The Daily Signal - What 2 Pro-Life Women Saw in Wake of Pro-Abortion Extremists’ Attacks

Episode Date: May 17, 2022

Following the leaked draft decision from the Supreme Court suggesting Roe v. Wade could soon be overturned, pro-abortion activists have become increasingly aggressive as they protest. In addition to demonstrating in front of the high court justices’ homes, some protesters have taken things a step further and begun to physically attack pro-life organizations at their places of operation. Lois Anderson, executive director at Oregon Right to Life, and Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, both experienced attacks on their organizations. “We’ve always felt very safe there. It’s a community that’s just right next to our state Capitol, but we’ve been in that building for more than two decades and never even had so much as a protest,” said Anderson. “We’ve been quietly doing our work in that building, and it really was jarring.” They share their stories about how pro-abortion extremists attacked their facilities. We also cover these news items: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wins his case at the Supreme Court involving campaign financing. U.S. troops will be redeployed to Somalia. Sweden is officially seeking to join NATO. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., claims that House Republican leaders are enabling white nationalism and white supremacy. Starbucks announces that it would “soon” cover “eligible” travel costs beyond 100 miles for employees on its health plan to receive abortions or “gender-transition” treatments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, May 17th. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Doug Blair. Following the leaked draft decision from the Supreme Court, suggesting that Roe v. Wade would be overturned, pro-abortion activists have become increasingly aggressive as they protest. In addition to protesting in front of the justice's homes, some protesters have taken things a step further and begun to attack pro-life organizations at their place of work. Virginia and I had the opportunity to talk to Lois Anderson, executive director at Oregon, right. to life and Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America. They both share their stories

about how pro-abortion activists tried to destroy their buildings. But before we get to our conversations with Lois Anderson and Penny Nance, let's hit our top news stories of the day. Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz won a case at the Supreme Court on Monday. The case revolved around a law that limits the amount of money raised after an election a political campaign can use to refund the political candidate. Cruz put $260,000 of his own personal money into his 2018 Senate campaign race. But federal election law did not allow campaigns to use more than $250,000 for money raise after the election to pay those loans back.

So let's break this down. Think of it this way. You decide to run for Senate. You loan your campaign, your personal funds for advertising, door-knocking, things like that. Then you win the election, and even more donations come into your campaign. Federal law previously said only $250,000 of the money could be used to repay the loan, even if you spent much more than that.

So the Supreme Court has now ruled six to three that that law is unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that limiting the use of post-election funds inhibits candidates from making such loans in the first place. Roberts also noted that the law was a burden to First Amendment electoral speech. Cruz has been open about the fact that he loaned his campaign $10,000 above the repayment limit for the purpose of challenging the law. American troops will be heading back to Somalia. The decision came Monday after President Biden authorized an order from the Pentagon

to redeploy up to 500 troops to the region. The order reverses actions taken by former President Trump, who ordered most of the 700 troops stationed in the country to withdraw in the last months of his presidency. The American forces will cooperate with the Somali government to counter the Somalia-based al-Qaeda offshoot al-Shabaab. CNN reported a senior Biden administration official as saying, we have seen, regrettably,

clear evidence that al-Shabaab has the intent and capability to target Americans. The official continued, this is a step that rationalizes what was essentially an irrational arrangement that we inherited. While it is unclear whether the administration

has authorized action against al-Shabaab leaders, the official confirmed that an American military presence is not the only component of the current counterterrorism strategy in the country. For two centuries,

Sweden has not sought to align itself with any nation's military. That changed on Monday. Sweden is officially seeking to join NATO. The policy change comes in response to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Sweden is joining Finland, who also recently announced that they are going to seek to join NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned both Finland and Sweden of repercussions should they join NATO. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson said Monday that the country

should be prepared for Russian threats of disinformation and attempts to intimidate. and divide us. But Putin acted unbothered by the announcement Monday, saying Russia did not have a problem with Finland and Sweden applying to join NATO. All 30 NATO nations will have to agree to allow the Nordic countries into the alliance. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, Republican from Wyoming, claimed on Monday that House Republican leaders are enabling white nationalism and white supremacy. Cheney made those comments following a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, over the weekend that appears so far to be racially motivated. The Congresswoman tweeted,

The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them. Though Cheney didn't mention anyone specifically, critics were quick to target Republican conference chairwoman Elise Stefonic from New York. Last September, Stefaniq ran a serious. of ads accusing Democrats of letting illegal immigrants into the country as part of a plan to dilute Republican votes.

