The Daily Signal - What You Can Do to Promote the Pro-Life Cause Even Though the March for Life Is Canceled

Episode Date: January 26, 2021

The annual March for Life has been canceled for the first time in its 47-year history, due to coronavirus concerns as well as as a result of the pressure law enforcement in and around the Capitol is currently facing. The annual rally instead will take place virtually, with just a small group of pro-life leaders from across the country marching in Washington this year.  What can you do to promote the pro-life cause even though the March for Life, which annually draws hundreds of thousands of people from across the country to Washington, D.C., won't be held in person this year? Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, joins "The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss that. We also cover these stories: Nine Republican lawyers have issued a letter to GOP senators asking them to carefully consider the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump.  Dominion Voting Systems has filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.  President Joe Biden signed an executive order Monday that reverses the Trump-era policy that ban individuals suffering from gender dysphoria from serving in the military.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get the yes you've been waiting for at Capital One.ca.ca. slash yes. Terms and conditions apply. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, January 26th. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Rachel Del Judas. The March for Life on Friday will be virtual this year for the first time in its history. Why did the March for Life decide to go virtual? What can people do to support and promote life in tangible ways in the absence of going to Washington, D.C., for the March for Life? Jeannie Mancini, President of the March for Life, joins me on the podcast to discuss. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now onto our top news.

Nine Republican lawyers have issued a letter to GOP senators asking them to carefully consider the article of impeachment against former president Donald Trump. Two former Trump officials are among the nine lawyers to sign the letter, being John Mittnick, the former General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, and Robert B. Shank's, the former General Counsel for the Peace Corps. We urge every senator to consider the evidence presented by the House without prejudice or political tint. And with an open mind, the letter reads, adding, we particularly urge that if the evidence supports a vote to convict the former president, and disqualify him from future office, no senator let partisan or electoral considerations affect that conclusion. The Senate impeachment trial is set to begin in February. The Dominion voting system has followed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The complaint, which is 107 pages, says that the former mayor of New York City falsely said that Damian voting fraudulently fixed the 2020 presidential election through manipulating votes per the Hill, and that it also notes that while Giuliani lodged numerous accusations

against Dominion in media appearances, he was unwilling to do so when he represented the Trump campaign in federal court in Pennsylvania, where he would risk sanctions for knowingly making false statements. The complaint reads, per the Hill, that notably, although Dominion machines were used in Pennsylvania in the 2020 election, the Trump campaign's complaint did not include any allegations about dominion. President Biden signed an executive order Monday, which reverses the Trump air policy that ban individuals suffering from gender dysphoria from serving in the military. Biden addressed reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office per the Associated Press. This is reinstated a position that the previous

commanders and as well as the secretaries have supported. And what I'm doing is enabling all qualified Americans to serve a country in uniform and essentially restoring the situation that used to be forward transgender personnel if qualified in every other way can serve our government in the United States military. The order reads, America is stronger, at home and around the world when it is inclusive.

The military is no exception. Allowing all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform is better for the military and better for the country because an inclusive force is a more effective force. Simply put, it's the right thing to do and it is in our nation's interest. Thomas Ford, a retired Army Lieutenant General and director of the Center for National Defense at the Heritage Foundation, distinguished between transgender individuals and those suffering from gender dysphoria in a recent daily signal column. Spore explained that Trump's policy did not ban transgender individuals from military service, instead only those suffering from gender dysphoria. Military service is inherently stressful.

Military suicide rates already exceed the U.S. average. Exposing individuals already predisposed to mental injury, such as those with gender dysphoria, would be immoral, and simultaneously present a clear risk to military readiness, sport writes. The fact checker at the Washington Post says he's not going to fact check claims by President Joe Biden. Why? Because fact checker, Glenn Kessler, says he thinks Biden will always be telling the truth. Here's what he told CNN. Let me ask you about the president-elect. He made a lot of pretty dramatic claims in his speech on Thursday evening.

