conscience and the full range of bioethics issues.