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In early 2023, North Dakota passed legislation that required public schools to show “a high-definition video, at least three minutes in duration, showing the development of the brain, heart, sex organs, and other vital organs in early fetal development.” ND House Bill 1265 faced its share of scrutiny from the Left, as lawmakers across the country such as Iowa State Representative Jennifer Konfrst (D) claimed a video mapping out fetal development “is just politics” and “not scientifically correct.”

The video used as an example in the bill was produced by the pro-life organization Live Action and entitled, “Meet Baby Olivia.” In three minutes, it follows the development of a baby from conception to birth as the end of the nine-month “journey,” as the video describes. North Dakota State Senator Janne Myrdal (R), who referenced the Live Action content during hearings on HB 1265, said, “For me, it wasn’t a life issue. It was education.” She added that part of what stirred her to advocate for this legislation is because she found it “odd” human development wasn’t already part of some school curriculums. And roughly a year later, it would seem the state of Tennessee came to the same conclusion.

On April 23, a second state followed North Dakota’s lead, and Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee signed into law House Bill 2435, which also requires teaching this science to students. As The Christian Post reported, “The votes in both chambers came down along party lines, with all Republicans supporting the legislation and all Democrats opposing it.” As the bill text states:

“A family life curriculum that directly or indirectly addresses human growth, human development, or human sexuality must include the presentation of a high-quality, computer-generated animation or high-definition ultrasound of at least three (3) minutes in duration that shows the development of the brain, heart, sex organs, and other vital organs in early fetal development, such as ‘Meet Baby Olivia,’ a high-quality, computer-generated animation developed by Live Action that shows the process of fertilization and the stages of human development inside the uterus.”

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Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, celebrated the momentum in a press release, “Tennessee is setting a precedent for other states to follow in prioritizing comprehensive education on human development by mandating state-of-the-art life-like animation explaining human development, like Live Action’s Baby Olivia video, in state education standards.”

She continued, “Tennessee has joined North Dakota in setting the standard for world-class education that ensures students are equipped with the knowledge they need. Tennessee has over 1 million public school students who will now be equipped with cutting-edge educational material on human development in the womb.” And as the statement from Live Action read, “Women are indeed less likely to choose abortion if they are shown the humanity of their children.”

Some have pointed out that the passage of this bill is significant as the gap between Republicans and Democrats increasingly widens on the issue of life. But in Tennessee, the House’s marginwas “an overwhelming 67-23 vote in March,” and a 21-6 margin in the Senate. And with HB 2435 to go into effect in the fall, Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Tenn.), lead sponsor of the bill, stated, “The fruits of including Meet Baby Olivia as a part of every family life curriculum used in Tennessee’s public schools will be long-lasting and widespread across Tennessee.”

Mary Szoch, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity, told The Washington Stand, “The passage of TN House Bill 2435, the Baby Olivia Act, is a huge win for all Americans.” She explained that Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of the abortion giant Planned Parenthood, “recently noted that approximately 70% of the abortions carried out by Planned Parenthood are done using the abortion drug, mifepristone. Planned Parenthood describes this process as one where the woman takes the drug mifepristone, then takes misoprostol, then passes the ‘pregnancy tissue.’”

But according to Szoch, the reality is, “Countless women have described their horror at taking these drugs, experiencing horrific pain and bleeding, and then delivering what they were promised was a clump of cells or ‘pregnancy tissue’ but is visibly and recognizably their dead unborn baby into the toilet.” As such, the pro-life expert added, “Many of these women experience heartbreak and regret once they recognize that the abortion drug, mifepristone, killed a baby — their baby.”

This is why “legislation like the Baby Olivia Act” is needed, Szoch insisted, since it “will help many to recognize the biological fact that what Planned Parenthood refers to as ‘pregnancy tissue’ is actually an unborn baby and an abortion kills that child.”

She concluded, “The Baby Oliva Act will make certain both men and women know this BEFORE mothers and fathers experience the heartbreak of abortion. I hope more states follow this path!”

LifeNews Note: Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand, where this originally appeared.

