Has the Radicalized Democrat Party Become the Party of Death?

ABORTION RADICALIZATION INTO MURDER BECOMES REALITY. February 2 is Groundhog Day, the day when we Pennsylvanians looked to Punxsutawney Phil to tell us if winter was over. I'll be keeping an eye on the TV on Saturday for Phil's prediction, but my heart will be grieving for the misled radical Democrats who believe it is okay to kill babies being born. How did we ever fall into this black pit? The answer lies in the often- ridiculed "slippery slope" that tilts toward extreme results when the first step off the moral high ground it taken by any society. • • • NEW YORK AND VIRGINIA LEAD THE WAY DOWN THE SLIPPERY SLOPE TO MURDERING BABIES. Fox News reporter Alex Pappas wrote on Wednesday : "There is outrage as a video showing Virginia Representative Kathy Tran saying the plan would allow abortions up until the moment of birth. The abortion debate erupted anew this week after a video surfaced showing the Democratic sponsor of a Virginia abortion proposal acknowledging it could allow women to terminate a pregnancy up until the moment before birth, for reasons including mental health." • Kentucky's Republican Governor Matt Bevin tweeted : “First New York, and now a proposed Virginia bill that would legalize abortion up to the moment of birth. This is a sad commentary on the culture of death that continues to creep insidiously into the laws of our country.” • Virginia Democrat Delegate Kathy Tran is the sponsor of "The Repeal Act" that seeks to repeal restrictions on third-trimester abortions. The bill -- tabled in committee this week -- has the support of top Democrats in the state, including Governor Ralph Northam. It would remove many restrictions currently in place regarding late-term abortions, including doing away with the requirement that two other physicians certify a third-trimester abortion is necessary to prevent the woman's death or impairment of her mental or physical health. The third trimester lasts until 40 weeks. • Fox News revealed this Q&A between Todd Gilbert, the Republican House majority leader and Tran during a hearing Monday. Gilbert asked Tran if a woman who has physical signs she is about to give birth could request an abortion if a physician said it could impair her "mental health" : "Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth. She has physical signs that she is about to give birth. Would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so-certified -- she’s dilating," he asked. Tran answered : “Mr. Chairman, that would be...a decision that the doctor, the physician and the woman would make at that point.” Gilbert replied : “I understand that. I’m asking if your bill allows that.” Tran replied: “My bill would allow that, yes.” • Virginia Republicans shared video of the exchange, posting, “Heartbreaking... This isn't in New York, this isn't in California, this happened just this week right here in Virginia.” • Virginia House of Delegates Republican Caucus posted this on Facebook : “Virginia House Democrats proposed legislation to allow abortions up to just seconds before that precious child takes their first breath...Thankfully, our strong conservative majority was able to defeat this bill.” • Tran has said it "eliminates medically unnecessary and unduly burdensome requirements that make it difficult for women to access abortions," recognizing that "women have the constitutional right to make healthcare decisions about their own bodies." • The Virginia effort to allow abortion right up until the moment of birth follows the New York passage of a bill last week loosening the restrictions on abortion. • • • NEW YORK IS LATEST STATE PUSHING ABORTION LAWS AMID FEARS ROE VS. WADE WILL BE OVERTURNED. That's how Fox News describes what is going on in Democrat-controlled state legislatures. Fox News' Alex Pappas says : "The loosening of the laws comes as pro-abortion activists fear the newly conservative Supreme Court will overturn the 1973 ruling that made abortions legal. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo last week directed the One World Trade Center and other landmarks to be lit in pink Tuesday to celebrate the passage of the "Reproductive Health Act."....Under the Reproductive Health Act, non-doctors are now allowed to conduct abortions and the procedure could be done until the mother's due date if the woman's health is endangered or if the fetus is not viable. The previous law only allowed abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy if a woman's life was at risk. If Roe v. Wade were overturned, 16 states could take steps to ban abortion. Four have laws that would trigger bans, while 12 others have anti-abortion laws on the books that have been ruled unconstitutional by courts or have not been enforced due to the 1973 Supreme Court decision, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research organization." On January 9, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for a change to the state’s constitution to enshrine abortion rights. Leading pro-life leaders called his statements "abhorrent" and "out of step" of mainstream politics. Speaking at an event in Manhattan, Cuomo said that he hopes to pass an amendment that “writes into the constitution a provision protecting a woman’s right to control her own reproductive health.” He was joined at the event, hosted at Barnard College, by former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Americans United For Life CEO Catherine