Stefanik denies that she's to blame for the attack. In a statement released Monday morning, Alex de Gras, Stefanik's senior advisor, said, despite sickening and false reporting, Congresswoman Stefonic has never advocated for any racist position or made a racist statement. As of the recording of this podcast, neither House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy nor Republican and Webb, Steve Scalise, have responded to Cheney's tweet. It's no secret that Starbucks leans heavily to the political left, but the multi-billion-dollar company just went a step further.

Starbucks has announced that they will soon cover travel costs for employees to receive abortions or gender treatments. The benefits will extend to employees who are on Starbucks health plan and their family members who are also on those plans. Starbucks sent a letter to its employees Monday addressing that the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. The letter states that regardless of what the Supreme Court ends up deciding, we will always ensure our partners have access to quality health care. Microsoft and Amazon have also announced they will cover travel costs for employees

to attain abortions if they don't have access to a nearby abortion clinic. Now stay tuned for our conversations with Lois Anderson and Penny Nance as we discuss how radical activists attacked their organizations. At the Heritage Foundation, we believe that every single policy issue discussed in D.C. tells a story. So we want to tell it well. On the Heritage Explains podcast, co-host Tim Decher and Michelle Cordero, take one policy issue a week, mix in a creative blend of clips, narration, and hard-hitting interviews to equip you on crucial issues in under 20 minutes.

So get your story straight. Subscribe to Heritage Explains wherever you listen to podcasts. My guest today is Lois Anderson, executive director at Oregon Right to Life. Lois, welcome to the show. I'm happy to be here, although it's not a very good subject, but I'm happy to have the opportunity to speak to you. Absolutely. And as much as I wish I could say, I was talking to a fellow Oregonian on a good note, that is not the case. So your offices were attacked seemingly by pro-abortion activists.

Can you tell us exactly what happened? Sure. Late in the evening on Mother's Day, May 8th, a person with two, what the police describe as Molotov cocktails, lit them and threw them at the building. That's what we knew initially. Thankfully, there was a witness who called 911 saw one of the Molotov cocktails did explode and start a fire. And our fire department responded very, very quickly. extinguish the fire, minimizing the damage. What we found out after talking to the police in their investigation, they called out an arson investigator, took it very seriously. There was evidence that this person before they lit the Molotov cocktails was trying to break our windows with the intent, assuming the intent that they were going to throw them inside the building to do more damage.

So we were grateful for the witness and for the quick response from our first responders. Otherwise, it would have been much worse. That's just a horrible story, and I'm glad that more damage wasn't done. But how did you feel when you walked into the building the first time after the damage had been done? Well, it was still very smoky, and it just felt, you know, honestly, feel unsafe. We've always felt very safe there. It's a community that's just right next to our state capital. But we've been in that building for more than two decades and never even had so much as a protest.

It's just been, we've been quietly doing our work in that building, and it really was jarring. Absolutely. Now, that's an important point to note. This wasn't Portland. As many of our listeners will recognize, Portland is sort of the poster child for a lot of this type of leftist pro-abortion violence. This is Kaiser, Oregon, which is not anywhere near Portland. Is this the first time something has happened like this? I know that you said that this is more of a smaller town.

Is this the first time, though, anybody has done something to your building? Yes, absolutely. And actually, it's the first time anything like this has happened in the city. It's just a very quiet, hardworking city. And so it's shocking for everybody, even folks that aren't necessarily involved with our office and our movement. Do you have any indication of who did this, are the police kind of aware of who might have done this? Not to our knowledge. There was no graffiti, and we don't know whether that was part of the plan or whether they were scared off by the fact that there was a witness.

