Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 9, 2024 / 11:17 am (CNA).
Just six months from Election Day, the Biden-Harris administration is ramping up its campaign rhetoric and going all in on abortion.
Here’s what is going on with abortion throughout the country.
Vice President Harris calls pro-life laws ‘immoral’
Over the last several weeks Vice President Kamala Harris has been touting the Biden administration’s support for unrestricted abortion on her “Reproductive Freedoms Tour.”
At a stop in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Harris slammed states such as Texas whose pro-life laws do not allow exceptions for abortion in cases of rape and incest.
“The idea that these so-called leaders would say even no exception for rape or incest, to say to a survivor of a crime of violence to their body, of violation to their body, that you a survivor of that don’t have a right to make a decision about what happens to your body next, that’s immoral,” Harris said.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff also made headlines last week when he held an event with Men4Choice in Atlanta to encourage men to advocate for abortion.
“This is an issue of fairness to women. Women are dying,” Emhoff told NBC News. “These freedoms are affecting all Americans, not just women.”
Both Harris and President Joe Biden continue to project confidence that Americans will turn out en masse to vote in favor of abortion.
“Momentum is on our side,” Harris said at a tour stop in Jacksonville, Florida, last week. “Since Roe was overturned, every time reproductive freedom has been on the ballot the people of America voted for freedom.”
New York throws out abortion amendment
On Tuesday, New York Supreme Court Judge Daniel Doyle ruled that a referendum to enshrine a right to abortion in the state’s constitution cannot appear on the ballot in November because supporters did not follow the proper procedure laid out in the state constitution.
The text of the proposed “Equal Rights Amendment” avoids the use of the word “abortion” but was widely seen as creating a constitutional protection for women to access abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.
“The constitution is the supreme will of the people,” Doyle said in his ruling.
“This court cannot condone the actions taken by the Legislature in derogation of the expressed will of the people,” Doyle continued. “The Legislature’s vote … prior to receiving the opinion of the attorney general frustrated the deliberative process intended by the people in [the state constitution].”
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a post on X that she intends to appeal the ruling.
Similar abortion amendments will be on the ballot in Florida, Maryland, and as many as 11 other states.
California sees sharp rise in abortions after Roe overturn
California saw a sharp increase in abortion numbers last year, with 178,300 unborn babies killed in the state in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
An increase of about 24,360 — or 16% — from 2020, this is a 10-year high for abortions in one year, according to Yahoo News.
This comes in the first full year since the overturn of Roe v. Wade and after California further expanded abortion laws and made it easier for out-of-state women to enter to obtain abortions.
According to Guttmacher, 5,160 out-of-state women obtained abortions in California in 2023. Though a high number, this is still well behind other states such as Illinois, which in 2023 had 36,810 out-of-state abortions, and North Carolina, which had 15,910.
Missouri governor to defund Planned Parenthood
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced that he will sign a bill to defund Medicaid reimbursements for abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood.
Passed by the majority-Republican state Legislature on April 25, the bill states that “no public funds shall be expended to any abortion facility, or affiliate thereof.”
The bill also states that “any taxpayer, as well as the attorney general, shall have standing to bring a cause of action in any court or administrative agency of competent jurisdiction to enforce these provisions.”
Abortion is only legal in cases when the mother’s life is at risk in Missouri. However, a ballot proposal legalizing abortion through viability has reached enough signatures to be included on the November ballot.
After Parson signs the bill, the law will go into effect on Aug. 28.
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These people are nothing if not evil.
Perhaps grossly misinformed!
Sorry, that’s just not believable. They’ve both been pushing abortion for decades. They know what they are doing, even though they probably lie to themselves about it.
No, evil. Because killing an innocent, defenseless and vilnerable human person is a most heinous and evil act. Those who commit those acts or advocate for them are doing evil.
In total agreement with this insightful comment.
If immoral then good is evil. VP Harris and President Biden purveyors of death for the invasive ideology of death sickening humanity. Sharp increase of abortion in CA since the Roe overturn is by appearance hateful spite.
When moral truth is inverted, evil becomes dominant. Good becomes unjust in every conceivable instance. Reason is that evil perceives no possible ethical alternatives and consequently judge differences of judgment illegal as well as immoral. Yet one wonders how Biden considers himself Catholic, makes the sign of the cross in public when abortion enforcement is announced. Putatively there’s sufficient ambiguity even appearance of endorsement from the Vatican, supported by warm welcoming of Biden and antilife Nancy Pelosi.
