Let freedom ring and life reign. It’s hard to ignore that the Fourth is about the protecting and flourishing of human life. It’s kind of completely the point of that Declaration we honor and give thanks for. Thanks for spending a little of your holiday with your new friend The Lifeline, and make sure people you love and respect are getting it in their inboxes, too. The link for signing up is here.
Prayers for You, Dear Readers, and for the United States, This Independence Day, and Always
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
It’s a document always worth a reread.
There Really Are Worse Things Than Adoption. Who Knows? Do Pregnant Women? Do Birth Mothers?
A young pregnant woman had chosen an adoption plan. But rather than let the people in her life know that — who could have been a support — she let them believe her baby had been taken by the state after delivery. Such was the depth of shame she felt as a birth mother and the stigma she felt existed against mothers for making such a choice. This example comes up in a new, thorough, social-science law article, “Informing Choice: The Role of Adoption in Women’s Pregnancy Decision-Making” by Elizabeth Kirk (Catholic University Law) and Ryan Hanlon (National Council for Adoption) for the Notre Dame Journal for Law, Ethics, and Public Policy.
For every one infant placed for adoption, 50 are aborted. Why? What goes into a pregnant woman’s decisions? Elizabeth and Ryan talk with me about some of their findings in a new video here:
Culture Matters: Why Do Women Choose Adoption? Better Understanding to Help Informed Choices.
Planned Parenthood, Defunded
By the time you read this, Donald Trump may have signed his “big, beautiful bill” that included defunding Planned Parenthood for a year. That’s super lame. Congress went from defunding the abortion giant for ten years in the House version to one year in the Senate’s. News of the revision came as pro-lifers were outside Planned Parenthoods across the country, insisting on defunding. (I was at mine in Manhattan, which, while set to close, is still distributing abortion pills and puberty blockers and referrals.)
Supporters of Planned Parenthood want to convince Americans that defunding Planned Parenthood is a shadow federal ban on abortion, an assault on women’s health care. When Roe was overturned, there was no residual mandate that Congress make sure taxpayer funding goes to abortion providers anywhere. And it’s a bit tired at this point to pretend that Planned Parenthood provides much more than obstacles to parenthood. There remain federally funded community health centers — more of them than Planned Parenthoods — and we should want a robust civil society of people loving women enough to walk with them and their motherhood.
It is a fact that defunding Planned Parenthood is historic. But it is also a baby step. Inundate women and girls and couples and families with resources for life. This has got to be the challenge and the goal.
By the way, Live Action reminded me the other day of a Planned Parenthood worker instructing a sex trafficker on how to streamline the abortions for the desperate women he’s exploiting.
Go What Yourself?
So I’ve shared with the tireless Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins that I’m an old fuddy-duddy (many of you were well aware) who does not like their “Go Fund Yourself” tagline for the defunding Planned Parenthood campaign. A wee bit too crass, and not in keeping with the dignity that a culture of life needs to exude.
Of course, then I saw some of the merchandise that the website/Substack “Abortion, Every Day” is currently advertising.
They’ve got what you might expect — tank tops, T-shirts, bags, stickers, the usual. What do they say?
Well, there’s a Fourth of July special: “Stars, Stripes & Abortion Rights,” with a slice of apple pie.
“Mife, Miso, And Me” refers to the drugs (mifepristone and misoprostol) that make an abortion cocktail for the standard chemical abortion — increasingly the way to get an abortion in the United States.
And for your summer vacation: “Abortion Bans Can F*** Off Into the Sun.”
There’s also “Moms Against Abortion Bans” and a subtle indicator before you make a move: “I Don’t F*** Republicans.”
Yeesh.
‘Abortions, I’ve Had a Few’
Speaking of motherhood and abortion, the British singer Lily Allen has two living children now, after four or five, maybe, abortions. This week during a regular podcast with a friend, she adapted Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” to explain that she really doesn’t remember how many abortions she’s had over the years.
