For 30 years, a program in Pennsylvania that helped women with unexpected pregnancies provided everything from food and clothing to shelter and counseling.
Real Alternatives, started during the administration of anti-abortion Governor Bob Casey, in 2004 was one of four non-profits in the state to earn the "Seal of Excellence" from the Pennsylvania Association of Non-Profit organizations.
It became a template for similar initiatives in Missouri, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Florida, Texas, Minnesota, Michigan and Indiana.
According to State Sen. Judy Ward, R-Dist. 30, the program directly helped more than 349,000 Pennsylvania women by distributing funds to pregnancy help centers.
At the Pennsylvania March for Life, in which I participated earlier this month, a pregnancy center staffer I spoke to said the center received more than $100,000 annually from the statewide program.
What became of Real Alternatives nine months after the state’s new governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro, was sworn in?
It ceased to exist.
On Aug. 3, the state government’s news page carried a story under the headline "In Major Win For Women’s Health, Shapiro Administration Announces Contract With 'Real Alternatives' To Expire By End Of The Year."
Shapiro’s comments on the situation, "For decades, taxpayer dollars have gone to fund Real Alternatives.
My administration will not continue that pattern — we will ensure women in this Commonwealth receive the reproductive healthcare they deserve."
Shapiro wants women in his state to receive the abortions they "deserve" rather than the help they need to choose life.
Wow.
Voters in Pennsylvania will want to keep Shapiro’s words — and deeds — in mind when they go to the polls next month to choose a new state Supreme Court justice.
Democrats now have a 4-2 advantage on the Court so the election will not tip the balance, but will narrow the margin. Moreover, a Republican win would help set the stage for 2025, when three Democrat justices will be up for retention votes.
But voters in every state also should take heed; Shapiro’s move to eliminate alternatives to abortion demonstrates very clearly that Democrats are not the party of compassion.
The Republican pro-life side is the compassionate side.
This message, along with the message that the Democrats are the extremists when it comes to abortion policy, are the two key points to emphasize in this election when it comes to the abortion issue.
For all the media’s whining about Republicans not caring about babies once they’re born — which is a tired, worn-out myth — it’s going to be hard to spin the latest attacks on pregnancy care centers as anything but a lack of caring about women, about mothers who want to choose life but need some help to do it.
Shapiro is not the only Democrat who doesn’t understand — or, more likely — doesn’t care that "reproductive health care" means helping moms carry their babies to term. Attacks on pregnancy centers are happening across the country:
- California is suing Heartbeat International, a clearinghouse that serves 3,000 pregnancy centers, and RealOptions Obria, a chain with five centers in Northern California, over their promotion of abortion pill reversal, a medical intervention in a chemical abortion that has resulted in the birth of more than 2,000 healthy babies nationwide.
- Colorado passed a law that bans abortion pill reversal, leading a pregnancy help chain there to sue the state in federal court.
- New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheim has called a pregnancy center in his state a “brainwashing cult clinic” and wants to close it.
The Democrats have indicated in no uncertain terms since the fall of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), last summer that they want to eliminate choice and force women into abortion.
This is not compassion — certainly not for the babies killed in the womb.
Policies that leave mothers with no choice but abortion are the opposite of compassionate.
Meanwhile, the Republican-passed ant-abortion laws contain funding to help give mothers more than one choice when they are pregnant and in need.
For instance, when Texas stopped all abortion in their state, they allocated $100 million to alternatives to abortion.
And in Florida, when the recent "Heartbeat Bill" was signed into law, it contained a provision for $25 million to help moms choose better alternatives than abortion.
On the abortion issue, this is the point Republicans and Conservatives need to hammer home, that they, and not the Democrats, are the party of compassion.
Frank Pavone is one of the most prominent anti-abortion leaders globally. Read Frank Pavone Reports — More Here.
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