The post New Pro-Life Laws are Teaching Students About Fetal Development appeared first on LifeNews.com.

(Just remember, there is no good side to be on, but this is remarkable. -nvp)

Adams, NYPD cite ‘global’ effort to ‘radicalize young people’ after 300 arrested at Columbia, CUNY

New York City Mayor Eric Adams slams movement to ‘radicalize our children’ amid widespread anti-Israel campus protests

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Police Department (NYPD) leadership cited a “global” movement to “radicalize young people” in announcing approximately 300 arrests at Columbia University and City College that took place overnight.

“I know that there are those who are attempting to say, well, the majority of people may have been students. You don’t have to be the majority to influence and co-opt an operation. That is what this is about. And so, if we want to play the word police, you could do so. I’m going to play the New York City police,” Adams said at a press conference. “There is a movement to radicalize young people, and I’m not going to wait until it’s done and all of a sudden acknowledge the existence of it. This is a global problem that young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children. And I’m not going to allow that to happen as the mayor of the city of New York…We can’t create environments while children could be in danger, and we must push back on all attempts to radicalize our young people in this city like we’re seeing across the entire globe.”

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Over the last few weeks, we have seen intense debate reignite over the role the federal government plays in limiting abortion. The backdrop to such debates is the upcoming presidential election, as well as the cultural reverberations around the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

There has been some confusion about the Dobbs decision. It did not simply “return abortion to the states.” Rather, it returned the power to protect the unborn to the voters, who can exercise this power through both their state and federal elected officials.

The Dobbs decision empowers states to enact pro-life laws that cover the period before viability — that is, approximately 22 weeks into a pregnancy or earlier. Under the Roe regime, states were not able to enforce such laws. Thankfully, many states have now implemented life-protective laws since the decision came down. To date, 24 states protect women and unborn children prior to viability. (Three of these are currently in litigation.)

Of course, the reverse is also sadly true. Twenty-six states currently have few or no protections for unborn babies, even at the stages where their hearts are beating, where they suck their thumbs or where they can feel pain. Seven of these states, along with Washington, D.C., have virtually no limits on abortion — not even a prohibition on painful dismemberment abortions.

This is why the U.S. must enact some form of a federal limit that protects unborn children nationwide. Otherwise, we continue on our deadly path, where over half of the country is exposed to the harms of abortion, and the human rights of the unborn are ignored.

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It can be hard to comprehend that the most developed country in the world, the U.S., permits late term abortion in more than half of our states, even though 65 percent of Americans consistently believe that abortion should be illegal at least after the first trimester (about 12 weeks), and 80 percent believe that it should be illegal after the second trimester (about 24 weeks).

Our nation is in shameful company with its lack of protections for the unborn. Only seven other countries allow late-term abortions, including some of the worst international violators of human rights such as China and North Korea.  In comparison, 47 out of 50 European countries have stronger protections for the unborn, limiting elective abortion to 15 weeks’ gestation or earlier.

Even pro-choice Americans know that a seven-pound baby, almost fully formed, who has not yet been born, deserves the right to live. But the law does not reflect this reality.

Pro-abortion rights activist groups are relentlessly fighting against this truth. The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood are pushing to increase the number of states with a right to abortion in their state constitutions through lavishly funded abortion ballot initiatives that are often confusing, full of euphemisms and deceptively worded to hide their true meaning.

Their efforts have successfully turned even pro-life states like Ohio into abortion destinations, and they are set on doing the same this fall in Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and numerous other states.

National pro-life protections are critical as these pro-abortion rights activists continue to fight for extreme abortion legislation at the federal level, such as the abortion lobby-backed Women’s Health Protection Act, which goes even further than Roe, nullifying the commonsense protections in place in pro-life states and allowing abortion everywhere until the moment of birth.

Biden has explicitly supported the passage of that bill, saying, “Put it on my desk, so I can sign it into law.”

We cannot be naive. Abortion activists and elected officials have coalesced into a formidable, unified force that is laser-focused on legalizing abortion on demand, up until birth, in every state in the nation and enshrined at the federal level.