But the police are taking it very seriously. Actually, yesterday they released photographs of a car that they believe was involved in the attack. and they've been canvassing the neighborhood, and we're just really grateful for how serious they're taking it. Absolutely. Have you received any support from city officials? Has like the mayor or any of the people in charge at City Hall said anything about this? Yes. The mayor and the fire chief both have expressed both their support and their shock.

And the police detective has just been amazing. honestly, keeping us informed. And again, I know I keep saying it, but I think that there's been so much publicity about crimes like this, political violence not being taken seriously around the country and especially in Oregon, but that's not the case in this situation, and I'm really thankful for it. How about the community? Has members of the community come out and said things like, how could this happen, or have they expressed support for you what you're doing? It's been, I mean, community at large. Yes, there's actually one of the news reporters that covered it, one of our local news, canvas the neighborhood and interviewed our neighbor

and behind us. And she was great. She was just by, this is wrong, and I hope they catch the person. But we've actually had an outpouring of support from around the country. We've had people give us small donations, send us emails. Our supporters and advocates have been emailing and calling, and so it's been gratifying in that way that we've received a lot of support. That's so wonderful that people are coming together to support this, because I think sort of on an opposite note, Oregon is not the only state where, you know, these types of centers have been attacked as well.

There was a very famous example that just came out of Wisconsin. Have you been in coordination with some of your partners in other states about what is happening? We have been discussing it. And just some of the focus has been more on security measures, what kinds of updates are advisable. And it's been much more focused, I think, on the practical. Because for us, I mean, the most important thing is for us to carry on our work. And we're speaking out for a very vulnerable population. that literally do not have a voice to speak for themselves.

And so our focus is on whatever we can do to assure that our staff feel safe so that we can continue the work that we're doing. Absolutely. Now, I assume your work has probably changed slightly in the updated news that we're looking at maybe an overturn of Roe v. Wade. How has that impacted the work that you've been doing on the ground in Oregon? Well, in Oregon, we don't have any protective legislation. for unborn children. We have some of the most extreme abortion policies in the country.

And so we're starting from the beginning. If the decision comes down as we're all hoping that it will and overturns row. So our energy really is focused on electing pro-life officials so that we can pass laws. But even while we're doing that, because we don't know how long that will take. We've been trying to do that for 50 years as an organization. We are really focusing on taking our wonderful pro-life advocates who are passionate about saving the unborn and helping them focus in their communities and working even more with our local pregnancy centers, our maternity homes, plugging into churches that are providing resources for women. We do anticipate hate that there will be abortion-minded women and families coming to Oregon from other states

to seek abortions. And we want to make sure that we're ready to provide them with resources and alternatives just as much as we have been our own Oregon residents. I think that's something important to note that while we are waiting for that to happen, and especially in a place like Oregon, that tends to be more friendly towards the pro-abortion crowd. What are some of the options that you can recommend for people who are maybe going through and unplanned pregnancy and want some resources and aid to get them through it? Well, we have more than 20 pregnancy resource centers around the state, and those centers are going to provide not only pregnancy test to confirm pregnancy, but ultrasounds and

then referrals to prenatal care, and also even things like after the baby is born, resources like diapers and formula and even mentors and parenting. I think that in today's society where a lot of our families have sort of broken down and maybe a woman doesn't have a good role model and feels overwhelmed even by the prospect of being a mother and parenting, we have many of our pregnancy resource centers that are providing mentoring programs so that they're not only having the practical, here's all the things that you need to care for your baby, but we'll help you as we'll walk through this with you.

And there also help with housing, help with even sometimes fixing your car. They're just, I could go on and on the list and anything that you feel like is a barrier to giving your child life and mothering is going to be provided by one of these mini centers around our escape. That's absolutely wonderful. One final question for you, Lois. How has what happened to the center? How has what happened to you with this attack by probably a pro-abortion individual?

How is that impacted what you're going to do? Does that change the messaging? Does that change how you proceed? No, it doesn't. I mean, I think what it does is it motivates us even more, honestly. And as I'm looking around at my staff at our staff meeting on Tuesday, morning what I saw was determination and I saw dedication and the desire to put this behind us as much as we can and move forward with even more energy.