I understand that your team reached out to him and just compare and contrast the reaction and response you got from the incoming administration to what you've gotten over the last several years. Well, in the case of the Biden-Harris transition team, we identified five factual statements he made, you know, interesting claims that we wanted to know what was the basis for this. Within 15 minutes, we received citations to those factual statements, and they all checked out. Generally, the Trump White House almost never responded to our queries, because, of course, a lot of what the president said could not be defended or explained in terms of where he got these so-called facts. I assumed the Biden, you know, I did five years of Obama, and I assume the Biden presidency will be a lot like the Obama. Obama presidency and that they will be responsive and will be able to quickly back up what they're saying. And occasionally the president will go off kilter, particularly when he's speaking extemporaneously and not following something that previously has previously been fact-checked.

30,000 false or misleading claims in four years. Glenn Kessler, thank you so much for what you and your team there at the Post do and have done over the last not just. just four years, but years beyond that. And thank you for your time this morning. Monday was a big day for California as Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom lifted the state's stay-at-home order. California restaurants are now permitted to open outdoor dining. Churches can meet outside and salons can schedule indoor appointments.

Thomas Argonne, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement that Californians heard the urgent message to stay home as much as possible and accept that challenge to slow the surge and save lives. Together, we changed our activities, knowing our short-term sacrifices would lead to long-term gains. COVID-19 is still here and still deadly, so our work is not over, but it's important to recognize our collective actions, save lives, and we are turning a critical corner. The announcement comes as California has begun to see a decrease in positive COVID-19 cases. Now stay tuned for my conversation, with Jeannie Mancini, President of the March for Life,

on why the decision it was made for the March for Life to go virtual this year, and how you can still participate. To share your story on how you're supporting life, use the hashtag why we march. Americans use firearms to defend themselves between 500,000 and 2 million times every year. But God forbid that my mother has ever faced with a scenario

where she has to stop a threat to her life. But if she is, I hope politicians protected by professional armed security, didn't strip her of the right to use the firearms she can handle most competently. To watch the rest of Heritage expert Amy Swearer's testimony on assault weapons before the House Judiciary Committee, head to the Heritage Foundation YouTube channel. There you'll find talks, events, and documentaries, backed with the reputation of the nation's most broadly supported Public Policy Research Institute. Start watching now at heritage.org slash YouTube. And don't forget to subscribe and share.

I'm joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Jeannie Mancini. She's the president of the March for Life, Jeannie. It's great to have you on the Daily Signal podcast. Oh, thank you so much for having me. Well, it's great to have you with us. So to dive right in, something that has been on my mind, and I'm sure the minds of so many pro-life warriors is the fact that the March for Life will be virtual this year. Can you start off by talking about why you chose to cancel the in-person march?

Yeah, and we didn't actually cancel it. It just looks a little bit different this year. So there will be a March. This is the 48th annual March. And we have to march. Again, I mean, again, we've done this for 47 years. This is the single most significant human rights abuse of our day. It's just that there will be less people.

There will be a number of pro-life leaders, including some from Heritage, who will represent other marchers. Why did we do it? To tell you the truth, it wasn't something that we ever anticipated doing. but those of us who live outside of D.C. right now know that D.C. is a little bit in an unusual situation. I would describe it as similar to a war zone. I was downtown twice two weeks ago, not at all last week, but just seeing the fencing up the number of National Guard, we know that some have left over the weekend, but last week at this time there were over 25,000 National Armed Guards.

Across from the March for Life, there were something like 30 guards. And so anyways, I'll just say that in addition to the COVID pandemic, to some of what we've seen in recent weeks with some very sad violence. And the political tinderbox that D.C. is right now, it just became very obvious to our board, and I'm part of the board, that we needed to consider marcher safety and place that at the forefront and make a decision so that this year's March would look a little bit different. Well, I'm sure it probably was a hard decision to make, as you mentioned, that this, you know, is the first time it will be canceled in the 47-year history. Can you tell people about how the

virtual March for Life is working and how they can participate? Right. And it was, I would say, as far as a board, it was the single most difficult decision we've made in, certainly in the eight and a half years that I've been working with the March for Life. It was the most difficult and painful and painstaking decision that we've made, but we really just tried to do the right thing, knowing that whatever we did, we'd get a lot of pushback on it. But what will the virtual rally and that smaller March look like this year? Again, it's not canceled. It just looks different. The virtual rally is going to be fantastic. So our lineup won't change at all. And we have a really stellar, stellar lineup in my humble opinion this year. So that will be at noon and check us out at marchforlife.org to get the live

