Tommy Tuberville continues to denounces taxpayer-funded elective abortions at VA facilities
Earlier this week, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville sent a letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough demanding answers about the agency’s new rule that funds abortions at VA medical facilities. “I have asked several times for data and materials on the implementation of the rule, but your Department has refused to provide information, claiming privacy and sensitivity issues,” wrote Senator Tuberville. “As a Member of this Committee, with a duty to provide oversight of services to veterans, taxpayer funding, and effective legislation, I reject the notion that VA can intentionally withhold information from Congress.” Tuberville has been asking questions about the VA’s revised abortion rule since a committee hearing in September 2022. Tuberville followed up with submitted questions in writing the same month and again in February 2023. “I have asked several times for data and materials on the implementation of the rule, but your Department has refused to provide information, claiming privacy and sensitivity issues,” Tuberville wrote. “I submitted a question for the record related to the hearing on September 21, 2022, regarding to this rule’s implementation. On February 15, 2023, I asked, again, for information related to this rule. On March 15, 2023, at a hearing of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on the Electronic Health Record Modernization program, I asked Under Secretary for Health, Dr. [Shereef] Elnahal, for information on the implementation of the rule, and he refused to provide any information. As of today, I still have not received answers to my questions.” Tuberville claims that to this point, the VA and Secretary McDonough have refused to fully comply with his requests for information. “I have asked several times for data and materials on the implementation of the rule, but your Department has refused to provide information, claiming privacy and sensitivity issues,” Tuberville charged. Tuberville gave the VA a deadline of May 17 to fully comply with his formal request for information and answer the questions he posed to the Biden Administration. Abortions are illegal in Alabama, but the Biden Administration has sought to thwart state law and the Alabama Constitution. Tuberville has voted to defund abortions at VA facilities. Sen. Tuberville has drawn criticism from the Biden administration and the Department of Defense for his holding up of military and Department of Defense promotions over his disagreement with the Biden administration’s controversial abortion policies in pro-life states. The Biden administration has denounced the Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and maintains that abortion is a necessary healthcare procedure. Tuberville was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020 following a long successful career as a football coach, sports broadcaster, and educator. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Rep. Michael Cloud introduce resolution to block VA abortion Rule
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville and U.S. Representative Michael Cloud led more than 65 Senate and House colleagues in introducing a bicameral joint resolution voicing their disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to nullify a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rule that provides abortion services through the taxpayer-funded VA health care system. The CRA gives Congress the authority to review major rules issued by federal agencies before they take effect. If Congress disapproves of a rule via resolution, the rule will have no force or effect under the law. “Using our VA medical facilities to provide publicly-funded abortions is an unconstitutional abuse of the system, and it will not be tolerated,” said Sen. Tuberville. “No taxpayer should be forced to pay for abortion services that disregard the will of millions of Americans in states with legal protections for life, rightfully upheld by the Supreme Court last year. The interim final rule highlights this administration’s willingness to ignore the law and exploit limited federal resources to serve their extreme abortion agenda.” “The Biden Administration continues to advance their radical abortion-on-demand agenda, this time through the Department of Veterans Affairs,” said Rep. Cloud. “Directing the Department of Veterans Affairs to perform abortions is a clear abuse of the law, and it forces taxpayers to fund abortions, something the majority of Americans oppose. I will always be a voice for the unborn and oppose taxpayer-funded abortions.” The VA published the interim final rule in September 2022, just a few months after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that reversed the controversial 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. “This is a patient safety decision,” said Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. “Pregnant Veterans and VA beneficiaries deserve to have access to world-class reproductive care when they need it most. That’s what our nation owes them, and that’s what we at VA will deliver.” Dobbs returned the decision to legislate on abortion to the states. The people of Alabama had already voted to ban abortions in Alabama and protect the lives of unborn Alabamians, meaning that the Dobbs ruling effectively made abortion illegal in Alabama. The Biden rule would thwart the Alabama Constitution and the will of the people of Alabama by using VA medical facilities to perform abortions in defiance of state law. Tuberville and Cloud maintain that this not only violates state laws but also is in clear conflict with Section 106 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, which explicitly prohibits the VA from providing abortion services. The rule also extends abortion services to certain veterans’ dependents and fails to provide any conscious protections for VA medical staff. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt and Congressman Jerry Carl also signed on as original cosponsors of the Tuberville-Cloud resolution. The joint resolution introduced by Tuberville and Cloud is endorsed by Susan B. Anthony Pro Life-America, March for Life, National Right to Life, Catholic Vote, Heritage Action, and Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee. While Republicans have a narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats control the Senate and are unlikely to get behind Tuberville’s resolution. The rule has been challenged in the Courts by conservative attorneys general, including Alabama’s Steve Marshall. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Pro-Life women are heavily invested in mid-term election