Wonderful. That was Lois Anderson, executive director at Oregon Right to Life. Lois, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Appreciate it. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you as well. Unfortunately, Anderson's organization is not the only one that has been vandalized.

Stay tuned for my conversation with President and CEO of Concern Women for America. Penny Nance. If you're tired of high taxes, fewer health care choices, and bigger and bigger government, it's time to partner with the most impactful conservative organization in America. We're the Heritage Foundation, and we're committed to solving the issues America faces. Together, we'll fight back against the rising tide of homegrown socialism, and we'll fight four conservative solutions that are making families more free. and more prosperous, but we can't do it without you.

Please join us at heritage.org. At least five pregnancy centers across the country and the pro-life organization Concerned Women for America have been vandalized since a leak at the Supreme Court indicating that the justices are prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade. Joining us today to talk about this vandalism is the president of Concerned Women for America, Penny Nance. Penny, thank you so much for being here. Well, it's great being on always with you, Virginia.

Thank you for having me. So about two weeks ago, a draft opinion of the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization was leaked. This was very unprecedented, had never happened before that a full draft opinion was leaked. And this is a case that appears set to overturn Roe v. Wade and send abortion law back to states to decide. Penny, following this leak, your organization, Concern Women for America, was vandalized. Tell us what happened. Well, if you come to our website, if people really want to see what happened, we have actually posted the video of the fact that we have someone who we believe to be an activist. Because this is someone who has verbally harassed our staff a few weeks leading up to this.

has thrown coffee at our cars, at our building, has been generally very concerning leading up to this. But then it was greatly escalated because of the Dobbs leak. And so Concern Women for America, along with others, as you mentioned, Wisconsin Right to Life and others, has been on the receiving end of the ire, the anger from the labor from the law. left because they're losing control of this issue. We finally have an opportunity to push back on over 50 years of a wrongly decided decision. It was constitutionally wrong. It was morally wrong and it's scientifically wrong. And you're hearing just the angst and the anger that the backlash from the left. But I will tell you that Concern Women for America will never back down. We are joyful,

Warriors. Our women today were standing in front of the Supreme Court praying for the justice safety, praying for our nation, praying for the least of these, talking about alternatives, and we're never going to back down from that no matter what happens. But this man, who, again, has been a problem in the past, he vandalized our building, he ripped off some of our equipment on the outside. And, you know, this is a little graphic. He urinated on our door. He all the while, He knew he was caught on video camera exposing himself to us, flipping us off. And this is just someone who just hates us. And we will pray for him.

We will continue to do the good work. And we won't be stopped. But it is deeply concerned. Of course, we care about the safety of our employees and our volunteers. And in fact, we have armed security here with us today. And your offices are located right in D.C., correct? No, we're in Alexandria, Virginia. So we have reported this to the, yes, just over the river.

So, you know, 10 minutes from the Capitol. We've reported this to the Alexandria Police. We have reported it as a hate crime to the FBI because if we're going to have the hate crime laws, it needs to apply to everyone, right, equally. And we have notified the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Are police letting you know that they have any leads on where this man might be?

Could there be an arrest that takes place? Do we know? Well, we're very much hoping and praying for that. And again, we have been in touch. You know, this tends to be a more local matter, although I'm thinking there may be more attention from the state on this. But it is, frankly, not a high priority for the Alexandria Police. I've been talking to them and they are working on it. But honestly, I think if we get a break,

through it will probably be because we put his name, his, his picture out there and others respond. I mean, you got to know someone this angry and violent. Others have to know who he is. There's probably, you know, an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend out there that recognizes him. But we need to recognize him because we need to make sure we're safe. And others are safe, frankly. Absolutely. Are you all increasing your security at your offices?