Some commenters angrily denounce essayists as cowardly for not imputing heresy. Taken as it stands while not meeting the canonical requirements one might say the consistency of misleading words and actions press the red line. Although if the canons were shelved on the issue a multitude could be conceivably charged with so serious a violation of the faith. Even if a slip up occurred. Fear would hold sway stifling valid deliberation. It’s best for clergy to keep the rule, although it seems valid to apply the term error as morally applicable when incidents of error by offhand word or suggestion are consistent.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Agreed, by his support for and enthusiastic promoting of the immoral act of abortion, Biden should be banned from receiving communion and excommunicated. He is not a good Catholic, and furthermore if what he is, is acceptable to the Church as evidenced by inaction, it is doubtful that the majority of Catholics in good standing are proud or tolerant to be associated with him. I further state that there is one who is very pleased with him, and his name is satan.
Dismembering babies alive is not a human right.
It’s an inhuman wrong.
Thank you brineyman.
There are anti vivisection groups around the world today but sadly their efforts are only to protect defenseless animals from vivisection, not defenseless infants in the womb. Perhaps we could erect a statue for the human victims to stir the public conscience such as was done in memory of a dog in the early 1900’s :
“In memory of the Brown Terrier Dog done to death in the laboratories of University College in February 1903, after having endured vivisection extending over more than two months and having been handed from one vivisector to another until death came to his release. Also in memory of the 232 dogs vivisected at the same place during the year 1902. Men and women of England, how long shall these things be?”
Yeah that is horrible, it’s no wonder we moved from animals to babies so easily, if we don’t respect all life we soon lose respect for any life✝️🙏🏻😔
Unbelieving pagans .
“Reproductive freedom” for me but not for thee.
George Orwell.
This is just another example of the current twisted thinking being fanned out from Washington; quite recently NPR was outed as an extreme leftist organization (employees’ political makeup) by one of their own managers.
This is the same organization that broadcast the sounds of a MI organization to help Whitmer get her Prop 3 passed.
Outing NPR as an extreme leftist organization is about as shocking as outing the South Pole as a cold and uncomfortable place to live. We kinda knew that already.
Yup, we used to say NPR stood for “National Propaganda Radio” and that’s been decades ago.
obviously, but no one from within their hallowed walls ever said that (in my recent memory) and their broadcasting of a MI abortion to propel Prop 3 is directly related to the anti family message coming out of Washington/the elite and the above article (isn’t NPR headquarters in Washington as well?). I used to listen to their stories on the way home from work but couldn’t take them anymore starting about 15 years ago. any human interest story is very interesting to me but let me listen to them not to the commentator
(don’t forget, we have people who are not from the US reading this – we’re headed to thinking like they do across the pond like where if you breathe in front of an abortion clinic you’ll be thrown in the clink)
“Women are dying”??? In point of fact, pregnancy and giving birth is a normal biological function of women and not an illness or disease. I would like to know if there are statistics about how many women die each year giving birth. Unquestionably, on rare occasion seemingly healthy people die suddenly for no obvious reason. But for someone to conflate the idea “women are dying” with a lack of extreme abortion access, is an outright lie. What this administration is interested in is encouraging women to sleep around no matter the moral damage to themselves and society, and then suggesting the murder of their baby is a “solution” when they end up pregnant. How about not sleeping around to start with?
“I would like to know if there are statistics about how many women die each year giving birth.”
Yes, that’s easy. The number is basically zero. The whole “women are dying” trope is just a dishonest, manipulative lie parroted by progressives.
I was listening to an interview with a nurse midwife who has studied the history of childbirth practices & she said the rates of maternal death following delivery actually rose when childbirth was first medicalized & attended by physicians. The reason being that before the protocols of sanitation & understanding of the spread of infection, doctors would deliver babies right after coming from dissecting a body, amputating a limb, etc. without washing their hands or sterilizing their instruments. And they’d pass on any pathogens present on to the mother.
Thankfully we know better now & pregnancy & delivery are far safer. And as you say, normal processes & not diseases. Fertility’s not a disease either but you’d never know that from the pharmaceutical companies.
100% of women will die. Same with men. We are all of us like the grass of the field.
However, we need not soil our short lives with murder.