This radical vision for America will become reality if pro-life elected officials do not similarly unify around a strong federal stance to protect human life. In the face of this aggressive assault on life at both the state and federal level, we simply do not have the luxury of abandoning the federal fight.

We must remember our ultimate goal of saving unborn children, protecting vulnerable women and ultimately making abortion unthinkable — and we will keep Marching for Life in the nation’s capital, at the doorstep of our federal policymakers — until we have achieved this goal.

Ignoring the need for federal protections of unborn life will do untold damage: in actual lives lost, in women who regret being involved in abortion and in our culture at large. Mother Teresa once famously said of our country and abortion laws, “America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation….Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign.”

The cultural stakes are high; the world is watching to see if our great country, land of the free and worldwide arbiter of human rights, will remove itself from the radical ranks of China and North Korea on abortion policy, and instead embrace a culture of life.

LifeNews Note: Jeanne Mancini is the president of the March for Life.

The post We Need a Law to Protect Babies From Abortion in Every State appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Our pro-life pregnancy ministries in New York are facing an existential threat at the hands of the Empire State’s pro-abortion Attorney General, Letitia James.

Last week, NY AG Letitia James blitzed at least a dozen pregnancy help organizations—like our clients Heartbeat International, CompassCare, and other pregnancy centers—with a “Notice of Intention to Sue,” threatening ruinous prosecution that could shut down every pregnancy center in New York.

Her threat letter falsely accuses New York’s life-affirming pro-life ministries of “repeated and persistent misleading statements and omissions” about Abortion Pill Reversal.

AG James gave our pro-life clients only 5 business days to respond to why the hammer shouldn’t be dropped on them for “false advertising.”

They face $5,000 in fines for every violation: that’s $5,000 for every time that Heartbeat and our brave centers take a phone call from a desperate pregnant woman trying to save her baby or say anything to the public about Abortion Pill Reversal.

We didn’t wait 5 days… We immediately jumped in to defend our pro-life ministries and their constitutional rights. We’ve just gone on the offensive and filed a hard-hitting lawsuit for an immediate injunction against Attorney General James.

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It’s unconscionable that Letitia James and the New York government protect abortionists and celebrate abortion on demand up until birth. 

On behalf of Heartbeat, CompassCare, and a dozen pregnancy centers in total across the Empire State, we moved at rapid speed, launching a frontal assault to stop Letitia James in her tracks and block her threatened prosecution.

This latest threat could bankrupt New York’s pregnancy centers and shut down the pro-life movement’s efforts to help pregnant moms with counseling and assistance so they will choose life for their babies.

As you may remember, California Attorney General Rob Bonta came after Heartbeat and California pregnancy centers late last year, suing them to censor their right to help women save their babies through Abortion Pill Reversal, or “APR” for short…

We’re proudly defending Heartbeat in that case, to protect their right to help these pregnant mothers and their babies. Now, Letitia James is copying Bonta’s playbook wholesale and turning up the heat, by targeting Heartbeat and a swath of pregnancy centers.

Here’s the truth: APR works—Heartbeat has records of thousands of pregnancies saved and babies born because of APR.

If Letitia James succeeds, pregnant mothers who are in the middle of a chemical abortion—and immediately regret it—will have nowhere to turn. Our pro-life pregnancy centers would be censored from providing these mothers the urgent access to Abortion Pill Reversal that they need.

In these moments, every minute and every hour counts. If our pregnancy centers are not able to help these mothers, their precious babies will die.

The abortion lobby and their allies in government, like Letitia James, want to force pregnant mothers to complete dangerous chemical abortions they do not want—even if the abortion was started against these mothers’ will, by force or by trick. We’re going to court to make sure she doesn’t get her way. 

Letitia James claims that offering Abortion Pill Reversal or sharing information about it is “misleading” and “false advertising.” But the truth is, she and her allies at Planned Parenthood are the ones actually deceiving women about the dangerous effects of the abortion pill—and misleading women about the real success of Abortion Pill Reversal…

Our lawsuit aims to combat her vindictive attack on all fronts. We will defend the right of our pregnancy help organizations to provide free, charitable, loving support to pregnant mothers and their babies.