Glenn Foster told CNA : "Governor Cuomo's extremist push to conflate abortion with healthcare is a tragic example of politics and ideology triumphing over medicine and the science of embryology.” In New York, changing the state constitution requires the state legislature to approve the amendment in addition to passage in a statewide voter referendum. The earliest such an amendment could be passed is 2021. • • • EVEN DEMOCRATS ARE IN DISARRAY OVER THESE NEW RADICAL ABORTION BILLS. The Daily Caller reported on Thursday : "Most Democrats on Capitol Hill appeared uncomfortable, unable or unwilling to discuss recent state legislature bills that would allow abortions up to the point of birth Thursday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed earlier in the day at her weekly press conference that she was unaware of comments made by Virginia Democratic Governor Ralph Northam when he was asked on WTOP about the Repeal Act, legislation that would allow termination of a pregnancy up until the day a woman gives birth. 'If a mother is in labor...the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable,' Northam said. 'The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and mother.' The Virginia bill...failed in committee over in Richmond, but Northam’s defense of it drew criticism across the country. Prior to Northam’s own remarks, a video clip of Tran confirming her bill would allow abortions up until the day of birth went viral....Now, other states are considering such legislation, including Rhode Island, Maryland, Maine and New Mexico, the Associated Press reported." • The Daily Caller noted that : "Coverage of Governor Northam’s comments went beyond just conservative media outlets and talking heads. New York Magazine, CNN, the Washington Post, NPR, NBC News, CBS News and ABC News, among others, all covered Governor Northam’s remarks, yet many lawmakers claim they had no idea what he said or did not want to talk about the Virginia bill at all." • Here are the comments collected by Daily Caller -- Senaror Bob Menendez (D-NJ) “I have to look at what you’re talking about. I don’t know which bill you’re talking about.” (New York’s and Virginia’s bills) /// Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) “I haven’t seen them…” (on Gov. Northam’s comments) /// Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) “I don’t know what he said. I don’t know what he said.” (on Gov. Northam’s comments) /// Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) "I don’t want to comment on that.” (On the Virginia REPEAL ACT) /// Senator Joe Manchin (D- WV) “I haven’t seen anything. I’ve been in retreats. Obviously, I just got out of a meeting.” (on Gov. Northam’s comments) /// Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) “I have no idea what he said. I have no idea what has happened there. I do follow the governor of Vermont though, all the time.” (on Gov. Northam’s comments) /// Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) “I know what it is about. I have not listened.” (on Gov. Northam’s comments). • The Daily Caller stated that : "Other Democratic lawmakers who appeared aware of the current ongoing debate related to late-term abortion bills spoke to The DC as well and described their support for the Supreme Court’s 1975 Roe v. Wade decision and/or their support for their state’s current laws." Here are those comments reported by the Daily Caller -- Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) “Delegate Tran has a bill to change existing Virginia law. I support the existing Virginia law, which has been in place since the mid-70s and it puts conditions upon a third-trimester abortion. I support the existing law, not the Tran bill. I don’t think the existing law needs to be changed. I’m not going to comment about comments. I’ll just tell you the existing Virginia law, I think, is the right law, and it’s consistent with Roe versus Wade, where the state is able to impose meaningful regulations of a third trimester of pregnancy." /// Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) “You know everybody -- that’s a matter of conscience how people feel. I have pretty strong views about that -- woman’s right of choice.” /// Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) “I’m pro-choice and I support Connecticut’s laws regarding choice, so Connecticut’s not talking about changing its laws. /// Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) “This is what I think about all of this. I think people need to sit down and talk a little bit about what we can do to keep people -- women -- from having to make very, very difficult choices.” Q: Do support partial birth abortion? “I support the law as it stands right now and that’s what we’re going to stick with, and I just think that we all need to speak a little bit together and talk about how we can do to...I don’t speak for New York....I don’t speak for the state legislature.” /// Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) “I support Roe v. Wade. Ok? That’s the only thing that I support. I support Roe v. Wade which is, you know, the second trimester and I support Roe v. Wade and its limitations.” /// Representative Jose Serrano (D-NY) “That’s an issue for the state Senate but I think what they did was the right thing to give women the right to make choices.” Q: So, you support a baby being aborted up to the ninth month? “I support a woman making that decision for herself....I’m not supposed to legislate my personal