stream of that. So that will be this Friday, January 29th, as scheduled at noon. And that will be about an hour long. And then starting at one o'clock, you can also watch at marchforlife.org or at EWTN. You can watch the march happen with the smaller leaders. And that will also be about an hour long. And I believe that will be a very powerful march to participate in, you know, whether that's virtually or for those of us who will be marching. I believe it will be a very somber and somewhat symbolic march. Well, the March for Life is such a unifying event. And I can say that with authority since I've been going since I was 12. But given the inauguration of President Joe Biden last week, who really has been outspokenly pro-abortion throughout his police.

career, how would you encourage pro-lifers to remain united in their efforts, despite the agenda of the new administration, with the latest administration talking about codifying Roe v. Wade in a statement that they released on Friday. Yeah. And so it's, thank you for using that language unity, because I think it's so important. And long before the election happened this year, we had decided the March for Life theme for the year, which is together strong life unites. And each year when we choose a March for Life theme, we try to consider what is the most pressing need in building a culture of life. And so

themes in the past have included examples would be pro-life is pro-science, unique from day one, pro-life is pro-science. So talking about how life begins at the moment of fertilization and how we can know that scientifically. One of my favorite themes, it was back in 2014, was adoption, a noble decision really trying to show how a mother who chooses to be a birth mother instead of choosing abortion is doing a heroic and sacrificial and noble thing. And so we've had all sorts of, I believe, really beautiful and strong and educational themes. And so this year, it's no less. And you mentioned, of course, the Biden administration in their first announcement on Friday about codifying row. And I would just say that it's more important than ever that we unite.

You know, we might do things differently in terms of pro-life organizations or personalities or what have you, but we're so much stronger when we have that diversity together. There's a great quote from Mother Teresa, you can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do, but together we can do great things. And so it seems to me like the way that we will when this culture battle that we will make abortion unthinkable is that we can put differences aside and maybe even celebrate differences and lock arms and be very strong on just the bottom line issue that abortion should be unthinkable. Well, in that Friday statement that we talked about on the Biden administrations and they

are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care, including reproductive health care, regardless of income race, zip code health insurance status or immigration status. Do you need, what's your response to this in the climate that we find ourselves in? Well, my first and sort of foundational response is abortion is not health care. And so when we look at what abortion is, abortion, people don't like to talk about it, but it's taking something that's healthy, a miracle, really growing deeply inside of a woman in her womb. And it's taking the life of a little baby. So it's really the antithesis of health care. I mean, that baby is also a patient. And so just first and foremost, you know, words matter and words are powerful, and yet

reality is not arbitrary. So the idea that abortion is care, it might sound interesting and certainly strategic, but the reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. Abortion is not health care. It is the antithesis of health care. So I'd start there. And what we're seeing in the Biden administration this early on is that they're, you know, sophisticated in their messaging. But that doesn't change just this basic fact that reality is not arbitrary. You can call something a certain thing, but it doesn't make it so. So calling a beautiful developing baby in its earliest stages a lifeless pop of tissue doesn't make it so. It is a baby. And so we'll have to be very careful in our messaging and in calling the Biden administration out on their false messaging.

So, Juni, overall, what are your thoughts on what the next year will bring for the pro-life cause in politics? I think we are going to need to have a running shoes on and that we are going to need to be very persistent and very careful. and just, you know, aggressive, frankly, because we have a very pro-abortion administration here. And with the sad loss of the Senate and the House, even though we had many gains in the House, we've got our work cut out for us. So we anticipate a year ahead where we'll be working very hard. But we have to be really persistent.