Allen considers abortions unremarkable, with no need for explanation. Allen’s co-host was happy for the opportunity to reveal that she’d had five abortions herself, suggesting this is one of the most normal things in the world, grateful for a judgment-free zone for discussing it.
“I have an IUD now,” Allen said. “I think I’m on my third, maybe fourth, and I just remember, before that was a complete disaster area. I was just . . . yeah, I’d get pregnant all the time.”
If you don’t know the Grammy nominee, know that one of her hit songs is titled “F*** You,” and at the Glastonbury music festival in 2022, she dedicated it to the U.S. Supreme Court for ending Roe v. Wade. You really haven’t lived until you’ve watched a music festival delight in singing along to such a lovely ditty.
For that performance, she teamed up with Olivia Rodrigo, who said, at the time:
I’m devastated and terrified that so many women and so many girls are going to die because of this. And I wanted to dedicate this next song to the five members of the Supreme Court who have showed us that at the end of the day, they truly don’t give a sh** about freedom. This song goes out to the justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh. We hate you.
Watch Allen laugh about her abortions here.
When Is a Catholic Politician Not Actually Catholic?
In case you would like to read a boldly nonsensical discourse on religion and public life from a member of British Parliament who is upset that his priest called him out on voting for abortion and assisted suicide, here’s a link for you. His religion is none of his priest’s business, you see. Chris Coghlan writes, in part:
The arc of history does indeed bend towards justice because we all have the power to make it so through our own lives. But whether God exists or is simply the better part of ourselves is not something I felt the need to resolve. I was comfortable with the ambiguities of being a sometimes-agnostic Catholic, not agreeing with everything the church does, until this priest appeared to decide that my private religion was his public property. It was utterly disillusioning and quite whether I will be able continue as a Catholic only time will tell. . . .
When I went back to my childhood home a few years ago with my dad, the first thing he told me was that my mum had to come down the stairs on a stretcher. The pain stays. She died of ovarian cancer three months after I was born aged 27. Could assisted dying have helped relieve her suffering, or have given her peace of mind that there was a way out if it got too agonising? I don’t know. But I do know that if some priest had wanted to stop it, frankly I wouldn’t have given a damn about what he thought.
It’s unclear what Coghlan thinks priests should do, if not teach the faith and care for the consciences and eternal souls of their flock.
In the News
The Supreme Court won’t review Montana’s abortion parental-consent law: Justices Alito and Thomas say don’t read too much into it; they are waiting for a better case.
ProPublica is on the attack again: You may recall that ProPublica was given a Pulitzer for misleading abortion information. Its latest says women are bleeding to death in Texas because they are not being given miscarriage care. Dr. Ingrid Skop, a doctor in Texas who also works at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, responded: “The fact is, no pro-life law requires certainty or imminence before a physician can act.” She said: “Pro-life laws do not prevent quality medical care. Fearmongering does, and women are suffering because of it. Medical organizations and hospitals need to drown out the lies of the abortion industry and ensure every physician understands their duty to provide lifesaving care.”
This story deserves much more attention, and thankfully the wonderful Pulitzer Prize–winning (and actually deserving of it and then some) Melinda Henneberger is on it. A doctor who left half an abortion baby in a mother is now threatening to make her name public as a legal strategy.
Around National Review
Wisconsin Supreme Court Kills a Lifesaving Spirit of 176 Years
Democrats on Defense: The Party Is Digging In Its Heels on Abortion Post-Dobbs
The Supreme Court Deals a Blow to Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid Lawfare
Defunding Planned Parenthood: One Big Beautiful Victory
Defunding Planned Parenthood Is Only a Baby Step
A Big Beautiful Win for Pro-Lifers
Other Things
Do you know about EWTN’s pro-life weekly TV show? This is the most recent episode, which includes Planned Parenthood in SCOTUS and Congress, coverage of Celebrate Life Weekend in D.C. last weekend, and more.
From Broward, County, Fla.: The staff at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital brought the traditional Fourth of July barbecues indoors for their youngest patients, with an adorable twist.
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