Here are the facts:

• More than 5,000 women have had successful abortion pill reversals, and that number grows higher each day.
• The First Amendment protects the right of our non-profit pro-life ministries to help pregnant mothers—free of charge—and continue sharing critical information about Abortion Pill Reversal.
• Even the U.S. FDA concluded that the abortion pill “is antagonized by progesterone allowing for normal pregnancy and delivery.”

The facts speak for themselves. While we can’t guarantee a result, we are confident in our legal position and the quality of our ace Thomas More Society attorneys.

Letitia James’ assault on pregnancy centers would be a death knell for our pro-life ministries in New York.

Please pray for our brave pro-life ministry clients as we go into court to fight on their behalf and for our legal team on the frontlines of this battle.

LifeNews Note: Peter Breen is the Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation for the Thomas More Society.

The post New York AG Letitia James Declares Total War on Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers appeared first on LifeNews.com.

A trio of pro-life congressmen, led by Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-OK, penned a letter to the Biden administration’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week, demanding accountability for the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) industry’s destruction of human lives.

In the Tuesday letter to CDC Director Mandy Cohen, Brecheen was joined by Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-MT, and Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-GA. Rosendale is Catholic.

CatholicVote is among the pro-life groups in support of the letter.

“Our nation’s birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence, clearly recognizes the government’s role in securing the natural right to life,” the congressmen wrote.

“In spite of this, the IVF industry has long operated under the radar of lawmakers in the United States,” they continued.

The three lawmakers noted that “other Western countries prohibit clinics from practicing eugenics or carelessly destroying human life.” However, “the U.S. does not even require clinics to be transparent about their participation in these activities.”

“This carelessness has earned the U.S. the title of the ‘Wild West’ of assisted reproductive technology,” Brecheen and his two colleagues added.

They specified:

[IVF] Clinics are not required to disclose the total number of embryos they create, how many they store indefinitely, or how many they destroy and for what reasons. Shockingly, clinics are not even required to disclose statistics on their application of genetic screening, which more than 70% of fertility clinics utilize for sex-selection.

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“Congress cannot allow clinics to continue concealing these activities, which carry significant moral and ethical implications, from the public,” emphasized the trio of Republicans.

Later in their letter, the congressmen asked the CDC if the agency “is aware of” the number of embryos “created in total each year through the process of IVF?”

They also asked for the number of embryos destroyed each year, as well as the number of embryos “currently in storage,” and “[t]he average length of time an embryo created through IVF is kept in storage.”

Furthermore, the lawmakers asked for the number of embryos subject to genetic screening – and the number of embryos destroyed after such screening.

“Does the CDC maintain any moral or ethical concerns regarding the use of genetic

screening to select embryos based on genetic abnormalities, sex, or physical attributes?” Brecheen, Rosendale, and Clyde went on to ask:

Does the CDC maintain any moral or ethical concerns regarding the intentional creation and destruction of excess embryos during the process of IVF?

Does the CDC maintain any moral or ethical concerns regarding the indefinite storage of embryos created through IVF?

The CDC is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS is led by Secretary Xavier Becerra, a self-professed Catholic who supports abortion and the LGBTQ movement.

Co-signer Rosendale stated in a Tuesday press release: “Human life should be respected as a miracle from our Creator, not treated as a fully customizable luxury vehicle.”

“Just because society can, does not mean it should alter the genetics of the Lord’s already perfect work,” added the Catholic congressman. “We should be working towards the protection of every human life, not finding more ways to toss away human embryos like they are undesirable parts.”

The Daily Signal’s Mary Margaret Olohan noted that the congressmen’s letter “comes as Republicans grapple with both messaging and legislating on IVF … given the expendable way in which human embryos are often treated.”

Olohan continued:

Following the Alabama Supreme Court ruling in favor of protecting embryonic human life, Republicans on Capitol Hill have suddenly found themselves being asked to state their position on IVF, a nuanced subject matter tied closely to the dignity of the human person and the fight for life.

LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.

The post Pro-Life Members of Congress Say Human Beings Killed in IVF Need Protected Too appeared first on LifeNews.com.

The Biden administration is under fire for selectively prosecuting pro-life advocates who protested abortion inside abortion centers while ignoring hundreds of pro-abortion attacks on churches, pro-life groups and pregnancy centers.

Heather Idoni is one of the dozen pro-life advocates who have been charged or convicted of violating the bogus FACE law that denies free speech rights to pro-life Americans. As LifeNews reported, the pro-life advocates have been found guilty of violating a federal law protecting abortion centers and now face the possibility of 11 years in prison.

That political persecution is bad enough, but recent reports indicated Idoni was placed in solitary confinement for 22 days for sharing food with fellow prisoners. https://www.lifenews.com/2024/04/29/pro-life-advocate-placed-in-solitary-confinement-for-22-days-for-sharing-food/

Now, a new report indicates Idoni has suffered a stroke as a result of the cruel and unusual punishment.

Idoni was reportedly “rushed to the hospital this week after suffering a stroke while being held at Northern Neck Regional Jail in Virginia. She is reportedly stabilized and will be taken back into custody to await sentencing on May 17.”

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“In an exclusive interview, she said that she received this punishment for sharing food with fellow prisoners. Idoni alleged that she was allowed to walk outside her cell only for two hours in the middle of the night each day and that the lights of her cell were continually kept on. Idoni has been in prison since she was convicted last autumn,” the report says.

Idoni’s attorney says the federal prison should be following international human rights standards for the humane treatment of prisoners and there is concern tat those standards are being abrogated in her case.

Idoni has been treated shoddily while in prison and was shackled like a death row inmate during a court appearance – and was subjected to 22 days of solitary confinement for sharing food with other prisoners.

In an exclusive interview, she said that she received this punishment for sharing food with fellow prisoners. Idoni alleged that she was allowed to walk outside her cell only for two hours in the middle of the night for two hours each day and that the lights of her cell were continually kept on. Idoni has been in prison since she was convicted last autumn.  

Fellow pro-life advocate Cal Zastro, who joined Idoni in another traditional pro-life rescue in Tennessee and has also been convicted of violation of the FACE Act, told LifeSiteNews that when Idoni was brought into the courtroom for a trial in Nashville, the U.S. marshal had the middle-aged woman shackled at the wrists, waist, and feet, as if she were a dangerous criminal. 

Zastro said that, upon entering the courtroom, the shocked judge ordered the shackles removed. Initially the marshal agreed to remove the shackles from only one wrist to allow Idoni freedom to write, a concession necessary for her to take notes, as she was then representing herself in court. Only at the insistence of the indignant judge were the shackles of both wrists finally removed, although the marshal left the bars around her waist and feet. 

According to the report, Idoni is relying on her faith in God saying that, despite the prison hardship “God is going to be glorified” and she has “never not felt His presence.” 

Idoni and the other pro-life advocates are appealing the bogus convictions.

The post Pro-Life Advocate Suffers Stroke After She’s Placed in Solitary Confinement for 22 Days appeared first on LifeNews.com.

When James Madison was a member of Congress in 1791 and charged with drafting the Bill of Rights, he made two grammatical demands. One was that the word “the” precede “freedom of speech” in the First Amendment, and the other was a command in the Ninth Amendment that the “rights retained by the people,” rights too numerous to enumerate, “shall not be disparaged” by the government.

This principle — that our rights preexisted the government — would be played out over and over in litigation in the centuries following the ratification of the Bill of Rights. The ratification itself was insisted upon by five of the new states who threatened to leave the new union unless restraints were added to the Constitution so as to protect the individual liberties that the Declaration of Independence — then only 15 years old — stated unambiguously were granted by the Creator.

Though the colonists deeply valued all the rights articulated in the Declaration, truly it was the freedom of speech that drove the revolution. Yes, the Americans had Kentucky long guns that enabled the colonial militias to shoot and kill British forces from distances that the British weaponry was unable to reach. Yes, the Americans were animated by defending their homeland.

