The subject-line on the email was, shall we say, striking: “Crone swoops with talons toward younger women with babies.” The predatory beldame in question was Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and my cyber-correspondent was drawing my attention to this Tweet from @SenWarren: “With Roe gone, it’s more important than ever to crack down on so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ that mislead and deceive patients seeking abortion care. My bill with @SenatorMenendez would stop these harmful practices.”
What would the bill touted by Senator Warren do? A justifiably irate editorial in National Review gave the nasty details:
Under Warren’s bill, charities could be fined $100,000 or ‘50 percent of the revenues earned by the ultimate parent entity’ of the charity for violating the act’s ‘prohibition of disinformation’ related to abortion. But the legislation itself does not define prohibited speech. Warren’s bill directs the Federal Trade Commission to ‘promulgate rules to prohibit a person from advertising with the use of misleading statements related to the provision of abortion services.’ Warren’s bill would thus turn the Federal Trade Commission into a national abortion disinformation board.” And who would define “disinformation”? One likely suspect would be Liz Warren’s friends at NARAL Pro-Choice America, whose study of crisis pregnancy centers complained that “more than 67 percent” of the centers surveyed “intentionally referred to the fetus as ‘baby’.
The NR editorial went on to note that this Orwellian enterprise was of a piece with recent efforts by Senator Warren and other members of the U.S. House and Senate to pressure Google into “suppressing search results” for crisis pregnancy centers. Thus self-styled “pro-choice” advocates propose to constrain the choices available to women by driving compassionate and life-affirming care out of business through the porcine regulatory apparatus of the administrative state.
Pondering this latest spasm of progressive totalitarianism, I was reminded of an evening in Chicago in 2008. The occasion was a fundraising dinner for a venerable crisis pregnancy center in the Loop, Aid for Women, at which I was giving the postprandial keynote address. I thought I did a decent enough job of encouraging the hundreds attending to support Aid for Women with generous donations. The real clincher came from elsewhere, though.
A rather shy woman came to the dais, a small child in her arms, to say a few halting words. A year or so before, she had found herself pregnant, her boyfriend had abandoned her, and she had wandered into Aid for Women, assuming it was an abortion facility — and thinking that abortion was the only solution to her dilemma. The love and support she received from the staff persuaded her to carry her child to term: the child she was now clutching with such evident joy. And she just wanted to thank everyone present for making a place like Aid for Women possible, because, as a mom, she was happier than she’d ever been in her life.
The hotel ballroom erupted in applause and cheers, more than a few tears were shed, and I imagine that some rather substantial checks were written. Later, over a nightcap, I asked the friend who had invited me to speak why Aid for Women had wasted money flying me to Chicago. Nothing I could have said, however artful or elegant, would have been 1/100th as persuasive as that wonderful woman and her baby. The joy on her face and in her voice made the cause of life come alive in a singularly compelling way.
Were they successful, that’s the joy Elizabeth Warren and her ilk would suppress in the name of a bogus notion of “health care.” They won’t succeed. But the very attempt to eradicate crisis pregnancy centers — first by lying about what these institutional expressions of the culture of life do, then by regulating them into oblivion — is wickedness. And it fouls the public space. What is going on here?
What is going on is a grotesque distortion of moral judgment, often based on a bizarre concept of women’s empowerment that denigrates the extraordinary natural power that only women possess. That distortion can create fanatics. In the most extreme cases, soi-disant “pro-choice” ideology so warps the moral sensibilities of its adherents that they try to deny women a real choice by firebombing or otherwise vandalizing crisis pregnancy centers. The rhetoric and actions of the junior senator from the Bay State are less overtly violent, but they are nonetheless reprehensible. Catholic Democrats in Massachusetts and elsewhere might well have a few candid words with Elizabeth Warren about her woke bullying; ditto for Catholic Democrats in New Jersey with Senator Robert Menendez.
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The woke and female Elizabeth Warren has transitioned into the male justices Hathorne, Sewall and Stoughton of Salem witch-trial days, who kicked off the 1692 festivities by hanging the first victims–based on accusations from an earlier Elizabeth (Elizabeth Booth).
By targeting pro-life centers, is today’s Elizabeth channeling the earlier Elizabeth?
I sent a $500 donation to one of our local pregnancy protection centers along with a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren decrying her support for violence against any such facility, asking them to put an acknowledgement of my donation in the stamped envelope with my letter and mail it to her. Then, I thought, “oh maybe I just put a target on this center.” However, on further reflection, I think I may have saved this center from vandalism or worse, because if they get attacked, the police will be notified where to begin their investigation.
Good for you & God bless you.
Whitmer (MI) just vetoed a budget bill, or line itemed it or something for 20 mill in aid to pregnancy centers etc… for adoption aid – said they pretend to be fake health centers
The plague of political correctness tries to sweep away common sense and decency.
Psalm 139:13-16 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Proverbs 24:11-12 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
Matthew 18:14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Exodus 21:22-25 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Deuteronomy 27:25 “‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder.
And so it goes.
Liz Warren is a dispicable human being. She never stops lying, even when her lies are made public. The article should have included President Trump’s calling her out as Pocahontas, a well deserved derisive term for her lying nature.
She and others who hate Crisis Pregnancy centers prove that they are not “pro-choice”. They are pro abortion only.
good point
I wish feticide promoters who employ engineered euphemisms & spread medical misinformation to misguide us could be held accountable in some way. That goes for euthanasia proponents also.
If we all used the correct medical terminology, ok. But neither side does & the population controllers & abortionists only use that language selectively to their advantage. When laypeople use non-medical terminology, they want to sue us. Seriously…
🙁
Dear Mrscracker:
Yes and yes and yet, it is not he end of the matter. We hope people repent and change their ways, yet God is a righteous judge.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Romans 14:12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Proverbs 21:2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.
