Life and death are in the news in brutal and beautiful ways. Politics tends to make the brutal even more torturous. This week is no exception. This new newsletter, The Lifeline, seeks to strike a balance so it is neither overwhelming nor Pollyannaish. We’re about to mark three years since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and that balance will be critical if we are to get anywhere good. Thanks, in advance, for reading, for signing up to receive this in your inbox, and for considering sharing this newsletter with others. The sign-up link is here.
Fight Cruelty with Prayer
“I still hope the baby doesn’t survive more then another day or two. People are seriously not understanding the precedent across the country that will happen if the baby survives. It really is the absolute WORST thing that can happen.”
“People framing the survival of Adriana smith’s baby as a miracle when its actually one of the the worst outcomes”
“Forcing a little Black baby boy thats premature and 1lb to fight for his life from the moment hes born just to be able to maybe survive to 1yo bc you let his mother dye from your medical neglect brought on by misogynoir and refused to let the fetus go naturally w her is so sick”
Forgive me for quoting these posts, but they give you a little taste of how some people on social media received the news that little baby Chance had been delivered by emergency C-section — at 1 pound, 13 ounces — and is, as you might expect, in a neonatal intensive care unit. (Some of these posts have since been deleted.)
Chance, as you may be aware, is the son of Adriana Smith, the woman who has been subject to a national controversy over the past few months. She was experiencing severe headaches in February, while pregnant. She went to an emergency room, was given medication, and was sent home. Things got worse. She had blood clots. In another hospital, later, she was declared brain-dead but kept on life support because the baby was still alive. When the media got word, it instantly became a story about oppressive, aggressive pro-life laws that force women to be “incubators.” When a little of the frenzy cleared, there was a little room to realize that the legal issue was an advance-directive matter (she didn’t have one), and her heartbroken parents wanted their grandson born.
Chance was delivered on Friday; her family marked Adriana’s 31st birthday over the weekend and, sadly, took her off life support on Tuesday. From a local news story, for which Adriana’s mother, April Newkirk, was interviewed:
“He’s expected to be OK,” Newkirk said. “He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He’s here now.”
She’s now preparing to say goodbye to her daughter. Newkirk said the hospital will take Smith off of life support Tuesday.
“It’s kind of hard, you know,” she said tearfully. “It’s hard to process.”
She wishes she had more time.
“I’m her mother,” she said. “I shouldn’t be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me.”
Adriana’s parents are also caring for her seven-year-old son, Chase.
There is no indication that they were looking to make a political statement, only trying to live their lives and save whom they could save amid anguish and tragedy. The only humane response to some of the cruelty expressed about Chance’s being in a NICU is to point out that Adriana’s parents ask for prayers. Does anyone really want them to have a dead grandson on top of the pain they are already dealing with?
They did set up a fund earlier during this ordeal. And Students for Life made arrangements with the hospital to raise funds for Adriana’s and Chance’s hospital bills. If you pray, do pray for this family — that others don’t have to go through anything like this, and that media and the abortion industry stop taking advantage of human suffering to score political points.
Wesley Smith wrote about Adriana’s case, and not for the first time, here. And Leah Sargeant had a good piece a few weeks back.
God bless that family. What a beautiful mother and nurse. I hope that’s what Chance comes to know, not that strangers were hoping that he wouldn’t have a chance.
London Falling
By the time you read this, the British House of Commons might have rejected assisted suicide. That’s, at least, my prayer. There’s diverse pushback there, and pro-life advocates in the U.K. seem to have some confidence — especially since former Prime Minister Gordon Brown weighed in the other day against the proposed legalization of assisted suicide. It should help the side of life that the lead sponsor, MP Kim Leadbeater, hasn’t been waging the most convincing campaign for her legislation. This clip would be a notable example of how she dismisses, for example, the concern that her proposal doesn’t include sufficient safeguards for those who suffer from eating disorders.
Monday was a dark day in London, when, after extremely limited debate in Parliament, abortion up until birth — yes, infanticide — was decriminalized. It was stuffed into a policing bill, and what it would change in practice is unclear. The vote, nonetheless, unmistakably says something about how many British leaders view human life. For what it’s worth, The Telegraph published a post-vote poll that found that “91 per cent of more than 28,000 respondents are against this decision.”
Lord David Alton, whose bread and butter is human rights, posted on X that Wednesday “was the day Britain forfeited its claim to be civilised.” The quasi-satirical (as it sometimes hits too close) Babylon Bee didn’t miss the opportunity: “British Doctor Arrested For Misgendering Baby He Just Murdered.”
Speaking of children and gender issues, we all have our takes, I suppose. And so when the Supreme Court ruled in favor Tennessee’s protecting children from sex-change procedures (you can read National Review’s editorial here), Vanity Fair had this headline: “The Supreme Court That Ended the Fundamental Right to an Abortion Won’t Protect Trans Youth From Discrimination.”
Thanks be to God that we haven’t totally given up on protecting children and their very lives, yet.
Marriage Matters
Something Ryan T. Anderson helpfully points out, and often:
4 percent of babies conceived in marriage will be aborted, compared to 40 percent of children conceived outside marriage; and 13 percent of women who have abortions are married, while 87 percent are unmarried. Nonmarital sex is the main cause of abortion. Marriage is the best protector of unborn human life.
I heard a clip this week in which Arthur Brooks said something he tends to say (also helpfully, also often) about how the best thing you can do for a child is love his mother. And be married to her. If there is a cause we can all get behind, before and beyond politics, how about a healthy marriage culture? Yes, we can talk about tax credits and family-leave policies, and we must. But what are we doing for those couples who have long forgotten about the item we got them from their wedding registry? Are we checking in with them? Are we being true friends or mentors to them? Are we making date nights possible for them?
Other Things
We’re still waiting for Governor Kathy Hochul to tell us what she’s going to do about assisted suicide in New York. If you’re a resident, you can easily send a message to her office urging her to veto the relevant proposal.
I have high hopes for New Jersey’s First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, whose First Amendment case against New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, we’ve just learned this week, will be heard next term by the U.S. Supreme Court. (Thanks, Alliance Defending Freedom.) Keep an eye on National Review Online for more on that next week.
Most Americans don’t even know that abortion-pill reversal is a (simple hormonal) thing. Abortion advocates — who have, in some cases, sued the groups offering this treatment (see, for example, cases in New York and California) — should be pleased to know that. Meanwhile, Heartbeat International’s Abortion Pill Rescue Network is marking 7,000 lives saved.
Friend of The Lifeline (and former National Review-er) Jack Fowler celebrated a birthday this week. Birthdays are always an excuse to suggest donations to the Sisters of Life (solicitation and gratuitous photos of nuns here). You can do so in his honor, or just because, here. (Suggesting that the idea might have been inspired from On High, Jack made a donation himself in thanksgiving for life — and because he can’t say no to nuns.)
Once again, keep an eye on NRO during the week and my X feed (@kathrynlopez, if you follow social media), and make sure that you sign up yourselves, friends, neighbors, and countrymen to receive this weekly newsletter in your inbox. Next week’s newsletter will be our special Dobbs-at-three-years anniversary edition.
Please do keep sending me your updates and favorite news from our culture of life and civilization of love, as well as any feedback and concerns you might have about how the world treats life and death. I’m at klopez@nationalreview.com. And we hope to be no small Lifeline for you.