We had this, I was able to speak with Representative Chris Smith on Friday. And I think the fear and that, you know, we have to overcome discouragement and realize that we can't ever sort of throw the towel in. And he gave a few examples in different years when he's been working in the house when we didn't have either of the chambers or the White House and gains that were able to be made. And so there are ways to be creative and to build a culture of life policy-wise, even in these moments. So we're going to have to watch every little angle and see what's happening and be creative and, you know, just stay very very much. alert. Well, we've seen abortion discuss so much in the culture and entertainment. How do you think the pro-life issue is doing there in our hearts and minds being changed on abortion? Definitely. Thank you for asking that question. So one of the most positive things that we've seen,

boy, there's a lot. Actually, I'm going to say there's three or four very positive things. So one is when you look back to the question of even just public opinion on abortion, We are beginning to win more and more in the court of public opinion on abortion. So by that, what do I mean? Well, the height of when most people self-identified as being pro-choice in our country was in the late 1980s and the very early 1990s. And since then, that has continued to move more in the direction of life. So where it's pretty evenly split now when you ask just that question, if you identify as pro-life or pro-choice, when you drill down on it, for example, do you think that abortion should be limited or do you think

that abortion should be limited to the first three months of pregnancy, et cetera, et cetera, the large majority of Americans are with us on that issue. So that's one thing. So just when you're looking at public opinion, I see it moving more and more in the direction of life. When you're looking at the actual number of abortions, they are down ticking. We had a small uptick in 2018. We've just learned, but that's the first uptick in 12 years. And so I think, you know, that that continues to move in the direction of life. And we've certainly got our work cut out for us, but we've seen very, very good strides there. Now, I say that with some fear and trepidation because we still have over 800,000 abortions every single year in this country. And that's, you know, we're talking about people here

and moms and dads being wounded. And so that's something that's important to take into account. But then you look at the number of pregnancy care centers out there. And these are people who are on the front lines of serving women. And what do pregnancy care centers do? They give free resources to women and men facing unexpected pregnancies, whether it's actual housing, whether it's free diapers or formula or, you know, cribs or carriages or what have you. They provide collectively over $100 million in free resources every year to women. men facing unexpected pregnancies. And when we look back on the growth of pregnancy care center

movement and specifically compare it to abortion clinics, it's astounding how beautiful this work is and how much it's grown. So for example, when we had the height of abortion clinics, which would have been about 1,200 in the late 1980s, at that time we had about 500. They call themselves crisis pregnancy centers. Now we call them pregnancy care centers. These days, that data has reversed itself. So there are about 700 abortion clinics nationwide, and there are well over 3,000 pregnancy care centers helping women and men facing unexpected pregnancy. So that's another huge gain. And then I think the last thing I'd say is just the young people being on the side of life. So we see that anecdotally every year at the March for Life because they're the largest sort

of cohort of people that come to the March. I'd say about 80% are, you know, people aged 30 or under. at the March for Life, and they're so positive, and St. John Paul II called them the best ambassadors for life, and I love that because their joy and their enthusiasm is contagious. And we can even look to the general social survey, so that's the longitudinal study done by our government. And young people are the largest demographic, or the single demographic that has changed most in the direction of life. When you look at from the early 1970s when abortion was made legal till now, they've single-handedly become the most pro-life demographic, and that's people from the age of 18 to 29. So young people are on the side of life.

So we're winning in so many different ways. I know that's sort of a convoluted way of explaining it, but life is winning and truth is winning, and we just need to continue to make strides in that direction. Well, President Trump included Nilly Gray, who is the founder of the March for Life, as one of the Americans, he wants to honor in the New Garden of American Heroes. He had announced this last week before, you know, he's now former President Trump. Can you talk about for those who don't know who Nellie Gray is and what we should know about her? Yeah, Nellie was a true pro-life hero.

She dedicated her entire life to the March for Life. So Nellie was an attorney. She worked for the federal government. She resigned from her position with the government when the Roe v. Wade happened so that she could continue to build a culture of life and just dedicate herself singly to that. She helped to run the March for Life for almost 40 years. So she was in late 40s when Roe came down. And until she was 88, she was single-handedly running the March for Life with a little bit of help from the board. But I mean, she basically eight-breed slept the

March for Life. It's amazing what she did. And I can tell you now, as we have, you know, a staff of nine, that it's not an easy endeavor. And it blows me away what she did. And it's really only by standing on her shoulders that we can do the pro-life work that we're able to do now. Some things that I loved about Nellie or that she was so passionate about praying for people's conversions. So she would get on, you know, watching the TV, watching TV.