But it was speech — sung in taverns, written in broadsides, delivered in sermons, distributed in pamphlets, adopted by the Continental Congress and colonial legislatures, and proclaimed in town squares from Boston to Charleston — that whipped the brushfires of freedom into a revolution and a new nation.

I offer this brief historical, philosophical and legal analysis of the freedom of speech as background for the discussion that follows.

Today, this most basic and utterly essential freedom — both a natural human right and a constitutionally protected right — is under assault by governments that hate or fear the content of the speech. I am addressing the demonstrations on college campuses today and the authoritarian responses to them by college presidents, governors and mayors.

Here is the dispute in a nutshell.

Students at various universities are repulsed by the gravity of the assault on Gaza by the IDF. They have chosen to address this assault and not the assault on Israeli civilians and military on Oct. 7. They are free to address whichever assault they choose.

They have also chosen to articulate their views by occupying public places on campuses; shouting, singing and haranguing college administrators. The administrators, fearing a loss of donations from those who disagree with the students or harm to other students who challenge the demonstrators, have engaged local and state police to suppress these demonstrations.

Can the government interfere with speech because of its content? In a word: NO.

How about on private property where campuses are not owned by the government? That depends on the location of the campus, as most states — but not all — have public accommodation laws that make college campuses public places available for the articulation of ideas. Even the colleges in states without these laws that accept federal funds do so in contracts with the federal government, which require that they respect free speech rights.

These public accommodation laws and these agreements with the feds are violative of the property rights of the owners of these colleges. Yet, like free speech, property rights, too, are under attack in America today. Nevertheless, today it is clear beyond dispute that college campuses are places for the free exchange of ideas, whether these ideas are approved by the owners of the campuses or not.

Is speech that preaches hate and threatens violence protected on college campuses? In a word: YES.

In Terminiello v. Chicago (1949), a Roman Catholic priest aimed hatred at President Harry Truman and the hate speech produced violence and property damage. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), a Ku Klux Klan leader aimed hatred at Blacks and Jews. In Terminiello, the violence was caused by the audience members who hated the speech they came to scorn. In Brandenburg, the KKK speaker demanded violence, but it never came about.

The Supreme Court sided with both speakers. The jurisprudence from both cases is now integral to American law. It teaches that all innocuous speech is absolutely protected and all speech is innocuous when there is time for more speech to challenge it.

Moreover, the court ruled, freedom of speech is so essential to human happiness and democratic values that it tolerates violence; meaning, those who cause violence can and should be addressed by the criminal justice system, but those who preach it are immune from prosecution, unless they cause an immediate, unthinking violent act — meaning there is no time for more speech to challenge the call for violence.

In the case of college campuses, the violence has been caused by the government. Whether the property on which the demonstrators stand is owned by the government — like the University of Texas, where the governor sent in police on horseback to rough up peaceful demonstrators — or is privately owned like Columbia University, where the mayor sent in police to arrest peaceful students, is of no moment.

No moment because the students have an absolute right to think as they wish, to say what they think, to read what they want, to publish what they believe; and they can do this alone or in groups, quietly or profoundly — and they can do this with impunity. Anything short of leaving them alone involves the governmental evaluation of the content of speech, the very acts that the First Amendment was written to prevent.

Today, the government wants war, and the students want peace. In the bitter days of the 1960s, student demonstrators chased an incumbent president from reelection and chastised a newly elected one into a policy change over war. Today, the government seems determined to use force to prevent change and suppress freedom. If the British had done this successfully in the 1770s, we’d all be bowing to Charles III today.

To learn more about Judge Andrew Napolitano, visit https://JudgeNap.com.

COPYRIGHT 2024 ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM

MPs will be given the opportunity to vote on lowering the abortion time limit in an historic vote that will take place on Wednesday 15 May.

This morning, the Leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt MP, announced that Report Stage of the Criminal Justice Bill will take place on Wednesday 15th May.

