• • Thomas More Society Takes Defense of David Daleiden's First Amendment Rights to the Highest Court
• • Seven States are Almost Abortion Free, Have Just One Abortion Clinic Left
• • President Donald Trump Cuts Planned Parenthood-Run Sex-Ed Programs, May Prepare for Abstinence Funding
• • West Virginia's Pro-Life Democratic Gov. Jim Justice Switches Parties, Becomes a Republican

On August 3, 2017, in Washington D.C., attorneys from the Thomas More Society joined their co-defense counsel in filing an appeal with the United States Supreme Court asking the Court to hear the case of David Daleiden, the 28 year old undercover journalist who exposed Planned Parenthood's involvement in the commercial trafficking of aborted babies' body parts and to overturn a court imposed gag order that barred Daleiden from releasing hundreds of hours of still more videos - videos whose contents were both politically embarrassing and incriminating for Planned Parenthood and other abortionists.

The National Abortion Federation (NAF) had filed suit back in July, 2015, to bar Daleiden from releasing his undercover videos taken at National Abortion Federation 2014 and 2015 annual conventions. Judge William Orrick granted an "emergency" gag order suppressing the videotapes, and later he entered a preliminary injunction extending the gag order indefinitely, through trial of the case - an injunction that the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed, although one Judge on the three-Judge panel dissented from that part of the lower court's order that forbade Daleiden from releasing the videos to law enforcement without first getting the federal court's permission to do so after first consulting with NAF.

Thomas More Society attorneys Tom Brejcha, Peter Breen, Matt Heffron, and Sarah Pitlyk helped to craft the appeal, along with co-defense counsel, and they have been representing Daleiden in both the NAF civil suit, filed under the Federal Racketeering Law (RICO), another RICO suit filed by Planned Parenthood and various affiliates, and in criminal felony prosecutions filed both in Houston, TX (finally dismissed a year ago) and in San Francisco Criminal Court.

The opinion issued by the lower court, which entered the gag order, had conceded that: "There is no doubt that members of the public have a serious and passionate interest in the debate over abortion rights and the right to life, and thus in the contents of defendants' recordings". "I fully recognize that there is strong public interest on the issue of abortion on both sides of that debate, and that members of the public therefore have an interest in accessing the NAF materials. I also recognize that this case impinges on defendants' rights to speech and the public's equally important interest in hearing that speech." Nonetheless, U.S. District Judge Orrick issued a gag order, ruling that release of the videos would risk violent retaliation against abortion providers - despite a total lack of evidence that Daleiden ever advocated, let alone perpetrated violence.  Indeed, David's pro-life activism arises from his deep aversion to the infliction of physical violence against any human beings.

"This Supreme Court appeal is an historic effort to protect the classical ban against prior restraints of free speech about an issue of paramount public importance, as our Congress is even now debating whether the abortion industry ought to be subsidized bv millions of dollars in tax revenues.  Our First Amendment represents a foundational premise of our democracy that citizens ought to be trusted to make up their own mind about such basic issues of public policy." stated Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society.  "The notion that government needs to filter the truth and wield the censor's scissors is anathema here in our United States, and we trust that the Supreme Court will not abide this unprecedented suppression of truth and will soon let it be shared openly with all of our fellow citizens. First Amendment does not permit anybody to be insulated against the scrutiny of law enforcement or freed from political embarrassment."

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Micaiah Bilger   Aug 11, 2017   |   5:44PM    Washington, DC

Abortion activists are wailing about the news that seven states have just one abortion clinic inside their borders.

In a piece for the women's website Refinery 29, Lauren Holter treated it as bad news that so women do not have easy access to an abortion clinic. She blamed pro-life advocates and lawmakers for enacting laws that restrict the killing of unborn babies and hold abortion facilities accountable to basic health and safety standards.

The states with only one abortion facility are: Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Pro-life lawmakers in Kentucky and Mississippi especially have been aggressive in working to protect unborn babies from abortion. Since his election, pro-life Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has been cracking down on abortion facilities for operating outside of the law. Earlier this year, an abortion facility in Lexington shut down after Bevin's administration caught it masquerading as a doctor's office. State investigators said they also found numerous health and safety violations.

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President Donald Trump recently cut funding to a questionable teen pregnancy prevention program that has given millions of dollars to the abortion business Planned Parenthood.

