Weighing the interests of mother and baby

Justice Brett Kavanaugh (left) sworn in.

The Supreme Court of the United States held oral arguments on December 1 on a landmark case (Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health) that challenges the infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

Mississippi's Attorney General, defending that state's law that bans abortions after 15 weeks, argued that the states and the people--not the nine justices of the Supreme Court--should decide how to handle abortion, given that the US Constitution does not enumerate a right to abortion. The abortion industry and its allies in the Biden administration leaned heavily on the legal doctrine of stare decisis, arguing that women have come to depend on Roe and therefore the precedent cannot be overturned without decimating the Court's legitimacy. Mississippi countered that following the Constitution--and responsibly correcting an error such as Roe in interpreting the Constitution--preserves rather than destroys the Court's integrity.

Want to Win an Election? Protect and Empower the People

A Washington Times article, "Democrats’ struggles in Congress sap enthusiasm for McAuliffe in Virginia," highlights President Biden's and other radical Democrats' predictable unpopularity. A new Quinnipiac poll documents this discontent and also paints a partisan divide on issues.

Republicans worry that porous borders mean drug and human trafficking and MS-13 gang invasions and also that rising prices and drunken-sailor government spending are bankrupting America. Democrats, by contrast, focus on controlling the climate, mandating masks and vaccinations and getting the government to pay for (and thus dictate) your healthcare.

Virginia gubernatorial candidates seek to energize their respective bases by exploiting these issues while sprinkling in a few more. Democrat Terry McAuliffe is pounding on the abortion industry's drum while dissing parents who try to influence their children's education. Republican Glen Youngkin promises to protect children from harm in both abortion clinics and in leftist indoctrination classrooms.

Aside from the voter turnout factor, the winner in this and other competitive races likely will be those candidates who not only energize their base but also unite partisans on existential issues: protecting our nation with a national defense strong enough to prevent China and Russia from taking over the world; protecting personal and community safety through just and fair law enforcement; and protecting the vulnerable among us with compassionate government safety nets combined with the goal of maximum personal independence and responsibility.

Such priorities are perhaps too common-sense for the alarming number of partisans who appear to have lost their senses, but for those remaining rational voters who still have ears to hear, it will prove a formula for electoral victory and effective governance.

Visited a church today but apparently made a wrong turn into a rock concert featuring a stand-up comic.

Visited a church today but apparently made a wrong turn into a rock concert featuring a stand-up comic. It seemed that the people in the warehouse-style, blackened interior building love God and are doing good works. And the church reaches many people, including many who arguably might not attend a traditional church. But in the long run, and considering the universal mission of the Church for every believer, it seems a grave mistake to shed the inheritance of millennia of Christianity and instead adopt a contemporary culture-conforming style that smacks of niche marketing (i.e., to 18-35 y-o casuals raised on videos).

Biden's catechetical dementia on Hyde

President Biden's recently released budget request to Congress reveals the self-professed Catholic's catechetical dementia regarding the sanctity of human life.

Besides squandering our children's inheritance with a reality-detached spending spree, Biden's budget also kills several longstanding life-protecting provisions he previously supported, such as the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of our taxpayer dollars for most elective abortions.

Passed every year since 1976 on a bipartisan basis and backed by a solid majority of Americans, Hyde provides that "None of the funds appropriated in this Act … shall be expended for any abortion." The amendment, long a demilitarized zone in the abortion war, provides for exceptions in the cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother.

Joe Biden's evolution from protecting to killing Hyde illustrates how a lifetime of moral compromise eventually darkens the mind and sears the soul.

Human-animal chimeras and scientists deluded by a god complex

The battle in Congress over human-animal chimera experiments highlights the gulf between communists and Democrats and Republicans on the distinctions and boundaries between humans, animals and God.

A Chinese-led research team injected human stem cells into monkey embryos and let the chimeric creature grow for 19 days before killing it. As avowed atheists, Chinese Communists do not believe that God created each of us human beings in His image, with inestimable worth incomparable to the animals He created, each "after their kind."