A cross-party group of over 40 MPs have signed a landmark amendment to the Government’s flagship Criminal Justice Bill ahead of Report Stage that would lower the abortion time limit from 24 to 22 weeks in line with advances in medical science.

The group of MPs led by Caroline Ansell includes former health minister Maggie Throup, ex-shadow cabinet Labour minister MP Rachael Maskell, ex-shadow Labour minister Marie Rimmer, ex-Cabinet Minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and Miriam Cates.

Parents of children who were born at 22 and 23 weeks gestation along with a large group of MPs delivered a petition, signed by 102,573 people, to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street calling for a reduction to the abortion time limit.

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Over 750 medical professionals have also called on MPs to back the amendment to the Government’s Criminal Justice Bill, in what would be the biggest change to abortion law for a generation.

A 24-week abortion limit is now beyond the point when many babies survive, double that of the most common time limit among European Union countries and represents a contradiction at the heart of our abortion law.

Originally set at 28 weeks, the abortion limit was lowered in 1990 to 24 weeks gestation. Improved survival rates for extremely premature babies between 24 and 28 weeks was one of the key considerations that motivated this change.

By the same logic, and informed by the improved survival rates for babies born at 22 and 23 weeks gestation, MPs are now calling for the abortion time limit to be updated.

In the decade to 2019 alone, the survival rate for extremely premature babies born at 23 weeks doubled, prompting new guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) that enables doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks gestation.

Research published in November 2023 by academics at the University of Leicester and Imperial College London indicates that a significant number of babies born at 22 and 23 weeks gestation can now survive outside the womb. According to this research, there were a total of 261 babies born alive at 22 and 23 weeks, before the abortion limit, who survived to discharge from hospital in 2020 and 2021.

This is compared to the Government abortion statistics, which show that in 2021 alone, 755 abortions were performed under Section 1(1)(a) of the Abortion Act when the baby was at 22 or 23 weeks gestation (the vast majority of abortions are permitted under Section 1(1)(a) of the Abortion Act, for which there is currently a 24-week time limit).

This leaves a real contradiction in British law. In one room of a hospital, doctors could be working to save a baby born alive at 23 weeks whilst, in another room of that same hospital, a doctor could perform an abortion that would end the life of a baby at the same age.

Our 24-week time limit is also out of step with the majority of European Union countries, where the most common time limit for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds is 12 weeks.

Countries with 12-week limits for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds include Germany, Italy and Belgium as well as the more “liberal” Nordic countries Denmark and Finland. Even Sweden has a time limit for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds that is much lower than the United Kingdom at 18 weeks.

Lowering the abortion time limit is supported by a large majority of the British public. Polling undertaken by Savanta ComRes shows that 60% of the general population and 70% of women support a reduction in the time limit to 20 weeks or below.

Caroline Ansell MP, who is leading the group of over 40 MPs who have tabled the amendment, said:

“The increase in survival rates for babies born at 22 and 23 weeks gestation is one of medical science’s great success stories in recent years. More and more babies born at these ages are able to survive thanks to the hard work of neonatal teams”.

“As in 1990, when our laws were last changed to reflect similar increases in survival rates, it is time our abortion time limit was updated. Our current time limit is an outlier compared with our European neighbours and my hope is this amendment will command widespread support across the House”.

Mischa from Surrey, mum to Amaya, who was born at 23 weeks and five days said:

“Our beautiful Amaya was born at 23 weeks and 5 days. She’ll be turning 3 years old in the summer and has come such a long way. She’s the most expressive baby and it is so fun to see what silly face she may pull next, always showing her emotions!” 

“She is such a waterbaby and adores her swimming lessons. I’ll never forget bringing her home for the first time and as I opened the ambulance door, the whole family was there cheering and clapping to welcome home my baby. She has brought so much light to so many lives”.

“It’s not easy to raise our premature baby. Every day was a fight; she has been fighting so hard. But we wouldn’t change it for the world. My little one was born at 23 weeks – why does she get to live while a 24-week baby in the womb could still be aborted?”