And the woman married to the First Gentleman who claims that “women are dying” is Vice President Kamala Harris, who will ascend to the Presidency should, God forbid, Pres. Biden pass away or become incapacitated and unable to fulfil his elected office. God have mercy on our current President and grant him a long life and time to repent of his sin of supporting abortion. And God preserve us from a Harris presidency, or any POTUS who pushes abortion as “women’s health care.”
The Democratic Party is a death cult.
Democrats favor killing children in utero. At any time. For any reason.
And so, entire generations of individuals are canceled from existence.
Roughly one-third of all our offspring.
Think about that.
And for the lucky children who escape that horrific death? Democrats are in favor of sterilizing them.
Again, more generations of human beings erased. Denied by the “choice” of their mothers the chance to exist.
Legalizing drugs; gay “marriage”; the sexualization of children; the green new poverty; the open border fentanyl conduit; the denial of the biologically determined sexes; the racist, divisive CRT curriculum — everything the Democratic Party advocates is aimed at denying life and promoting death.
Death is the Democratic Party’s central tenet.
And the American Catholic Church is wholly responsible for it. One hundred percent.
Because if Catholics had voted the Church’s teachings even once in the past 50 years in a national election, no candidate would ever again advocate for abortion for fear of being swept away by a twenty percent landslide.
Our bishops, our priests, our entire community — we have the blood of more than a Billion innocent children on our souls.
We deserve whatever we get.
Spot on, Brineyman.
We can thank our bishops for Biden. They gave the green light for Catholics to vote for Biden. The likes of McElroy, Cupich, Tobin and others intimidated pro-life bishops to shut up about abortion. And Bergoglio had their backs through it all.
What you say is true, but if you think the corollary is that the Republican Party is on the side of the (good) angels, you are mistaken. The GOP has rushed to reassure Americans that they favor and want to protect and even celebrate IVF, and their opposition to the abortion of more fully-developed babies is both spotty (depending largely on where the politician’s supporters live) and contingent (usually, as with their inevitable nominee, coming with lots of exceptions). A pox on both their houses.
Except that the GOP doesn’t bar pro-lifers from running for office.
Keep in mind, though, that the Republican Party Platform is pro-life, and many Republican Senators, Representatives, GOVERNORS (very important, since the repeal of Roe v. Wade returns the issue to the STATES to decide!), State Senators and Representatives, and Mayors, along with many other local elected officials, are solidly pro-life. Sadly, any Democrats who are pro-life end up blacklisted and driven out of office by their Party (e.g., Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois). Think really hard about voting for an obscure 3rd party just to keep your conscience clear”–they won’t win and chances are good that the votes lost by Republicans will end up resulting in a pro-abortion Democrat winning. But be careful and do your research!–there are Republicans who embrace the basic tenant of the Republican Party, which is less government interference in daily lives of Americans, and therefore almost always support abortion as a right of people to freely choose.
Its a fact that “catholics” vote for legal abortion in the same number as non-catholics or non-believers. That being said, its also a fact that issues other than abortion are hanging in the balance at election time. These are important issues which impact everyday life. Lets say fighting the push to allow transgender surgeries for minor age children,promoting gay and abnormal sexual orientation to minor children in school,inflation which is impacting family life, open borders which present a real mortal danger to our citizens. These and more. Staying home or voting Democrat for ANY office will put the blood of the country on that voter’s hands. We are running out of time, as the march of Marxist agitators on our campuses should tell you.
The most notorious tag team since Sartoro and Michael/Michelle
I remember a book about 30 years ago by a Catholic writer named, if memory serves, Bud McFarlane. In the book there was an imaginary scene of a man who had either performed or promoted abortions trying to get into heaven, only to find his way blocked by all the babies he had killed, and he had to explain to EACH one of them – individually – why he had done what he had done and EACH of them had to be satisfied by what he told him or her before he could get into heaven.
This was 30 years ago and sometimes the memory gets a tad hazy, so – does anyone out there recall his books? I can’t remember the names of the books.
Women are dying?
The same “argument” as the coat hanger “never again” sloganism.
No perceptible evidence of logic, rational thinking.
Canon law specifies that procuring direct abortion or support of the same incurs the penalty of automatic excommunication.
Well, Catholics now know also that JB declared the most important day in Christianity, The Resurrection of the Lord, “Transgender visibility day.”