Vaccine resistance and public health messaging

By Jonathan Imbody

The Washington Post recently published my commentary below in response to an article ("'I’m still a zero’: Vaccine-resistant Republicans warn that their skepticism is worsening") that examined the vaccine hesitancy of conservatives. I aimed simply to explain a divergent point of view that many Americans hold about COVID vaccines—one that rejects the messages of U.S. public health agency officials:

"Conservatives who value limited government, federalism and checks on individual power will disdain what they view as vaccination propaganda from partisan politicians who have used the pandemic as a blatant power grab. Trump supporters won’t abide vaccination rhetoric of public health officials such as Anthony S. Fauci, who publicly dissed President Donald Trump.

"Conservatives also respect conscience convictions. While I have received the Moderna vaccine and have written of ethical and practical reasons for taking the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, I understand the apprehensions of conservative colleagues who voice concerns about the use of a fetal cell line in testing, the new mRNA technology and the lack of longitudinal studies.

"Conservative vaccine resisters view the 'impending doom' pandemic rhetoric of this administration as alarmist, manipulative, condescending and coercive. Some, however, may still respond to respectful, common-sense messages from trusted faith leaders and local health experts who can reasonably and transparently lay out the risks of coronavirus vaccination vs. infection."

Why some conservatives are vaccine ‘hesitant’

Published in The Washington Post, April 26, 2021

Regarding the April 21 Politics & the Nation article “ ‘I’m still a zero’: A warning from vaccine skeptics.”:

Conservatives who value limited government, federalism and checks on individual power will disdain what they view as vaccination propaganda from partisan politicians who have used the pandemic as a blatant power grab. Trump supporters won’t abide vaccination rhetoric of public health officials such as Anthony S. Fauci, who publicly dissed President Donald Trump.

Conservatives also respect conscience convictions. While I have received the Moderna vaccine and have written of ethical and practical reasons for taking the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, I understand the apprehensions of conservative colleagues who voice concerns about the use of a fetal cell line in testing, the new mRNA technology and the lack of longitudinal studies.

Conservative vaccine resisters view the “impending doom” pandemic rhetoric of this administration as alarmist, manipulative, condescending and coercive. Some, however, may still respond to respectful, common-sense messages from trusted faith leaders and local health experts who can reasonably and transparently lay out the risks of coronavirus vaccination vs. infection.

Jonathan Imbody

The writer is a federal policy analyst for the Christian Medical Association.

Purple Haze: The Dangerous Illogic of Politicians Pursuing Pot Profits

 

A Washington Times editorial, "Pot is growing like a weed" rightly calls out politicians "racing to earn their trendy credentials" by "commoditizing and taxing vice" and legalizing marijuana commerce. As usual, in the pursuit of pot profits, the politico-economic calculus ignores the costs of increased government social services and human risk and loss.

As to human risk and loss, the data is clear and compelling. The National Institute on Drug Abuse cites studies finding that "9% of people who use marijuana will become dependent on it, rising to about 17% in those who start using in their teens" and that "30% of those who use marijuana may have some degree of marijuana use disorder."

The CDC reports that marijuana users are three times more likely to become addicted to heroin. A study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that marijuana users were more than twice as likely to abuse prescription opioids.

Besides the human toll, these addictions and disorders also increase government costs for health and social services.

Marijuana use can be deadly. Studies of Colorado found that "marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 48% in the three-year average since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana."

Pot profits are both bad government business and bad social policy. The reasoning of politicians and activists suggesting otherwise in the face of the overwhelming evidence is best described by the late Jimi Hendrix:

"Yeah, Purple Haze all in my eyes
"Don't know if it's day or night
"You've got me blowing, blowing my mind
"Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?"

The Equality Act would trample on doctors' religious freedom

Published in The Washington Examiner

by Jonathan Imbody  | March 29, 2021

Imagine you are a family physician who entered medical school motivated by the teachings of your faith: to help and bring healing to others.

