The Daily Signal - What You Need to Know About Coming Abortion Battles

Episode Date: February 18, 2021

President Joe Biden already has taken action to undo some of the pro-life policies set in place by his predecessor, Donald Trump. It appears likely that Biden and the Democrat-controlled Congress will continue to press a progressive abortion agenda that endangers the unborn, mothers, and American freedoms.  Melanie Israel, a Heritage Foundation research associate in the Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity, joins “Problematic Women” to explain the key pieces of abortion legislation we likely will see debated in the coming months and years.  If you, or someone you love, is struggling to overcome the pain of an abortion, check out this resource from Focus on the Family. We also cover these stories: Conservative talk radio legend Rush Limbaugh dies at age 70. “I will not make that happen,” President Biden says of paying off $50,000 in student loan debt. Three North Korean military hackers have been indicted. Enjoy the show! 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 Thursday, February 18th. I'm Richard L. Judas. And I'm Virginia Allen. The Biden administration has already taken action to undo some of the pro-life policies set in place by former President Donald Trump. It appears likely that President Joe Biden and the current Democrat-controlled Congress will continue to enact a progressive abortion agenda. Melanie Israel Heritage Foundation Research Associate in the Institute for Family, Community, and Operative. opportunity recently joined the Daily Signals Problematic Women podcast to discuss the key pieces of abortion legislation were likely to see debated in the coming months. And we're excited to share that conversation right here with you on today's Daily Signal podcast. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple

podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now on to our top news. Conservative Talk Radio legend Rush Limbaugh has died. Limbaugh, who is 70, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer on January 20th, 2020. His time and talk radio started in the 1970s, and he eventually reached over 20 million listeners per week. Last year, former President Donald Trump awarded Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his tireless devotion to our country. Here are some of his final words he shared during his last show of 2020, via Anthony Buchanan. I'm feeling stage fright kind of thing. So much I want to say, and I want to say it correctly.

I want to convey my feelings. And I want to do it right. I want to do it to the best of my ability. And I have found in circumstances like this that the best thing to do is not to think about it. Don't make it more pressure-packed than it already is. But it's very important. You all are very important. My family is very important to me.

I've had a year now to reflect on the things that really matter, a year to reflect on the things that are completely relevant and important to me. And all of you are in that large conglomeration of people and things that are very important to me. President Joe Biden says he will not repay $50,000 in student loan day. During a CNN town hall Tuesday night, Biden was asked by a young woman if he would forgive up to $50,000 in student loan debt, as some Democrat lawmakers have proposed. Biden responded, I will not make that happen and went on to explain that he does not feel that students who attended Harvard and Yale should have their student loan debt canceled by the government. The president did explain one way in which he would like to make college more affordable for Americans, per Arab world news.

Take a listen. Everyone should be able to go to community college for free. For free. That's cost $9 billion, and we should pay for it. And the tax policies we have now, we should be able to pay for you. You spend almost that more money as a break for people-owned race horses. Biden has proposed canceling up to $10,000. in student loan debt.

Three North Korean military hackers have been indicted in a wide-ranging scheme to commit cyber attacks and financial crimes across the globe, according to the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Of the indictment, acting U.S. Attorney Tracy Wilkinson said, the scope of the criminal conduct by the North Korean hackers was extensive and long-running, and the range of crimes they have committed is staggering. The conduct detail in the indictment are the acts of the crime. criminal nation state that has stopped at nothing to extract revenge and obtain money to prop

up its regime. According to the press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, three North Korean computer programmers are charged with planning cyber attacks in stealing or extorting over $1.3 billion from companies and banks, among other things. As of Wednesday, 2.7 million Texans were still without power due to snow and ice. For many, it was their third night with no power. The city of Fort Worth has been among the hardest hit by the extreme winter weather. The city has issued a boil water notice for about 212,000 residents because power outages have affected the city's ability to treat the water properly. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been critical of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas handling of the situation,

saying the council has been anything but reliable over the state. past 48 hours. The National Weather Service reports that more than 100 million Americans are under some form of winter storm watch or warning through Friday as the winter weather impacts not only parts of the Midwest, but also East Coast and South Central U.S. Now stay tuned for Lauren Evans and my conversation with Heritage Foundation Research Associate Melanie Israel as we discuss the key abortion debates ahead. We're all guilty of it, spending too much time watching silly videos on the internet. But it's 2021.