feelings. We’re supposed to legislate what is right for the public.” /// Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) “I think it’s a great statement for women’s rights. New York has always been a flagship state for human rights-civil rights, the home of the women’s movement in Seneca Falls. The Equal Rights Amendment was introduced there. It’s very fitting that New York should be the first state to ratify codified put into law of Roe v. Wade. I think it’s the right thing to have done and I support.” Q: “Do you support partial birth abortion, though?” “I support women’s right to choose and their health and make decisions about their health.” • • • SENATOR SASSE SPEAKS UP FOR BABIES, CALLS OUT GOVERNOR NORTHAM. Fox News interviewed Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska on Thursday. Senator Sasse said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam should resign if he doesn't back down from his comments on a controversial late-term abortion bill, saying the governor effectively endorsed "infanticide." Sasse, pro-life Republican, said Northam’s comments were “morally repugnant” and argued the Democratic governor should “get the hell out of office” if he doesn’t support protecting the life of a child who survived an abortion. "The comments the governor of Virginia made were about fourth-term abortions," Sasse said on Fox News' "The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino." “That’s not abortion, that’s infanticide.” • Both Fox News and Catholic News Agency (CNA) later reported that Senator Sasse seeks to fast-track a bill to protect abortion survivors. CNA wrote : "US Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) has announced that he will introduce the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to the Senate on Monday, and is calling for a voice vote to pass the measure. Sasse announced on Thursday that he is beginning the Rule 14 process, which would bring the bill directly to the Senate floor and bypass the normal committee consideration of a piece of legislation. He said that he hopes his bill will be passed by a unanimous voice vote. 'On Monday evening, I’m going to be asking unanimous consent -- for Senators to come to the floor,' he said. 'I’m going to ask all 100 Senators to come to the floor and be against infanticide. This shouldn’t be complicated.' Sasse started his floor speech by referencing the “morally repugnant” comments made on Wednesday by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D)....'Let’s really be clear about what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about fourth-trimester abortion, or what anyone in the normal world calls ‘infanticide,’ said Sasse, in reference to Northam’s comments. 'This should be so far beyond any political consideration. We’re talking about a tiny life that has done nothing wrong to warrant being left to die, cold and alone on a table.' Sasse stressed that all of his colleagues should be able to say that killing a newborn baby is wrong, and that 'this doesn’t take any political courage.' ” • The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act would penalize doctors and medical professionals who do not provide medical care to infants who survive abortions. The bill is co-sponsored by more than three dozen Republican Senators. The House version of the bill was introduced by then-Representative (now Senator) Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and has 131 co-sponsors, including one Democrat, Representative Dan Lipinski (D-IL). • CNA says : "Although Sasse emphasized that a voice vote should not be complicated, there is a significant chance the bill will run into opposition. When the House of Representatives voted on their version of the bill in January 2018, all but five Democrats voted against it. Cases where infants have survived late-term abortions are rare, but do occur. Pro-life activist Gianna Jessen was born in an abortion clinic following a failed saline abortion attempt when her mother was 30 weeks pregnant. In 2013, Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder for killing babies who had survived abortion attempts at his clinic, as well as one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a patient who died of an overdose in 2009. He is now serving several life sentences." • • • WILL THE REAL CATHOLIC CHURCH PLEASE STAND UP. Granted that not all Christians are Catholic or even agree with the pre-eminence given to the papal-led church -- it is clear that with the major Christian Protestant churches all over the lot when it comes to abortion, if there is going to be a Christian voice going forward to support the fight against radicalized abortion that erases the line between abortion and infanticide, it will be the voice of the Catholic Church. • • • CARDINAL DOLAN IS STANDING UP. Timothy Cardinal Dolan is standing up. CNA reported on Tuesday about Cardinal Dolan's comments on NY Governor Cuomo : "The Archbishop of New York said Monday that New York’s governor has insulted the Church, flaunted publicly his dissent from Catholic doctrine, and celebrated the January 22 signing of the states 'ghoulish radical abortion-expansion law. Instead of admitting that abortion is always a tragic choice, and that life-giving alternatives should be more vigorously promoted, the governor and his ‘Progressive’ supporters celebrated signing the bill. At the governor’s command, even the lights of the Freedom Tower sparkled with delight.' ” • Cardinal Dolan