Family Research Council Issues 3 Action Alerts in 3 Hours

The Family Research Council is fundraising and gearing up for at least three big fights coming up in Washington, D.C., as evidenced by the three “action alerts” they issued Tuesday morning in the span of 3 hours and 15 minutes.

The first was issued by FRC’s Vice President for Government Affairs David Christensen and focused on efforts to remove funding for Planned Parenthood from the final Obamacare “repeal and replace” bill approved by Congress. He wrote:

Obamacare subsidizes health plans with abortion coverage. This week, House Republicans are trying to repeal and replace Obamacare in the same bill, but they must not repeat the Democrats’ mistakes—to paraphrase Nancy Pelosi—by passing the bill only to find out it funds abortion on demand after it comes out of the Senate. House Republicans must ensure that the Obamacare “replace” bill’s funding protections for the right to life of unborn babies must not be left up to chance or turned into a political bargaining chip. Your member of Congress is on one of the important committees where this “replace” bill is currently under consideration, so he/she needs to hear from YOU.

FRC—along with other pro-lifers—is very concerned that strict Senate budget rules could strip out any provisions stopping funding for elective abortion in health care “replace” programs such as universal tax credits and other subsidies for health care. It is wrong for the House to add “replace” provisions that are likely to become massive subsidies for abortion on demand after Senate rules are applied to the bill.

A fundamental pro-life principle is that abortion is not health care, and so the government should not fund or incentivize abortion on demand as health care. If any health care legislation fails to meet this basic test in its final version, pro-life members of the House and Senate must stand should-to-shoulder to defeat the bill.

Your Member of Congress, who is a member of one of the important House committees considering this legislation this week, needs to hear from you right now! Please call (202) 224-3121 to urge him or her not only to repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood just like last year, but also not to leave pro-life funding protections up to chance. Your representative must oppose any “replace” provisions for which good pro-life abortion funding restrictions are struck down due to Senate budget rules.

The other two were authored by the FRC President Tony Perkins. In one, he wrote about the need to defend religious liberty for Christians in America. In the other, he wrote about the war that is about to be waged with Senate Democrats over Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch.

First, on religious liberty, Perkins wrote:

For eight long years, our beliefs were targets.

The government under Barack Obama systematically targeted people of faith, especially those who hold strongly to pro-life values. The Obama administration used the federal bureaucracy to force conservatives to violate deeply held beliefs and into compliance. In fact, the administration refused to enforce multiple federal laws which make it illegal for federal agencies, and states and private entities receiving federal funds, from discriminating against pro-life health care entities:

• • Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo, a pro-life nurse in New York, experienced it—discriminated against because of her pro-life views and forced to help with an abortion.
  • Jim Garlow, pastor of Skyline Church in San Diego, saw his pro-life employee health care plan voided by a state abortion-coverage mandate in violation of federal law.

Of course as you well know, Americans for generations have taught their children, “Let your conscience be your guide.” But under the Obama administration, the rights of conscience were trampled on for the sake of a radical agenda.

We fought back. FRC Action worked diligently with Members of the House of Representatives amid these frightening actions to secure passage of the Conscience Protection Act to end discrimination against and preserve the freedoms of pro-life doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners, empowering them to pursue legal action against the state if their conscience rights are violated. And we are strongly supporting the bill in the House again today. But now we have greater-than-ever hopes of this legislation becoming law. We will push to move it through the Senate, where Republicans hold a razor-thin majority, and onto President Trump’s desk.

But until we get there you are still at risk … Help us push this legislation as one of the top early priorities of the Trump era.

The fact is, as you read these words, we need more resources. The power shift in Washington has not cut our workload because the left has kicked into high gear. Every single day, we’re battling the poisonous propaganda that the radicals are pumping into the media stream. We’re counteracting the maneuverings of the lobbyists on Capitol Hill who are doing their best to thwart conservative causes. We’re fighting with everything we’ve got. We need your support.

As you stand with us, we will work to undo eight years of damage inflicted by the Obama regime on people of faith.

Our victory is not a foregone conclusion. Donald Trump must hear from you. He must not be allowed to believe that conservatives are casual about this issue.

Then, on the Supreme Court confirmation battle, he wrote:

On Jan. 20, we began to write the closing chapter on eight years of extreme anti-Christian bias in Washington. God has given us a reprieve, and the opportunity to reverse the incredible damage and make things right.

At Family Research Council, we’ve never let up for a moment in our fight for faith, family and freedom, and your involvement at this pivotal time could not be more important.

Today, we are launching a new campaign to right a left-leaning Supreme Court, urging all U.S. Senators to give Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch a fair hearing and confirm him without delay.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer continues to threaten a filibuster of President’s Trump’s pick for our nation’s highest court, even though Judge Gorsuch is preeminently qualified and was unanimously confirmed for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006.

The fact is, the liberal left will say and do anything to obstruct a conservative Supreme Court majority and the change our nation needs!

At FRC, we’ve made it our mission to give President Trump and the 115th Congress the help they need to effectively fulfill their promises to undo the damage done by Barack Obama and his allies.

I have been incredibly encouraged by his strong, direct message on protecting life and defending religious liberty, both at home and abroad, and I was proud to be in the White House East Room for his announcement of his first Supreme Court pick.

President Trump’s nomination of Judge Gorsuch to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Scalia is a testament to his commitment to stand up for people of faith and the integrity of our U.S. Constitution …

The left is doing all they can to smear Judge Gorsuch, but the facts are clear—he is exceptionally well-qualified, an intellectual giant and a good man. His record makes it clear that, like Justice Scalia, he believes judges should base their decisions on the law and the Constitution, not their own policy preferences or personal feelings. He has also demonstrated that he has a solid understanding of natural law, having studied under one of the most acclaimed natural law theorists at Oxford.

Such a faithful defender of religious liberty is something that our nation desperately needs. We must stand “firm in the faith” (1 Cor. 16:13) now too to defend our constitutional freedoms which continue to hang in the balance. {eoa}