Maybe it's time for a change. At the Heritage Foundation YouTube channel, you'll find videos that both entertain and educate, including virtual events featuring the biggest names in American politics, original explainers and documentaries, and heritage experts diving deep on topics like election and election. integrity, China, and other threats to our democracy. All brought to you by 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. Today we're talking about a subject that most of America has a very strong opinion on one way or another, and that is abortion. We're going to discuss where we are currently in America with regard to the abortion. debate now that Biden is in the White House. But before we dive into that subject, we first just want to say for any of our listeners who've had an abortion and maybe wrestling with regrets or remorse for that decision, there is so much hope for you. There is healing. And we want you to know

that there is so much of love for you. There are amazing resources available that walk you through that healing process. Many crisis pregnancy centers offer counseling. for women who have had an abortion. And if your local pregnancy center doesn't offer one of those services, they're likely going to know how to connect you with resources that can provide that hope and that healing. There's even a great video series produced by Focus on the Family that talks through for both mothers and fathers who have experienced abortion, how to heal from that, how to walk through that loss.

We'll link that in today's show notes. But we just want you to know this is obviously, a hard subject, but no matter your experience with the subject of abortion, there is hope, there is healing, and we want you to know that and be able to utilize the resources that are available to you. Abortion, of course, remains such a critical issue in our nation because 62 million babies have lost their lives to abortion since Roe v. Wade passed in 1973. And now that the Biden administration is in power, we're beginning to see that a lot of very pro-choice policies are being pushed forward and the undoing of a lot of pro-life legislation that was put in place by the Trump

administration. Here to help us break down the latest abortion news is Melanie Israel. Melanie is a Heritage Foundation Research Associate in the Institute for Family, Community, and opportunities. Melanie, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. It's good to be with you today. You wrote in a recent heritage paper that you foresee that the pro-life cause will be under a constant attack over the next two years, and a lot of this attack is going to come straight from the abortion lobbyists. Can you explain what the pro-life movement is up against over at least the next two years? Yes, absolutely. And, you know, I say the next two years, because, of course, we have midterm elections and who knows what's going to happen. on that front with Congress.

But we really are going to be experiencing threats coming from all different angles, both in Congress and the administration. We know that the Biden administration is going to work very aggressively to roll back a lot of those good Trump administration regulations, especially a lot of the things that they had done at HHS. They had implemented some different regulations that enforce transparency with Obama, care abortion coverage. They had enacted some regulations that disallowed abortion providers from participating in the federal family planning program. They had implemented moral and

religious exemptions from Obamacare's contraception mandate. They had really done a lot of good work. And unfortunately, we know that the Biden administration is going to turn around and really do the exact opposite. And then, of course, in Congress, we have Democrats from Nancy Pelosi to Rosa DeLoro, the House Appropriations Chair, committing to do away with the Hyde Amendment, which, of course, is an amendment to annual appropriation bills that says that taxpayer funding is not going to go toward elective abortions. Democrats in Congress want to reverse that. They want taxpayers to have to fund elective abortions. That's really one. one of their signature policies that they're pushing. And we're going to see them advocating for that

in many different pieces of legislation here in the coming months. Well, let's dive a little bit deeper into some of those policies, like you mentioned, the Hyde Amendment. So what is your prediction for, you know, will we see that the Hyde Amendment is able to stay in place? Or do you predict that Biden is likely going to repeal it? And then if he does, what is that actually going to mean for the nation? Yeah, yeah. So I would say that the threat is very real, particularly when we have Democrats in the Senate who are wanting to do away with the filibuster, which of course would mean everything could pass with a simple majority, which they have. And so the threat is very, very real. And we see them trying to advocate to do away with the Hyde Amendment in several different ways. One of the things that they're trying to do, in the current budget reconciliation proposal is to have billions of dollars in this, you know, allegedly coronavirus relief funding that's going to be spent without Hyde Amendment restrictions.

It's going to allow billions of dollars to flow without that Hyde Amendment protection. That's one of the proposals in budget reconciliation right now. One of the other things that they're trying to do is to explicitly make clear that Planned Parenthood is eligible for paycheck protection program funding. They want to be able to send those taxpayer dollars directly to the abortion industry, who I will note, you know, has billions and billions of dollars in assets and, you know, tons of excess revenue according to their own annual report. And then we also know that in annual appropriations legislation, they are saying that the Hyde Amendment is a non-starter for them. Now, on the flip side, we have Republicans in both

the House and the Senate who have sent letters to other members of Congress and President Biden saying that for them, the Hyde Amendment must be in any federal spending bill or else they will not support it. So we've really got a standoff already of both sides saying that the Hyde Amendment being in a bill or not in a bill is a non-starter for both sides. And so it's going to be really, really interesting to see how this plays out and, you know, frankly, see who blinks first. Wow. I can't believe in the middle of a pandemic, the Biden administration is making a priority to give Planned Parenthood PPP funds. That's insane. Right. And again, we just have to look at their annual report, which I will note,

they usually release in January. They haven't released one for this year yet. But for the one that they released in 2020, they're reporting themselves for anyone to see all of these many, many millions of dollars in excess revenue and net assets. This is not an organization that the Paycheck Protection Program is meant to be helping. About a week after Biden took office, he rolled back some of the extra protections of the New Mexico City policy that Trump enacted. Can you talk about the implications of Biden's decision to allow more taxpayer dollars to go to foreign organizations that fund abortions? Right, right.