wrote his remarks in a January 28 op-ed in the New York Post, saying that the state’s recently passed Reproductive Health Act “allows for an abortion right up to the moment of birth; drops all charges against an abortionist who allows an aborted baby, who somehow survives the scissors, scalpel, saline and dismemberment, to die before his eyes; mandates that, to make an abortion more convenient and easy, a physician need not perform it; and might even be used to suppress the conscience rights of health care professionals not to assist in the grisly procedures. All this in a state that already had the most permissive abortion laws in the country. Those who once told us that abortion had to remain safe, legal and rare now have made it dangerous, imposed and frequent.' ” • The Democrats for Life of America agreed. In a January 29 statement, the group said : “Abortion is big business in New York with unlimited public funding and an abortion rate twice the national average. The Governor’s new law will not address the high abortion rate, nor will it help pregnant women who feel pressured or coerced into abortion. The law will help influential and financially flush abortion corporations increase their customer base and profit margin. One in three aborted children were African American and one in four were Hispanic. The new law further exploits women, particularly minority populations who are over-represented in these numbers. We call on New York legislators -- particularly Democrats -- to embark on a mission to make New York, the state, have the lowest abortion rate in the Nation. The estimated $18 million that would be spent yearly on abortion, could be put toward programs to prevent pregnancy including contraception and sex education, prenatal and postnatal healthcare, public housing, affordable child care, and paid maternity leave. Furthermore, we recommend outreach to minority communities to vastly bring down the perceived targeting of women and babies of color. As Democrats, we advocate for Progressive solutions to problems facing the weakest in society : the poor, minorities, women, and children-- even if they are yet to be born. New York should repeal this anti-women law and no other state should replicate it.” • While Cardinal Dolan has been outspoken in his opposition to the abortion law, and Cuomo’s support for it, some Catholics have called for him to excommunicate or impose some other canonical sanctions on the governor, but Dolan has recently indicated he is unlikely to do so. • • • VIRGINIA CATHOLIC BISHOPS ARE STANDING UP. CNA's Christine Rousselle wrote on Thursday that : "Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington and Bishop Barry C. Knestout of the Diocese of Richmond issued statements Thursday condemning a proposed abortion bill in the Virginia legislature and comments made by the state’s governor. 'This bill rightfully failed--but I am, along with so many people of good will, distraught that this bill was introduced in the first place,' said Burbidge in the statement released January 31. 'It could have paved the way for babies to suffer a violent and gruesome death moments before birth and could have been harmful to women,' he added." And, Rousselle wrote that : "Bishop Burbidge called the [Northam] remarks a 'staggering admission' about the proposed fate of children, one that 'reflects a new level of deep-rooted animus against the inherent goodness of every child.' ” • Rousselle states : "The combination of Northam’s comments and the bill’s provisions are a sign of 'how far abortion advocates are willing to go in taking the life of a precious child,' [quoting] Burbidge. • In his own statement, Richmond's Bishop Knestout called the proposals “horrific,” “outrageous,” and “vicious,” and said that there is “no place in a civil society for this sort of thought and action.” Bishop Knestout called statements made by Northam and Tran “equally disheartening and reprehensible....We should not be legislating in favor of abortion, let alone third trimester abortions, at all,” said Knestout, adding that “all our actions and decisions should be life-giving.” • One of the bill’s co-sponsors, Delegate Dawn Adams (D-Richmond) said after the bill failed that she would not have supported the bill had she understood its provisions better. Adams said in a letter to her constituents that she believed the bill merely repealed pro-life reforms introduced in 2012, and was surprised that “it sought to do much more.” Adams apologized for failing to “exercise due diligence” before agreeing to co-sponsor the bill. “Had I researched each line of removed language, I would have seen that, and known that there was more research to be done,” she said, adding that she is still in favor of abortion rights. • But, while Virginia's Catholic Bishops and one of the bill's sponsors are speaking out against the bill and Governor Northam’s radio comments as an implied endorsement of infanticide, a Catholic bioethicist told CNA that he did not believe the governor explicitly went that far. Here comes the SLIPPERY SLOPE -- Dr. Joe Zalor, an ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told CNA that he did not see the comments as discussing infanticide, per se, but he did find the bill itself to be “highly problematic” and he is glad that it was tabled in committee. Zalor drew a distinction between circumstances were a child may have survived an abortion and when it was born with such a severe condition that it was medically