The Hill reports pro-abortion President Barack Obama created the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program in 2010 to teach vulnerable populations of students about preventing pregnancy.

Participants in the program recently learned that their grant funding will end next year, two years sooner than expected, according to the report. Trump's administration notified the 81 grant recipients that funding for the program is being cut by about $200 million and their grants will end on June 30, 2018, the report states.

Among the groups receiving grants to teach sex education are several Planned Parenthood affiliates.

The program administrators awarded an annual $1 million grant to Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and Hawaiian Islands to target rural teens.

The abortion group said it uses the funds to "reduce teen pregnancy rates, increase use of contraceptives and delay initiation of sexual activity among ninth- to 12th-grade youth in rural Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Hawaii."

Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, as well as Planned Parenthood of the Heartland also received grants of nearly $1 million each annually to promote their sex agenda to teens.

Health and Human Services Department spokesman Mark Vafiades told the New York Times that there is very little evidence that the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program is working.

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Previously, Justice has been registered as a Republican and an independent before running for governor as a Democrat. Unlike most Democratic candidates, he did not endorse Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. According to the NYT, he has been friends with various members of the Trump family for quite a while.

West Virginia went for Trump by a 42-point margin. Trump's approval rating in West Virginia is currently at 60 percent, which is the highest in the entire nation.

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July 26, 2017 6:42 PM

He ushered into law new abortion restrictions, controversial welfare reforms and an aggressive tax-cutting strategy. He entered office with more than 60 percent of the vote, but he'll leave office as one of the least popular governors in the nation.

Brownback will be succeeded by Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, a Johnson County plastic surgeon who played a key role in Brownback's decision to privatize the state's Medicaid system during his first term.

The ambassador serves as the United States' main spokesman for oppressed religious minorities around the globe. Brownback had been a top choice for religious leaders because of his advocacy on the issue during his tenure in the U.S. Senate.

The position requires Senate confirmation.

"Senator Brownback will, I sincerely hope, see this position as contributing to the national security of the United States," said Tom Farr, the president of the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington, D.C.

"Advancing religious freedom in our foreign policy will help Christians and other religious minorities around the world who are suffering persecution," said Farr, who served under two of the previous ambassadors. "It will at the same time undermine religion-based extremism and terrorism. He has an extraordinary opportunity, at low cost, to advance the fundamental national security interests of our nation."

The last person to hold the position was David Saperstein, a rabbi and attorney who held the position from January 2015 to January 2017.

Brownback's selection was criticized by Equality Kansas, the state's leading LGBT rights group that has repeatedly clashed with Brownback on the issue of religious freedom.

The US Senate today voted to advance a bill that would defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. The Senate voted in favor of a motion to proceed to begin debate on the legislation.

There had been considerable question about whether a motion to proceed would be successful because the legislation which defunds the nation's biggest abortion company and repeals ObamaCare has come under opposition from three pro-abortion Republicans. Their opposition could have subverted the majority vote needed for the legislation under 50 votes.

Two pro-abortion Republicans - Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska - both voted no on the motion to proceed. A third pro-abortion Republican senator Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia voted in favor of advancing the bill for a debate after initially opposing such a vote in recent days.

During the voting consideration, not a single Democrat voted because all of the Democrats, each of whom support funding the Planned Parenthood abortion factory, wanted to first see how Republicans voted and whether a third Republican would defeat the motion to proceed. By waiting, Democrats could potentially say they were not responsible for defeating the motion and preventing a debate on the bill to repeal Obamacare.

After Senators Ron Johnson and John McCain became the final two Republicans to vote for the motion to proceed, Democrats began voting against the motion in droves. Because of their opposition, pro-life Vice President Mike Pence had to vote in favor of the motion by breaking a 50-50 tie.

The legislation has been pending for many weeks and even months as Republicans have been attempting to come up with a version that would please both conservative lawmakers as well as pro-abortion Republicans who are resistant to defunding the nation's biggest abortion company.

Also complicating efforts is the news that the Senate parliamentarian may have killed the Senate bill that would defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business and repeal Obamacare.

Senate Republicans have been using the reconciliation Bill to get around a filibuster by pro-abortion Democrats who oppose defunding the nation's biggest abortion company and repealing prohibition Obamacare that has included taxpayer-financed abortions.