“The UK abortion law is out of date with medical science – my daughter is living proof of that. She’s a baby, just like others in the womb at 22 or 23 weeks. We hope to see this law changed to bring it in line with modern science so babies in the womb, the same age as my little fighter when she was born, are treated the same”.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said:

“The UK abortion time limit is double the average among EU countries, which is 12 weeks gestation, a point in pregnancy when the NHS website describes the unborn baby as ‘fully formed’”. 

“At the moment, a baby at 22 or 23 weeks gestation could be born prematurely and have a dedicated medical team provide expert care to try to save his or her life, while another baby at the same age could have their life deliberately ended by abortion in the same hospital at the same time. This is a contradiction in UK law”. 

“Polling demonstrates widespread public support for a time limit reduction, with support for this reduction strongest among women”.

The post British Parliament Will Vote on Measure to Save Babies From Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Justice in a Shithole Country

Paul Craig Roberts

Russiagate, documentsgate, insurrectiongate, pornstargate and the phony civil and criminal trials being orchestrated against President Trump demonstrate that Democrat attorney generals, prosecutors, and judges have no integrity, no respect for law, and regard law as a weapon to be used against those who stand in the way of their agendas.

Consider, for example, the 34-count indictment brought by black Trump-hater New York city district attorney Alvin Bragg solely on the basis of Bragg’s assertion that Trump falsified business records by reporting extortion payments to an aging pornstar, who apparently threatened to make accusations to disrupt Trump’s presidential campaign unless Trump paid her off, as a legal expense instead of a campaign contribution to his campaign.

It is an absolute fact that business owners and business executives do not make decisions about how expenses are reported. Such decisions are the responsibility of accountants and attorneys. All Trump did was to sign papers prepared by accountants and attorneys, but of course Bragg, a quota-hire, is too stupid to understand how business functions.

Bragg claims, further demonstrating his stupidity and incompetence, that Trump interfered in the 2016 presidential election and got himself elected President by hiding his payment to the pornstar as a legal expense. Bragg’s contention is that otherwise the presstitutes would have used the unsubstantiated pornstar’s allegations to defeat Trump’s 2016 election as president.

How did something this absurd get to be a court case. Clearly, this is NOT THE WAY A FIRST WORLD COUNTRY WITH A RULE OF LAW BEHAVES!
It is the way a shithole country behaves. A shithole country is what Democrats have turned America into.

Bragg’s stupid case based on nothing but Bragg’s assertion of how an expense should be reported so that it can be used as a weapon against Trump–and Bragg is not an accountant–has as its only support Trump-hater Michael Cohen, who wrote a book that claims “Donald Trump is the mirror into the depth of the soul of government corruption. He is the standard bearer for corrupt dictator wannabes. He is the poster boy for fascism.”

Cohen has pleaded guilty to tax evasion, to lying to Congress, and a judge has said that it is likely that Cohen also committed perjury. Yet, Cohen is Bragg’s witness against Trump.

Moreover, the fake charges against Trump are misdemeanor charges, NOT FELONIES. Yet Bragg is falsely presenting them as felonies, claiming that the alleged misreporting of the expense constituted “election fraud.”

Bragg does not have to worry about not having a case. He knows that in NYC the jury will convict Trump even if the entirety of the evidence proves Trump innocent. All Bragg has to do is to bring an indictment. The jury will convict. Nowhere in America, not in the media, trials, medical science, or scholarship do facts any longer matter. All that matters are agendas upheld by official narratives.

There you have it. This is justice in a shithole country.

Be a proud American. “USA, USA, USA!”

Rino Republicans Help Democrats Legitimize the Murder of the Unborn in Arizona

When Republicans accepted the stolen Arizona election, they accepted murder.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/arizona-senate-approves-repeal-of-near-total-abortion-ban-5641218?utm_source=RTNews&src_src=RTNews&utm_campaign=rtbreaking-2024-05-01-5&src_cmp=rtbreaking-2024-05-01-5&utm_medium=email&est=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAceE5JjMFys3H%2BbdAvWpUcQzPZ0WlGLZbDFlFfmdQNQ%3D%3D