dying of natural causes from the moment of birth. “There’s nothing morally wrong if you have a child with a very severe illness and there’s really nothing that medicine can do -- it is admissible...to give the child comfort care and let them die a natural death in the arms of their parents,” explained Zalor. Infanticide, he said, involved the taking of deliberate action to hasten the death of the infant. Zalor said that he believes this bill, and similar legislation being considered in other states, is “the culture of death being exposed for what it is. And it’s very, very ugly. A silver lining to this may be that people are waking up.” • • • NEW YORK CATHOLIC BISHOPS ARE STANDING UP. The Catholic Bishops of New York reacted against the likely passage of the Reproductive Health Act, which passed and expands abortion access throughout the state. The Bishops said it will only increase family suffering. The bill was first introduced in 2007, but was often blocked by a Republican-led state senate. The New York state senate recently returned to Democrat-majority control for the first time since 2010. • The New York Catholic Bishops stated : "Words are insufficient to describe the profound sadness we feel at the contemplated passage of New York State’s new proposed abortion policy. We mourn the unborn infants who will lose their lives, and the many mothers and fathers who will suffer remorse and heartbreak as a result. The so-called 'Reproductive Health Act' will expand our state’s already radically permissive law, by empowering more health practitioners to provide abortion and removing all state restrictions on late-term procedures. With an abortion rate that is already double the national average, New York law is moving in the wrong direction.” • The Catholic Bishops recalled their pledge “to offer the resources and services of our charitable agencies and health services to any woman experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, to support her in bearing her infant, raising her family or placing her child for adoption. There are life-affirming choices available, and we aim to make them more widely known and accessible.” • The Bishops noted that Governor Andrew Cuomo and state legislators “hail this new abortion law as progress. This is not progress. Progress will be achieved when our laws and our culture once again value and respect each unrepeatable gift of human life, from the first moment of creation to natural death. Would that not make us truly the most enlightened and progressive state in the nation?” • Americans United for Life CEO Catherine Glenn Foster told CNA earlier this month that “Under Gov. Cuomo's leadership, New York nail salons will be more regulated than abortion facilities." • THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC PRAYER VIGIL FOR LIFE IS STANDING UP. At the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City said in his sermon : “The pro-life ethic challenges us to care about the sacredness of every human being throughout the life spectrum. We are called always and everywhere to promote the dignity of the human person.” The Archbishop was speaking on the eve of the annual January March for Life. Pro-life supporters, seminarians, priests and bishops from across the country attended the Mass ahead of the March for Life, which drew hundreds of thousands from across the country. Archbishop Naumann said the idea that pro-lifers care only about the unborn is “simply not true.” He pointed to the care and work of volunteers who give their time and money to support pregnancy centers and other programs to support pregnant women in difficult circumstances. “We are concerned about the life and dignity of the human person wherever it is threatened or diminished,” said Naumann, who is chairman of the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference pro-life committee. “Anyone whose life is threatened and anyone whose human dignity is disrespected have a claim on our hearts.” • Mercy is a force that permeates the entirety of the pro-life movement, said Archbishop Naumann. Pro-lifers should have mercy not only for an unborn child or for a frightened expectant mother, but also for post-abortive parents who “deeply regret authorizing the killing of their own child,” for abortion advocates “who verbally attack (pro-lifers) and label us extremists,” and for those who work in the abortion industry. • Among the bishops concelebrating the Mass were Cardinal Séan O’Malley of Boston, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the US bishops’ conference and Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. • • • WHERE ARE THE AMERICAN PROTESTANT CHURCHES?? Religion News Service wrote about the March for Life on January 18, the day before the March : "Nearly 45 years after the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, hundreds of thousands will rally in the streets of Washington. The annual March for Life is overwhelmingly composed of religious Americans. Initially conceived as a mostly Catholic event, the march has included significantly more Protestants in recent decades. Yet at the March for Life, the historic denominations of mainline Protestantism are hardly represented at all. The simplest explanation is that the largest Methodist, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Congregationalist denominations support abortion rights. In fact, these and other progressive faith groups include advocacy for a woman’s right to choose as part