On Tuesday, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America released a statement announcing that they have raised and spent $78 million in this midterm election and communicated with 8 million swing state voters to help elect pro-life candidates. Abortion has been on center stage in this election; the Democrats have tried to use fear of the loss of abortion rights as a wedge issue to drive women to come out and vote for their candidates following the Supreme Court’s overturning of the controversial Roe v. Wade decision in the Dobbs decision. At one point this summer, Democrats actually believed that the abortion issue would help them maintain their hold on Congress. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, on the other hand, has worked hard to organize pro-Life women in support of pro-life candidates that favor protecting the rights of the unborn. “The 2022 election cycle marks SBA Pro-Life America’s largest investment yet at a critical time when the stakes for unborn children and their mothers could not be higher,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “We deployed more than 1,300 pro-life canvassers and used every communications tool available to reach millions of persuadable and low propensity voters and expose the Democrats’ extreme agenda of abortion on demand until birth nationwide. We look forward to a new pro-life majority in the U.S. House and Senate.” “In total, SBA raised and spent $78M and reached over 8M voters across the country,” said Caitlin Connors, SBA Southern Region Director and an Alabama native. Conners shared a detailed breakdown of the money and voters by state and targeted race. States, where SBA is heavily involved, include Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona, Nebraska, Michigan, and Nevada. The biggest budget in the organization’s history allowed the team to reach more than eight million voters across eight battleground states. SBA Pro-Life America and its partner Women Speak Out PAC have focused on voters in key battleground states. The group says that it has reached out and communicated multiple times with 8 million+ voters. They have visited 4 million homes across 8 key battleground states. They were able to deploy over 1,300+ pro-life canvassers who went door to door in the battleground states and mailed out 7.3 million voter mail pieces. The group’s online ads were viewed 64,908,245 times. They made 4 million telephone calls to voters and sent 8 million text messages. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is a network of more than one million pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders. Women Speak Out PAC is a partner of SBA Pro-Life America. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Barry Moore joins colleagues in calling on VA to rescind abortion rule
A number of states, including Alabama, have outlawed abortions following the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs versus Jackson Women’s Health Organization. A defiant Biden administration has announced that they will perform abortions at Veterans Administration facilities in response to the closing of the abortion clinics by state law. On Thursday, U.S. Representative Barry Moore joined a letter led by Reps. Andrew Clyde and Michael Cloud to Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, demanding he immediately rescind the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) new rule. Moore was one of 43 Republicans to join the letter. “The VA is supposed to be focused on caring for our nation’s veterans, especially in the face of a massive backlog that has thousands of veterans waiting months for critical care, but instead they are prioritizing the extinguishing of innocent lives,” Moore stated in a press release. “Congress needs to hold President [Joe] Biden and Secretary McDonough accountable for violating current law as this flies in the face of numerous state abortion laws and the Hyde Amendment, which bars taxpayer funded abortions for active military members.” “It is incredibly disturbing to us that this rule publication comes out in apparent response to the recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling,” the Republican Congressmembers wrote. “The Supreme Court rightfully overturned the misguided Roe v. Wade decision and returned the issue of abortion to the American people to decide through state legislatures. If this SCOTUS ruling is the basis for your alleged “good cause” for issuing the interim final rule, your Department is bypassing regular rulemaking processes as part of a blatant political response to a Supreme Court decision, which is wholly unacceptable and inappropriate.” “Your Department is knowingly violating current law as the Hyde Amendment restricts abortions for active military members, and Section 106 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 explicitly prohibits the VA from providing abortion services – both of which are still the law of the land,” the letter continued. “Make no mistake: your Department’s decision to expand and promote abortion services – “regardless of state restrictions”– is blatantly illegal. You must reverse course immediately, or we will be forced to take further action to hold your Department accountable for this overreach.” “The VA should be focused on providing timely, high-quality care to our nation’s veterans, not murdering precious citizens with taxpayer dollars,” said Clyde. “If Secretary McDonough refuses to rescind this reprehensible and unlawful rule, Congress must swiftly hold the Biden Administration accountable for this unprecedented overreach and abuse of power.” “President Biden is again attempting to twist the law to his will by illegally authorizing the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide abortion services,” Congressman Cloud said. “The VA should remain committed to providing critical care to support the lives of our veterans, not be another last ditch attempt by the Biden administration to provide taxpayer-funded abortions.” Barry Moore is in his first term representing Alabama’s First Congressional District. He previously served two terms in the Alabama House of Representatives from 2010 to 2018. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Attorney who represented Mississippi abortion clinic nominated for federal bench