And she'd watch Rachel Maddow and say, we have got to pray that she comes to our side. She's so articulate. We'd love to have her on our side. And she saw a lot of fruit of her beautiful prayer. So she prayed for Bernard Nathanson's conversion. Of course, Bernard Nathanson was considered one of the legal architects of abortion in America and sadly boasted of having done over 60,000 abortions in his lifetime. And he had a massive conversion of heart. He was a doctor, of course. And then, you know, became life and dedicated the last few decades of his life to doing everything he could to show the truth about abortion. And he even spoke at the March for Life. So Nellie would pray for his conversion. She prayed for the conversion of heart of Norma McCorvey. Norma also, of course, Norma is the row of Rovey Wade. Norma also spoke at the march at least twice. Mary Cano, which is she's the Doe of Doe v. Bolton. Also massive conversion spoke the March for Life. So I loved Nellie's, her heart. hope and how she'd never give up on anyone. And it's, you know, in that vein, I've been trying to pray for

the conversion of heart of our president and vice president. So now that the March for Life is virtual, what are ways that you would encourage people to concretely stand up for life this year and even this week? So, so many ways. And first, I'd say most importantly, the March for Life is a day that we can all come together. And we've got lots of opportunities for people to do that virtually. I'm going to walk you through a few of those. But if the march is just a day, you know, every year, then that's not, we're not doing our job. We need to be building a culture of life every day of the year. And they're, you know, each of us are called to do that differently, but each of us are called to do that. So I can't really answer that question, you know, for you, Rachel, or for

anyone who's listening to this podcast. But what I can promise you is that if you look deep in your heart and consider what's there and consider your call to build a culture of life, that there is an answer there. And I really encourage you to listen to that and to say yes. As for this week, what you can do, we encourage you on Thursday, January 28th, to listen in and participate in one of our Capitol Hill 101 seminars. So these are virtual. They're free. And there are three different time slots that are offered on the day before the March for Life. And these will teach people how to engage with their legislators, whether they're local officials or their state or national on how to build a culture of life. So we've got a congressman, we've got staffers, our own Tom McCluskey,

who's a lobbyist, will be speaking, and that'll be a really powerful hour, I think. So check us out at MarchforLife.org to learn more about that. On Friday, of course, please watch us online to participate in the virtual rally and then get on social media and tell your story. Because the stories are really what changed people's heart. So tell your story about why you're pro-life on any of the different mediums socially. And so we'll have the rally from noon to one. And then the march itself will be from about 1 to 2.30. So please participate virtually.

And then that night, we've got our virtual rose dinner. Tim Tebow is our keynote speaker. And we are presenting Carl Anderson the Supreme Night of the Knights of Columbus with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He'll also be giving remarks. He's just a real gifted strategist and thinker of visionary. So I think you'll really enjoy his remarks. So please check us out.

for any of those activities Thursday or Friday of this week at MarchforLife.org. Wonderful. Thank you. And are there any parting words in terms of respect for life, what people should take away from, you know, what we've seen in the past few weeks when it comes to life and anything you would encourage people to do as we just embark on this new year? Yeah, I would. So I'd come back to this idea of, our personal, you know, calls, our personal vocations and what is going to change our culture right now? We're at such a dire moment and, you know, political conversations are like Tinder boxes. I'm sure we're all experiencing it with our friends and family and just our,

you know, our local communities. I think to, to, there's a beautiful quote, be who you are and you'll set the world ablaze. And maybe right now that's through peace, right? And through unity. And so to look deep inside to what your personal call is and to realize that that is a gift that we need more than ever. You know, in these days right now in our culture, we're desperately in need of heroes and in need of light and truth and goodness and love. And so to embrace that and to live that with a whole heart. Wonderful, Jeannie, thank you so much for joining us today on the Daily Signal podcast. It's been great having you with us. Oh, thanks for having me, Rachel.

And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back with you all tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas, sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailysignal.com.