Yes, we have armed security with us here today and now. And as we go in front of the Supreme Court, we'll make sure that our people are safe and protected. But, you know, that is just where we are today. This is just how we are. But I don't want to lose sight of the fact that we're winning. Life is winning. And it is because of this fact that the other side is so angry that Wisconsin right to life is being. fire bombed, but it doesn't really matter what they do. You know, greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. We truly believe that those biblical words. And because of that, you know, we are safe in the hands of God and His will and we'll continue to walk out our faith in the arena of public policy and we're going to do it confidently and we're going to do it joyfully. Yeah. No, I love that. I think that last point that you make doing it joyfully, that's something that my colleagues and I have just been chatting about a little bit recently that we see that often from the pro-life movement, just a lot of joy. So I'm glad that you all are determined to

keep that joy. Yes. That's critical. As you mentioned, though, there unfortunately have been more of these instances of vandalism at pro-life centers, pro-life organizations. As you said, Wisconsin, family action. They had a Molotov cocktail thrown through their window at their offices. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But what do you think is motivating these attacks? I mean, what are these radical pro-abortionists trying to accomplish? Well, I think they're losing control. And I mean, honestly, I just think this is a spiritual battle, Virginia, as well as a legal battle. And we can't not recognize that, which is why it's important to do everything you're doing based in prayer. Concern Women for America does, we are founded in prayer and action.

And so, you know, I think it's just really essential that we recognize that everything we have, our safety, our ability to win, to achieve, all of that as an organization, as individuals, is in the hands of God, in the hands of our Creator. And so we just urge people to pray, pray for our safety, pray for the justice's safety. Yes, the other side's very angry. I really do wish that I would hear the leadership of the left condemning the violence and condemning what's happening.

I mean, to my knowledge, not one leader on the left has condemned what this man did to concern women for America. last week. And so, you know, I would love to see that. I mean, we would never, ever, ever be supportive of violence in any way. There's nothing, there's nothing pro-life about being violent or being cruel or unkind to other people. And so we take that position. So I think it's what you're saying. You can see the difference in the rallies. I showed recently a reporter from the New York Times footage of our bus tours and our rallies on behalf of confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh and of Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Barrett. And I was showing her, you know, these footage, and I said,

you need to notice what's happening. We're smiling. We're active, but we're happy. We are advocating with joy. And I said, put it alongside the other side. I mean, recognize the difference. and what our center is and what their center is. Yeah, excellent, Penny. Thank you. Quick question before we let you go. Any thoughts on when we're going to get this final opinion on the Dobbs case from the justices? Well, that's a great question.

We could play a parlor game in Washington, I guess, on that. You know, I was hoping it would be sooner rather than later, and we have called on Chief Justice Roberts to release it as soon as possible. but truthfully, I think we've got another at least couple of weeks to wait. I don't know that. I don't know for sure. And it's been reported through other sources that even though the majority opinion's been written, it's not the final opinion.

It was a draft. The minority has not written their opinion yet, the response to that. Then it goes back to the majority. The majority can change their original opinion. And then there's some other work on the back end as it's actually. released. So it could be any time the next decision day is Thursday of this week. It could be any time between Thursday and June 30. So I don't know, but I really would ask everyone all your listeners to pray and to join with us at Concern Women for America as we as an organization

are praying for the overturn of Roe and praying for the safety of justices. And one thing I really want to add in Virginia, and whenever I'm talking about abortion, I think this is essential. There are literally millions of women in this country who have had an abortion. But I just want to say to all of them that there is no shame in Christ. There's forgiveness. There's redemption. We have these stories over and over again of women that are parts of our organization, women that we know and silent no more in others who've walked through that hard time in their lives. And there is no shame at the cross. We all stand before the cross is sinners and redeem through the blood of Christ. So don't stand in that sister move forward take take the healing and love that christ offers you and

you know there's also post abortive opportunities for bible studies like we welcome everyone excellent penny nance president and CEO of concerned women for america if you all want to check out their work just visit concernedwomen dot org you can learn more penny thank you so much your time today we really appreciate it thank you virginia god bless And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening to The Daily Signal Podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. And please take a minute to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe.

Thanks so much for listening. And we're back with you all tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. The executive producers are Rob Bluey. and Kate Trinco. Producers are Virginia Allen and Doug Blair. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, please visit DailySignal.com.