A lawyer who represented a women’s health care clinic from Jackson, Mississippi, in the landmark overturn of the national abortion law could wind up sitting on a federal bench. President Joe Biden said Friday that Julie Rikelman of New York City has been nominated as a candidate for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. This court hears cases involving Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico. The move comes just over a month following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which since 1973 had prevented states from banning the practice of abortions. Rikelman served as an attorney for Jackson Women’s Health Organization in the Dobbs v. Jackson case, which led to Roe v. Wade being overturned. The veteran attorney is the United States litigation director for the Center for Reproductive rights. She has served in that position since 2011. Previously, Rikelman worked at NBC Universal, where she held multiple positions, including vice president of Litigation. Prior to working at NBC Universal, Rikelman worked at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York as a senior associate from 2004-06, and worked in Anchorage, Alaska, from 2001-04 as an associate at Feldman & Orlansky. Rikelman is a 1997 graduate of Harvard Law School, graduating cum laude. She was born in Kiev, Ukraine, and emigrated in 1979 with her family to the United States. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Parker Snider: On abortion, the Alabama legislature did it right
When it came to Alabama’s response to the Supreme Court decision overruling Roe v. Wade, it is hard to imagine a more seamless transition to an abortion-free state. Around 9:15 a.m. on Friday, June 24th, news of the Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overruling Roe v. Wade reached Alabama. At 10:37 a.m., Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall released a statement promising that his office was immediately filing motions to dissolve any injunctions against pro-life bills held up in the court system. These would have to be dissolved before pro-life measures could go into effect in Alabama. Just before 4:00 p.m., U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson lifted the injunction on the Human Life Protection Act, which bans elective abortion in Alabama, after a conference call with AG Marshall. With very limited exceptions, such as for the life of the mother, abortion was now illegal in Alabama. This seamless transition to an abortion-free state, though buoyed by the faithful service of AG Marshall and the right judgment of Judge Thompson, is largely a result of the Alabama legislature’s insistence on getting the abortion issue right. In 2019, the Alabama legislature did just that. They passed the most pro-life law in the nation, a law that recognized the life of the unborn child and protected it from untimely death. The law was carefully crafted to be effective and implemented easily, without copious confusion around definitions or hidden loopholes for lawsuits to stop the law from going into effect. During the debate around the bill, legislators stood firm in their argument that all unborn children, regardless of how they were conceived or whether their parents desired to keep them, were worthy of life and of protection. They also were especially careful to ensure that expectant mothers are not prosecuted for pursuing an abortion. Only the person providing or performing the abortion is liable under Alabama law. Never the mother. The legislature was also careful that, in their quest to protect life, they did not overextend their reach into issues like in vitro fertilization and emergency contraception. Though opinions abound on these topics, the goal of the Human Life Protection Act was kept intentionally narrow to make it as effective as possible. All in all, the legislature did the abortion issue right, and we are seeing the fruit of their labor today. The now-effective Human Life Protection Act is true to pro-life principles, will keep women from prosecution, and represents Alabama’s conservative values well. It is a morally just law of which our state ought to be proud. It was not a haphazard political stunt but a good and thoughtful policy that considered what implementation might look like if the ban were ever allowed to go into effect. None of this thoughtfulness was portrayed by the late-night television hosts plastering the faces of Alabama legislators, who were called “dumb” and “sexist” on screens across America. Legislators likely knew those types of attacks would come, and they should be applauded for voting as they did. Governor Kay Ivey, who signed the act into law in 2019, recently rejected a call to weaken the ban. This week, House Democrats asked her to call a special session of the legislature to reconsider the Human Life Protection Act. To her credit, the Governor’s Office has made it clear that such a special session would not happen. When drafting and supporting Alabama’s abortion ban, both the legislature and the governor put their pro-life convictions into action. Their joint effort made it possible, when Roe was overturned, for Alabama to effortlessly transition into the pro-life sanctuary our residents have always wanted our state to be. Of course, this is only the beginning. There will likely be a well-funded pressure campaign to manipulate our government into weakening this law. If Alabama residents want to maintain our status as a pro-life sanctuary, legislators and the governor alike will need the public’s support to stay the course. Parker Snider is the Director of Policy Analysis for the Alabama Policy Institute.