God bless you and thanks,
Brian
Completely agree. She is a reprehensible woke totalitarian.
We may be reluctant to publicly acknowledge in the post-modern world the clear Scriptural truth that the devil exists and has sons and daughters actively at work (Matthew 13,38; John 8,44; 1John 3,10). Certainly acknowledging this truth shouldn’t make us self-righteous. But for the grace of God there go I as another reprehensible woke totalitarian.
Well, the Kansas vote on abortion yesterday just shows the majority of American want abortion rights. The overturning of Roe v. Wade was undemocratic just like the way our Electoral College enables at times a loser in the actual number of votes get the White House like Trump in 2016. The way we, a minority of us Catholics, (the majority of Catholics) want to impose our belief and view on abortion on the rest of Americans who do not agree with us on this makes the Church look not any different from the Taliban or those Muslim societies and countries imposing sharia laws even on non-Muslims.
Other than demonstrating absolutely no understanding of the republican/federalist form of government in the U.S., or of the three branches of government, or the nature of the judicial branch, or the numerous reasons (scientific, moral, biological, ontological, theological, etc) that anyone (not just Catholics) rightly opposed abortion, or what “Dobbs” actually did and didn’t do, or the radical differences between natural law and sharia law, your comment holds together brilliantly.
You venture to compare universal natural law morality (as recognized by Catholic moral theology) with Sharia Law. Actually, a fascinating topic…I mean the partial overlap, together with the glaring contradictions. The following is offered as a footnote to Olson’s splendid remark…
So, let’s take Muhammad himself on the timely issue of (female) infanticide, as now part of the Democratic platform to be codified and federally funded by presidential fatwa. Muhammad, in contrast, opposed the pagan culture of his own day, including the live burial of unwanted female babies.
On this point, historian De Lacy O’Leary cites the Qur’an: Q 6:141, 152; Q 16:60-1, and Q 17:31-33; see also Q 81:3 (“Arabia Before Muhammad,” 1927). In two other extended accounts, Mohammed is reduced to tears when hearing of such live burials. Mohammed’s response to the guilty father is actually recorded (I think in the Hadiths): “Sons and daughters are both gifts of God, the Prophet reminded him. Both are equally gifts, and so they should always be treated equally” (Jean Sassoon, Princess Sultana’s Daughters, 1994).
Thank you for sharing that, Mr. Beaulieu. That was very interesting.
Some interesting reflections, Peter, but note that more and more brave historians are coming forward with increasingly compelling evidence that casts a very skeptical light on the claimed existence and history of the so-called Prophet of Islam known as Muhammad. If you and others are interested in exploring further what may be the greatest fraud ever imposed on the world, I recommend starting with Robert Spencer’s revised “Did Muhammad Exist?” (2021) that puts together in one book many of the findings of honest historians who have properly questioned all of Islam’s foundational claims based on historical facts quite embarrassing to the overall Islamic narrative.
As for the Quran itself, there now appears to be some 30-plus different versions, not just different language interpretations, that have led to many former Muslims (including some Imams and other leaders) to abandon Islam since one of its biggest lies over the years has been that there is only One Quran on Earth that faithfully reproduces the Heavenly Quran. With this in mind, and given the barbarism of the one called Muhammad the Prophet, there really isn’t much wisdom one can gain from whichever version of the Quran one chooses to cite.
Robert Spencer’s perspective on Islam goes beyond informative, as does Daniel Pipes. it has been my experience that muslims embracing christianity are some of the best attesters for Jesus Christ. They know the truth and the truth has set them free.
We who believe should be constant ambassadors for the mercy of God.
Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Luke 6:36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Psalm 86:5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Thank you and God bless you.
You obviously need a refresher course on American government and basic ethics. Pick up a copy of the Federalist Papers (assuming it doesn’t burn your hands) and read Hamilton’s explanation of the electoral college. Overturning Roe was a legally correct and necessary decision, as the majority opinion indicates. You might want to take time to be informed before posting your comments. That’s asking a lot from a progressive, I know, but give truth a try. You might find it liberating.
It is clear that Trump lives rent free in your head. Have you learnt nothing from the past two years? My body my choice showed.the.pro choice lobby up for the sad sacks they really are, since they were the first to cheer the state on with mandatory vaccination. No Catholic worth their salt seeks to impose anything, we believe in free will and we also believe we have a duty to help others avoid damnation. For many of us the deliberate destruction of a baby is the closest thing to hell on earth and we cannot in all conscience remain silent just because some.people cannot bear hearing the horrible violent truth about abortion.
You know S. Adelia, there is no natural right to a violation of human rights as in the case of feticide.
I’m barely old enough to remember folks fighting for the right to segregate. My parents remembered US states fighting for the right to involuntarily sterilize the “unfit.” And going back further our ancestors remember the commotion over the right to own slaves.
Those are all human rights & civil rights matters, not strictly religious ones.
When, pray tell, did your life on earth begin?
Enlightening. Obviously, you’re taking the leftist incoherence about how this country is organized and founded to heart. By the way, the Supreme Court is supposed to decide on the basis of the Constitution and not Kagan’s “public confidence.”
During my years as a pro-life atheist, active in political lobbying for pro-life legislation, exactly what religion was I trying to “impose” on anyone?
Satan is alive and well in the hearts and souls of American politicians from Warren to Trump. Voting is always choosing the lesser of evils. Pray for their deliverance, conversion, and salvation. But don’t be fooled; very few politicians are on the narrow road, if any.
Why compare Warren to Trump in your comment. Trump appointed the Justices that overturned Roe. While Trump has his issues, he by far has a higher moral sense then the Catholic Kennedy’s, LBJ, Clinton and BHO. Warren and her ilk set a new standard for evil American politicians.