Previously at LSF.
Do you know Mrs. Judie Brown? If you haven’t made her acquaintance, an introduction is long overdue.
As cofounder and president of the American Life League, she’s known in “pro-life” circles as America’s #1 Church Lady – and it must be true, because the Vatican says so. In fact, she’s well into her second five-year term as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, and the Daily Catholic cites her as one of the top 100 Catholics of the 20th century.
When Mrs. Judie Brown speaks, Catholic “pro-lifers” listen. This week, she’s got a lot to say about Bill Frist and the National Right to Life Committee – and Judie’s not in a good mood about what she calls a case of mistaken identity.
Not that Judie would be so vulgar as to call a conniving sellout son-of-a-bitch by his right name, of course. No, no phrase so common as that would issue from the mouth of a lady like Mrs. Brown — but snidely refined bitchery comes to her lips as naturally as ten Hail Marys.
Have you ever had an “I think I know you, but I can’t recall your name” moment when you see a familiar face at a gathering? And even worse, have you said, “Hi, Jane,” only to blush in embarrassment at the reply, “I’m sorry but my name’s Ruth”? It’s certainly an uncomfortable moment. But after the initial embarrassment, it always turns out fine.
But what happens when an “I think I know you” moment happens among organizations that all claim to have the same goal? What happens when the face we think we know turns out to belong to a total stranger?
OK, so much for her specialty, the coy intro. Judie was only warming up for her “Billy, we hardly knew ye” moment, and here it comes.
On July 29, Senator Bill Frist announced that he had “changed his mind” and decided to support human embryonic stem cell research. This physician-turned-politician claimed that scientists need to pursue the “truly magnificent, truly remarkable properties” of stem cells taken from days-old human embryos.
As a point of information, human embryonic stem cell research can only be done by killing innocent boys and girls in the embryonic stage of development. So while Frist claims this research will save human beings’ lives, he ignores the fact that it always begins with a sacrifice of other human beings.
Saints above, weren’t all those innocently sweet and fluffy kitty cats enough? Does the blood lust of the Abominable Dr. Frist know no end? And Judie’s even more furious that his dark and seductive aura of power is making baby killers out of the National Right to Life Committee, too.
In response to this “change,” the National Right to Life Committee made the following statement on July 29:
“National Right to Life is very disappointed that Senator Frist has expressed support for a bill that would mandate federal funding of research that requires the killing of human embryos, which National Right to Life opposes. It is worth noting, however, that Senator Frist also stated that the creation of human embryos by cloning should be banned, and we call on the Senate to pass such a ban promptly, in order to prevent human embryo farms from springing up in the United States.”
Human embryo farms? Ye gods and little fishes, what does the Department of Agriculture know about this, and when did they know it? Where in that porked-up appropriations bill did they hide the subsidies, because not even ConAgra or ADM would underwrite the R&D and startup costs on that much new technology without some federal sugar. Otherwise they’d just outsource this baby, and cut themselves a sweeter deal on some fallow rice paddies in China.
But I digress. The subject is not baby farming, but baby killing, so let’s get back to Judie’s nuclear outrage over Frist’s and NRLC’s endorsement of the home grown variety.
My initial reaction to this was horror, which turned to anger, which turned to sorrow. The National Right to Life Committee took yet another step in their quest to get a wink from the “stars” (i.e., the Beltway political power brokers). Rather than having the courage to criticize a Republican, they chose to sell out the babies.
How could NRLC say that anything is “worth noting” when a United States senator turns his back on the most vulnerable members of the human family and chooses to support their direct killing? Why pander to a clearly pro-death pronouncement by this Republican senator? Why not excoriate him for his abuse of power? Why not challenge his warped sense of science?
The answer to all these questions is the same. The National Right to Life Committee has chosen to play politics with the big boys. They’ve been doing it for years. NRLC has supported proposals such as the campaign finance reform bill and made it a barometer for gaining the organization’s support, despite the fact that could not possibly impact in any way the heinous crime of abortion. The Republican Party was for the bill, you see, and so they are for it too.
But now they have gone too far. They have publicly excused a man who is willing to permit the wholesale slaughter of innocent human beings for the vacuous promise of “magnificent” research that is, at its core, unethical and immoral. Senator Frist is not pro-life. Nobody who has studied his record would have ever made that connection.
My question is more fundamental, however: Just how pro-life life is the National Right to Life Committee?
Well, if “pro-life” is still code for “anti-abortion,” the NRLC has done a pretty good job of persuading most people of their intentions. But since we’re apparently all just mindless dupes who can’t see what’s in front of our faces, it’s a saving grace that Judie’s around to show us what blind fools we’ve been.
NRLC has been around a long time and they’ve convinced millions of pro-lifers — especially pro-life Catholics — that they are 100 percent pro-life and they will never compromise on even one baby’s life.
However, NRLC is corrupting the very meaning of the term pro-life. A human being is a person the instant his life begins, be it in a petri dish or safely within his mother. There is no such thing as an expendable human being. How can you say you genuinely care about all the babies when you publicly make excuses for a man who doesn’t mind condoning their direct killing?
And now, as president of the largest and one of the most influential anti-choice organizations in America, Judie Brown goes downtown — in an impeccably ladylike manner, of course — and calls for jihad not only against the NRLC . . .
It grieves me that so many good pro-life Americans actually think that NRLC is unflinching in its defense of the babies. Every year, thousands of good people offer their prayers, their efforts and their hard-earned money to an organization they believe will aid in bringing about a culture of life.
The next time you hear someone from the National Right to Life Committee proudly claim “another important victory,” sit down and think real hard and see if you can convince yourself that even one baby in the womb is going to be saved as a result of that claim. Think about the thousands of embryonic children who are dying because NRLC’s friends, like Senator Bill Frist, can condone murder and still get a “wink” from their pals.
As long as powerful organizations like NRLC continue to put politics ahead of principle — and refuse to face the truth about abortion-causing methods of birth control — babies will continue to die at alarming rates.
. . . but – oh, my God and hers, too! – she’s going to the wall, and throwing down against the whole Republican Party.
Is National Right to Life’s recent announcement surprising? No, it’s to be expected. It’s part of a long pattern. But it’s time for their frivolous, irresponsible embrace of all that is Republican to stop.
For too long the folks at NRLC have introduced themselves as 100 percent pro-life and gotten away with it. If there ever was a case of mistaken identity, this has got to be it. Once again, it seems more important for the National Right to Life Committee to be pro-Republican than to be pro-life.
The American Life League has spoken, and no mistake.
So where will the membership of the largest anti-abortion and anti-contraception organization in the United States – and next to the Army of God itself, the one with most radically extremist agenda — funnel the overflow from its deep pockets now? Nobody but God’s own angels and Mrs. Judie Brown can know for sure, but since we’ve still got at least a nominal two-party system, it will behoove all of us to remember ALL’s fury against “all that is Republican” the next time we hear the phrase Democrats for Life.
