Week in Review – New SCOTUS justice and Election musings
As expected, the attention of pro-lifers across America this week was on the Supreme Court and the elections.
On Monday, the United States Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The vote was along party lines (Senator Susan Collins was the only Republican senator to vote no). Justice Barrett was sworn in and began her life-time tenure on the court on Tuesday. Back in 2016, the future make-up of SCOTUS was a major campaign issue. President Trump has now been able to appoint three justices during his first term.
Although the news media and the pro-abortion organizations are focused on preventing the overturn of Roe v. Wade, I am happy to report that the initial discussions among pro-life leaders, after the seating of the new justice, is on how best we can get the Supreme Court to recognize the personhood of the preborn child. This is the approach American Life League has been championing since our founding in 1979. It is God Who creates every preborn child, and from the beginning of their existence, as our Declaration of Independence says, “… they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Please pray that our society will, once again, embrace the rights of every human being, from creation to death.
Election Day is just four days from now and, of course, everything is heating up. Currently, we have a Republican as president and Republicans control the United States Senate by three votes. Democrats control the House of Representatives by 17 votes. As we’ve seen over the last four years, who controls each entity is very important. When both the president and the Senate are controlled by the same party, it makes the process of appointing judges, including SCOTUS justices, much easier. The control of the House allows the party to greatly influence where taxpayer money is spent. The House also has the power of impeachment.
When you vote on Tuesday, please remember that your votes for your senator and representative in Congress are just as important as your vote for president.
As you know, in the United States, although you vote for specific presidential candidates, the total of the individual votes for a candidate does not determine the winner. The winner is actually determined by the Electoral College. As with almost everything else in 2020, there are calls to change the system. The Electoral College is in place so that a few extremely large states do not unduly control the presidency. The Bald Eagle website’s mission is to explain workings of our country to kids. They recently released a short video explaining the purpose of the Electoral College. We invite you to view that video here. In the United States’ history, there have been five elections where the winner of the popular vote did not win the presidency. Those five years were 2016, 2000, 1888, 1876, and 1824. Although unusual, it is not a cause to change the system. It is, rather, the system working as it was intended to work.
In another effort to cause confusion and distrust, political pundits are raising all kinds of questions of what happens if the winner of the 2020 presidential election is not determined by January 20, 2021—the day the next president must take office. There is a lengthy discussion about this here, but the bottom line is: “In that scenario, the (new) Speaker of the House would serve as president if Congress has not certified a winner of the 2020 presidential election and remain in that role until Congress does so.” This has never happened in US history and it is extremely unlikely to happen this time.
Please pray that God’s will be done in this election.
ALL in the News – NBC News Labels ALL Extreme ‘Anti-Abortion’ Group; Social Media Giveaway Gains Attention from a Younger Crowd
This week, following the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court, American Life League was mentioned in an NBC News article. The article classified ALL as an “extreme” pro-life group and covered the author’s thoughts on what would happen if SCOTUS decides to overrule Roe v. Wade.
Last Friday, American Life League hosted a “Pro-Life American” sticker giveaway on its Instagram account. Instagram followers shared a photo of the sticker for a chance to win a free sticker from ALL. The giveaway gained a lot of attention from a younger audience, with multiple requests from followers for another opportunity to win a free sticker.
Every Friday afternoon, the American Life League social media team, Dwain Currier and Katie Brown, host the Friday Live Show on Instagram Live. This week’s show will premiere this afternoon on American Life League’s Instagram account. Replays of the show can be found on Facebook.
This week, American Life League vice president, Hugh Brown, was interviewed by political commentator and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes. This week, leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Alan and Hugh had an extended conversation discussing the possible outcomes of the election. The full interview will appear on the show “Let’s Talk America with Alan Keyes”. Clips of the show can be found on ALL’s Facebook page.
Twice a week, Judie Brown’s bi-weekly commentaries are distributed to an expansive media list. The list contains over 100 media outlets such as Fox News, The Federalist, Breitbart, and The Daily Caller, among others. Judie’s Tuesday commentary, American Brood of Vipers, discussed Justice Amy Barrett’s recent SCOTUS confirmation. Each commentary is also featured as a part of Judie’s recurring column on Renew America.
Jim Sedlak’s Pro-Life Activism from Creation to Death is a weekly talk-radio program on the Radio Maria USA network. The show can be heard live every Friday at noon (Eastern Time) and is repeated on Saturdays (10 PM).
Video of the Week – Walter B. Hoye II | The 2020 Equality Proclamation (Montgomery, Alabama)
History shows that black Americans were once deprived their personhood. Designating certain people as property allowed for killing without penalty. Walter Hoye II of the Issues for Life Foundation explains that without the right to life, nothing beyond the womb matters if you can’t leave it alive.
Action Item of the Week – THIS IS IT – the final four days have arrived
It has been a year-long effort, and the formal Election Day is just four days from now—Tuesday, November 3. Of course, in many states, the election is already going on. With absentee votes by mail and in-person advance voting, millions of votes have already been cast. News media have estimated that some 60 million Americans have already voted. That, if true, would be about half the 130 million cast in the 2016 presidential election.
This is a time for three specific actions:
First: VOTE – if you have not yet voted, don’t forget to do so.
Second: If you know anyone who has not yet voted, make sure he or she is aware of how to cast their ballot and implore them to vote pro-life. In this year’s election, the political parties and their candidates have made everything crystal clear.
Reading the Democratic Party platform, it specifically supports abortion and a woman’s supposed right to “control their own body”—even though the baby killed through abortion is a separate body—created by God—not part of the woman’s body.
The Republican Party platform is filled with outright support for every human being’s life. It is just as clear about being pro-life.
Third: PRAY. With all the bluster of all the political candidates, the truth is . . . God is still in charge. Faithful prayer asking Him to use this election to move America in the direction of establishing a Culture of Life will have an effect.
Faithful Christians should especially pray the prayer Jesus gave us—the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father).
When reciting that prayer, let us pay special attention to the words, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
We know that God loves us. We know that God wants all of us to one day be with Him in Heaven. To attain that goal, we MUST pay attention and act in accordance with God’s will.
God does not create new human beings just so we can kill them. We must understand that “when God wants something done, he creates a child . . . and waits.”
Every abortion kills a child created by God for a specific purpose, and when we kill that child, we are saying NO to God.
This election is the time to take sides. Abortion is not an issue. It is life and death. Please make sure you vote to protect the lives of God’s children on November 3.
Pro-life Social Media – If preborn babies could vote, surely they would vote pro-life.
If preborn babies could vote, surely they would vote pro-life. But babies can’t vote, so we have to do it on their behalf, as millions of registered voters are already doing.
That’s according to the pro-life voters on Instagram who proudly cast their ballots in defense of vulnerable human life.
(Captions by IG users included in the posts below do not necessarily reflect the views of American Life League and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any one candidate.)