of their robust commitments to gender equity, family well-being and social justice." • RNS says that while abortion is often portrayed as a binary issue, with religious people against it and secular people for it, the truth is much more complicated. America’s faith communities feature significant differences of opinion about the legality and morality of abortion. • BUT, the SLIPPERY SLOPE was also marching. RNS said : "At the March for Life, Catholics and white evangelicals will march alongside their clergy. Yet half of Catholics and a quarter of white evangelicals believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Those evangelicals are mostly invisible in the political and religious debates over abortion rights. The media, the politicians and even their pastors act as though every evangelical Christian thinks abortion should be criminalized in this country. That is simply not true. Likewise, mainline Protestants who oppose abortion rights also get lost in the debate. They dissent from their liberal clergy and co-religionists, but may hesitate to feel at home politically or theologically with their Catholic and evangelical friends at the March for Life. Much of Americans’ division over abortion rights is a function of partisanship. But just as in the religious sphere, there is much more ideological diversity on abortion than we suppose. More than a third of Republicans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while about a quarter of Democrats do not." • RNS says that one trend line we can observe is that : "Religious traditions that strongly affirm abortion rights are declining faster than conservative traditions that oppose abortion. As the mainline Episcopal Church and Presbyterian Church (USA) decline, conservative denominations such as the Anglican Church in North America and the Presbyterian Church in America are gaining ground. Both are strongly opposed to abortion rights and are increasingly visible at the March for Life. While opponents of legal abortion have always held a hard-line position, abortion-rights supporters’ increasingly extreme pronouncements may strain alliances with faith groups. The United Methodist Church, to take one example, affirmed abortion rights in 1972. But at almost every quadrennial General Conference since, Methodists have watered down their abortion position to the point where it is pro-life and pro-choice. It says everything and nothing. Liberal Protestants could once support legal abortion with the caveat that it was a tragic necessity, or that it should be 'safe, legal and rare.' But today, Progressive rhetoric has completely shed the idea that abortion is tragic or should be rare. Instead, abortion is celebrated as the fundamental right on which all female liberation relies. For Christians squeamish about abortion, today’s radical messaging may be a pill they cannot swallow. And yet the United Methodists’ ambivalence reflects what Americans actually believe about abortion rights : It’s complicated. At the March for Life, mainline Protestants will not have their pastors and bishops alongside them, as evangelicals and Catholics will. But maybe mainline Protestants, so often castigated as a muddled middle, can help improve our broken debate about abortion -- both in political and religious life." • • • DEAR READERS, unless or until the mainline Protestant Christian churches in America decide in favor of the fundamental Christian principle of life being a sacred gift from God, there will be no voice to take the lead in opposing the radicalized Democrat Party EXCEPT the voice of the Catholic Church. That is not to say that all Protestants who oppose abortion should become Catholics. BUT, it does say that Protestants and their groups that want to make a difference in the fight for the right to life of the unborn -- and even the right of those in the process of being born -- should seek common ground with Catholic groups and Bishops who are speaking out and standing up against abortion, particularly in its virulent form as seen in New York and Virginia. • As with every moral issue that the radicalized Democrat Party and its leaders oppose, they see abortion rights as a fight against the Christian principles in the US Constitution that they also oppose. Christians must unite in this fight to protect and honor life. • Nobody in the Democrat Party will be with us. This is the radicalized Progressive Democrat elite, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who are now trying to strike the phrase, “So help me God,” from the oath witnesses take when they testify before the House Committee on Natural Resources. Reacting to the news of the removal of the reference to God, House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming said : “It is incredible, but not surprising, that the Democrats would try to remove God from committee proceedings in one of their first acts in the majority. They really have become the party of Karl Marx." The committee is chaired by Arizona Democrat Representative Raúl Grijalva. • This is also the Democrat Party that has supported Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, even as Venezuela tragically declined under him and Venezuelans fled, and are still fleeing, the country because they are jobless and starving. • Has the radicalization of the Democrat Party made it the Party of Death -- the death of babies and the unborn, the death of Venezuelans who oppose socialist marxism, AND the death of God in America.