And, you know, amazingly, the Trump administration had actually expanded the Mexico City policy to apply to even more avenues of funding than it has, you know, in previous Republican administrations. And so it was a policy that had an enormous impact. It meant that these organizations like Planned Parenthood, like Marie Stopes International that go in to other countries and try to perform and promote abortions weren't receiving U.S. funding. And the State Department did a review and found that women still had access to health care because funding was instead able to go to other organizations who weren't part of the abortion industry

and women were still able to get care. The U.S. is the most generous country in the world. it comes to our foreign aid assistance and the Trump administration was right to make sure that we are spending our money on life saving, you know, healthcare activities. So it's really disappointing to see that the Biden administration is rescinding that policy and now these organizations like Planned Parenthood International are going to be able to receive U.S. funding again. They've also restored funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which the Trump administration had ended funding for. course, the Trump administration ended that funding because they determined that the United

Nations Population Fund was complicit in China's coercive family planning practices, things like forced abortions and forced sterilizations. So we're, you know, you're right. We're really seeing a lot of unfortunate activity happening internationally, not just domestically. So much of this feels like it should not be a partisan issue. Like we should all be able to get behind and agree that, okay, we shouldn't be handing out money to, you know, groups that do things like you say, like really enforcing those very totalitarian, like China's one-child policy, those sorts of things. And, you know, I think one issue that has really surprised me is that the Biden administration has talked about weakening the

the Food and Drug Administration guidelines on chemical abortion pills. And those guidelines have been in place for years. They meant to really protect women to keep them safe. These are pills that allow you to essentially have an abortion at home. There's

a lot of risk involved. So could you just explain what exactly these chemical abortion pills are and then what loosening those restrictions would look like and how that could potentially jeopardize the health of women. Absolutely.

I am so, so glad that you brought this issue up because I think a lot of people don't understand just how big of an impact the advent of chemical abortion pills, you know, has been when we talk about the scope of abortion more broadly, when people think about abortion, they typically think about surgical abortion. And that's where a lot of, you know, the legislation has been geared toward. But chemical abortion, this is really a new frontier that's going to completely change the landscape on which these policy battles are fought. Abortion pills, it's a two-part process.

You take one pill that essentially cuts off nutrients to the developing child, and then you take a second pill that induces cramping so that, you know, you end up expelling the pregnancy. And obviously for the abortion lobby, this means that they are able to perform more abortions because a chemical abortion process with abortion pills, it just doesn't come with the same kind of overhead requirements that a surgical abortion is going to come with. And so one of the other things that's really dangerous that people don't realize is that abortion pills actually have higher rates of complications than surgical abortions. we're seeing now women being given these pills to go and have abortion at home. The abortion

industry downplays what those women are going to experience. They tell them it's just going to be a heavy period. It's not going to be anything unusual. And of course, for so many women, that's not true. They end up having excessive blood loss. They end up having to go to the hospital. Taking an abortion pill if you have an ectopic pregnancy can be fatal. And in fact, there have been fatalities associated with the abortion pill. And one of the other things that I think is amazing that people should realize is that in the last decade, the portion of chemical abortions happening in the United States has increased 120%. Wow. According to our most recent data, roughly 40% of abortions that happen every year are chemical abortions. And so for the Biden

administration, you know, we're expecting them to loosen these restrictions. It's really dangerous. And when I say restrictions, I should probably clarify what we're talking about. So right now, only qualified prescribers can give women a prescription for an abortion pill. And so this is not something that you can get at just any doctor's office. You have to essentially go to an abortion provider because they're the only ones who actively seek out to be a qualified prescriber. And they have to give a woman this medication. You can't pick it up in a retail pharmacy. You can't go and get an abortion pill at Walgreens right now. But again, the Biden administration is wanting to change that. They're wanting to roll back these restrictions. And it's really unfortunate to see the abortion

industry pushing for things like mail order abortion pills, telemedicine abortion. This is so dangerous for women who are not really going to be seen in person by a qualified doctor to determine if this is even safe for them. Wow. One of the other ongoing debates when it comes to abortion is whether or not organizations should be forced to pay for abortions as part of their health care. We've seen this, of course, with the little sisters of the poor, who have now been all the way up to the Supreme Court twice to protect their religious