Report: Supreme Court draft suggests Roe v. Wade could be overturned
A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report. A decision to overrule Roe would lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states and could have huge ramifications for this year’s elections. But it’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter — opinions often change in ways big and small in the drafting process. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the “basic fairness and the stability of our law demand” that the court not overturn Roe. While emphasizing that he couldn’t speak to the authenticity of the draft, Biden said his administration is preparing for all eventualities for when the court ultimate rules and that a decision overturning Roe would raise the stakes for voters in November’s heated midterm elections. “If the court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose,” Biden said. “And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November. At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law.” Whatever the outcome, the Politico report late Monday represented an extremely rare breach of the court’s secretive deliberation process and on a case of surpassing importance. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” the draft opinion states. It was signed by Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the court’s 6-3 conservative majority who was appointed by former President George W. Bush. The document was labeled a “1st Draft” of the “Opinion of the Court” in a case challenging Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks, a case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The court is expected to rule on the case before its term ends in late June or early July. The draft opinion, in effect, states there is no constitutional right to abortion services and would allow individual states to more heavily regulate or outright ban the procedure. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” it states, referencing the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey that affirmed Roe’s finding of a constitutional right to abortion services but allowed states to place some constraints on the practice. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” A Supreme Court spokeswoman said the court had no comment, and The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which dates from February. Politico said only that it received “a copy of the draft opinion from a person familiar with the court’s proceedings in the Mississippi case along with other details supporting the authenticity of the document.” The draft opinion strongly suggests that when the justices met in private shortly after arguments in the case on December 1, at least five voted to overrule Roe and Casey, and Alito was assigned the task of writing the court’s majority opinion. Votes and opinions in a case aren’t final until a decision is announced or, in a change wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, posted on the court’s website. The report comes amid a legislative push to restrict abortion in several Republican-led states — Oklahoma being the most recent — even before the court issues its decision. Critics of those measures have said low-income and minority women will disproportionately bear the burden of the new restrictions. The leak jumpstarted the intense political reverberations that the high court’s ultimate decision was expected to have in the midterm election year. Already, politicians on both sides of the aisle were seizing on the report to fundraise and energize their supporters on either side of the hot-button issue. An AP-NORC poll in December found that Democrats increasingly see protecting abortion rights as a high priority for the government. Other polling shows relatively few Americans want to see Roe overturned. In 2020, AP VoteCast found that 69% of voters in the presidential election said the Supreme Court should leave the Roe v. Wade decision as is; just 29% said the court should overturn the decision. In general, AP-NORC polling finds a majority of the public favors abortion being legal in most or all cases. Still, when asked about abortion policy generally, Americans have nuanced attitudes on the issue, and many don’t think that abortion should be possible after the first trimester or that women should be able to obtain a legal abortion for any reason. Alito, in the draft, said the court can’t predict how the public might react and shouldn’t try. “We cannot allow our decisions to be affected by any extraneous influences such as concern about the public’s reaction to our work,” Alito wrote in the draft opinion, according to Politico. People on both sides of the issue quickly gathered outside the Supreme Court, waving signs and chanting on a balmy spring night, following the release of the Politico report. Reaction was swift from elected officials in Congress and across the country. In a joint statement from Congress’ top two Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “If the report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past fifty years — not just on women but on all Americans.” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, said people seeking abortions could head to New York. “For anyone who needs access to care, our state will welcome you with open arms. Abortion will always be safe & accessible in New York,” Hochul said in a tweet. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said in a statement, “We will let the Supreme Court speak for itself and wait for the Court’s official opinion.” But local officials were praising the draft. “This puts the decision making back into the hands of the states,
Kay Ivey: Let’s empower women and be a voice for unborn children