In medical school, you determined to adhere to the "do no harm" ethical bedrock of the Hippocratic oath: "I will use treatment to help the sick, according to my ability and judgment, but I will never use it to injure or wrong them."

Throughout your medical career, you have treated all your patients with compassion and respect, and you have followed scientific evidence in exercising medical judgment.

But then, one fateful day, the radical federal Equality Act takes effect nationwide.

The "Equality Act" will erase religious freedom and medical judgment

 

The U.S. Congress has taken one step closer to ending religious protections—and medical judgment for health professionals—on gender issues, by passing the Equality Act by a largely partisan vote in the House of 224 – 206.

This radical legislation, a top priority of the Biden administration and the Democrat party that controls Congress, would literally remove religious freedom protections on gender issues and replace medical judgment with governmental coercion regarding treatment of children and adult patients experiencing gender dysphoria.

The Christian Medical Association (CMA), which has been fighting in court to strike down a similarly coercive Obama-era transgender mandate, outlined reasons for opposing the Equality Act in a letter to Members of Congress.

Biden reverses life-affirming policies

From U.S. House of Representatives pro-life advocates, a sad summary of damage to life-affirming policies done by President Biden in his first 10 days of office:

On Jan. 28, President Joe Biden issued a memorandum that rescinded the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) policy, directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to consider rescinding the Protect Life (Title X) Rule, channeled money to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), directed the United States to withdraw from the Geneva Consensus Declaration, and emphasized federal foreign assistance for “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.”  The White House fact sheet may be viewed here.

Federal court strikes down transgender mandate, protects medical judgment and conscience

 A federal court has provided protections for physicians committed to following medical evidence and conscience convictions regarding the transgender and gender-questioning patients for whom they care.

The U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota has struck down an Obama-era rule that would have nixed physicians' considerations of conscience and medical judgment on transgender procedures and prescriptions. Becket, the legal firm representing the plaintiffs in the case--an order of Catholic nuns, a Catholic university, and Catholic healthcare organizations--describes the victory in a press release below.

Becket also represents the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) and a Catholic health entity in a different federal court in a similar case, Franciscan Alliance v. Azar.

Policy versus politics: A retrospect and prognosis

A physician member of the Christian Medical Associations (CMA) recently asked me for a perspective on the tragic temporary takeover of the U.S. Capitol and the role of politicians before and after that tumultuous event.

The physician's email began, "I’m so saddened by this incident and so appalled…."

I've been asked to share the response to that physician more widely, so my edited response is below, followed by some thoughts on public policy ministry, the past four years and the next four years.

Thoughts on the Capitol takeover and surrounding events

I responded to the physician's concern and request for perspective about the Capitol takeover and surrounding politics as follows:

Dr. Fauci reveals his true political colors as an abortion advocate

If you've ever wondered where Dr. Anthony Fauci is politically, or exactly how "unifying" the Biden administration plans to be on abortion, read Fauci's 1/21/21 comments below on abortion.

Fauci delivered these remarks as President Biden's newly appointed representative to the World Health Organization (WHO). The previous administration withdrew U.S. funding from WHO, charging that the organization lied about the Coronavirus due to its entanglement with the Chinese Communist Party.

Uniting Americans with … transgender mandates?

In his January 20 Inaugural Address, President Joe Biden used the word "unity" no fewer than eight times, including:

"To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words. It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity. Unity.

"… History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity.

"This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward."

Hours after his inauguration, President Biden issued a flurry of 17 Executive Orders (EOs) to overthrow the previous administration's policies and replace them with his administration's top priorities. Among them: "Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation."*

Highlights of Trump administration religious freedom accomplishments

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

"President Donald J. Trump has kept his promise to defend the constitutionally protected right to the free exercise of religion.  His Administration has repeatedly stepped forward to protect those whose religious freedom is under threat and to ensure that faith-based organizations are treated fairly."

Highlights