freedom on this issue. What can we expect under Biden in? in regards to protecting the rights of religious organizations who refuse to pay for abortions. Right. So, you know, this was one of those Trump administration policies that was such a wonderful thing to see. They issued regulations that provided both moral and religious exemptions from Obamacare's mandate that nearly all health insurance plans have to cover contraception and abortion-inducing drugs and devices, which, of course, was a huge relief to the little sisters of the poor, as well as other secular organizations who have, you know, not necessarily

a religious belief, but a moral belief about the sanctity of human life. And unfortunately, Biden, even on the campaign trail, was very, very clear that he did not agree with those exemptions being allowed and that he intends to roll them back. And it's really amazing when you think, especially about the little sisters of the poor, an order of capital. nuns who serve the elderly sick and poor, you know, in the final hours of their lives, they are true servants, selfless at heart. And for the Biden administration to essentially say, yep, you've been litigating this issue for almost a decade and we're going to keep dragging you to court to force you to pay for contraception and abortion-inducing drugs and devices in your

health plan is, it's really just astounding. And I think, that unfortunately the American people just don't realize how good it is for society when people are able to live their lives and have their views, you know, not have to worry about violating their beliefs. You know, how horrible would it be if the little sisters of the poor had to shut down rather than violate their religious beliefs? That wouldn't help anyone. that would only hurt the elderly sick and vulnerable who they're trying to serve. Yeah. No, it really is such a sad situation.

And I think it goes, like you said, like it goes to the heart of that issue, that it would be so tragic to see these organizations ultimately have to shut their doors because they're not willing to compromise on their religious beliefs and they shouldn't have to. But Melanie, I do want to ask you, are there other pieces of legislation at the federal level that you're really keeping a close eye on right now in regards to abortion policy and abortion legislation? Yeah, yeah. So I would highlight really three main bills on the federal policy front. Now, obviously with the current makeup of Congress and the numbers that we're working with, I think more realistically, you know, filing amendments or trying to force a vote on these

issues is really going to be illustrative for people just to be able to see where their elected officials fall more than anything, rather than actually hoping that they're going to pass into law. But I do want to highlight, there's a couple, the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, that is a bill that would augment current law by providing for criminal penalties if a health care provider does not provide proper medical care to a baby who is born after an abortion attempt. Right now, federal law recognizes those babies as a person, but federal law right now doesn't place any kind of requirements on the medical practitioner to do something after that baby's born. And so the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would remedy that problem.

One of the other bills that I would want to highlight is the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. And that is a bill that would end the practice of inhumane late-term abortions performed after 20 weeks. At 20 weeks, scientific evidence tells us that babies are capable of feeling excruciating pain during an abortion procedure. And the U.S. right now is one of only seven countries in the entire world that allows these kinds of elected, late-term abortions for any reason. And so the pain-capable bill would really bring the U.S. more in line with the vast, vast majority of the developed world. So, Melanie, we've talked a lot about all the negative things. And you mentioned some great legislation, but is there any positive news going on in the pro-life world right now? Yeah, yeah. I hope people are able to come

away with this and realize that it's not all doom and gloom. In the states, we're actually seeing a lot of wonderful progress happening. In the last decade, we've had over 300 pro-life laws passing at the state level, and legislatures are showing no sign of slowing down right now. One of the things that several states are trying to take action on right now as their legislatures convene is addressing this issue of chemical abortion, because everybody can kind of see it, you can see it coming from a mile away that the Biden administration is going to weaken these restrictions to try to allow for things like telemedicine abortion, abortion pills by mail. And so state legislatures are trying to work to kind of augment their current state law to

ensure that the current restrictions that are in place will still be in place at the state level within their jurisdiction. So that's definitely, definitely an encouraging development. And then we also see more states trying to act to protect born-alive infants to end late-term abortions. At the federal level, it's going to be really, really difficult to see a lot of progress here for the next couple of years. But in the state, we have a lot of really, really energized members of state legislatures and state activist groups who recognize that you can't really rely on federal policy and regulations right now, and so they're taking action themselves. Well, it's good to end on some good news. Melanie, thank you. We just really appreciate all of the work

that you do on this issue. How can our listeners follow your work and read what you're writing about? Sure, sure. So you can check out my papers at heritage.org, and then I also provide commentary at the Daily Signal quite frequently. And just to kind of give folks a preview. I'll have a paper about the 117th Congress, the agenda, kind of what we can expect to see coming out shortly. And so I'll, you know, we'll be sure to share that at heritage.org as well as a deep dive about the chemical abortion issue, really exploring the history of the abortion pill and how it was developed and how it got FDA approval. It's a pretty wild ride. And so those are kind of two different papers I can preview that'll be coming out here in the next couple weeks.

Great. Melanie, thank you so much to your time. Thanks for having me. 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 this a review at a five-star rating on Apple Podcast. And as always, please encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening. 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 design by Lauren

Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailySignal.com.