The notion that one cannot be an advocate for both women and unborn children is simply wrong. Those that pit women against their unborn babies are not advancing solutions but instead making these children the unjustified scapegoats when we could be making real, meaningful progress, not only for the women of today but also of tomorrow. No doubt, that includes those unborn baby girls. If we truly want to continue taking steps forward for women’s rights, let’s empower women and be a voice for unborn children. In 1973, before our country had even seen a woman serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade was decided, but the debate would fiercely continue. Nearly fifty years later, the people of Alabama and folks around the country hold this issue with such high importance that they put candidates in offices ranging from the White House to their State Legislature based on their willingness to fight for life. Here in Alabama, we will continue this fight until all unborn children are protected once and for all. Nearly five decades after Roe v. Wade – and we are still fighting this fight. Many will soon be turning their attention to the abortion case the Supreme Court is hearing this fall: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. I recently joined on an amicus brief with 11 of my fellow governors urging the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and restore the authority of states to protect lives of unborn children. This case out of Mississippi not only matters to Mississippi, it matters to Alabama, Texas, and all 50 states because, at the end of the day, people’s interests should be and are protected through their elected legislators and governors. Here in Alabama, we have a deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God. Many Americans, myself included, disagreed when Roe v. Wade was handed down in 1973, and in those almost five decades since, so much has changed. We have made incredible advancements – in areas from medicine to the workplace – much of which has to do with women. Since Roe, the viability marker has moved from 28 weeks to 22 weeks, and we can only expect science will further advance that. Women are very much a force in the workplace, thanks to shifts in policy and culture. It should be commonplace we see mothers in places like the Supreme Court or in CEO posts. During the pandemic, nurses and teachers, fields dominated by women, were on the frontlines for us. In 2019, for the first time, women made up a majority of law students entering class at The University of Alabama School of Law. The list goes on. We have seen increased paid leave help retain mothers in the workforce. A little more than two years ago in Alabama, I signed the equal pay act into law to help fight any pay disparity. Women no longer have to make a choice between motherhood and a career. As I like to say, sometimes the best man for a job is a woman. So, why is it that those who are not pro-life continue to say women can’t do both? It’s time we drop that ultimatum. Being pro-life is being pro-women. As long as I am governor, Alabama will continue forging a path for women and the unborn.
Kay Ivey backs SCOTUS case that could overturn Roe v Wade
Gov. Kay Ivey has joined 11 other Republican governors in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion-rights decision, Al.com reported. Governor Henry McMaster led the group by filing an amicus brief that questions whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional in regards to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case is pending at the U.S. Supreme Court and involves a challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In a brief filed Thursday, the governors joined Mississippi’s argument that the 14th Amendment does not include the right to abortion and that the rulings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey upset the constitutional balance between states and the federal government. Kay Ivey said in a press release, “Alabama will continue to fight for life so that every unborn child is protected. We must stand strong for those babies who do not have a voice, and I assure my fellow Alabamians that we will continue this fight until they are protected once and for all. We will not rest until Roe v. Wade is overturned.” In May 2019, Alabama passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws. House Bill 314 established the personhood of the baby in the womb and criminalized surgical abortions as soon as a pregnancy can be medically determined, in almost all cases except if a doctor determines that the pregnancy poses a serious health risk to the mother. In October 2019, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking Alabama from enforcing the law that would make performing an abortion a felony in almost all cases. “Alabama’s abortion ban contravenes clear Supreme Court precedent,” Thompson wrote in an accompanying opinion. “It violates the right of an individual to privacy, to make choices central to personal dignity and autonomy. It diminishes the capacity of women to act in society and to make reproductive decisions. It defies the United States Constitution.” Reproductive rights activists criticized the governor’s inclusion on the Supreme Court brief. If Roe v. Wade were overturned, experts speculate that it could mean an almost immediate ban on all abortions in the state. Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates commented on Twitter, “What we’re witnessing right now is a full-scale assault on patients, their health care providers, and their support systems. This isn’t about protecting families and this is not what the American people want. The data is clear: 80% of people in this country support access to a safe, legal abortion.” Other governors who joined McMaster’s brief include Doug Ducey of Arizona, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Ron DeSantis of Florida, Brian K. Kemp of Georgia, Brad Little of Idaho, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Michael L. Parson of Missouri, Greg Gianforte of Montana, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, and Greg Abbott of Texas.
