Just when you think abortion extremists in Congress can’t sink any lower, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) threatened to make two sitting U.S. Supreme Court justices “pay the price” if they vote to uphold popular pro-life laws.
Recently the Court heard oral arguments in June Medical Services v. Russo, the first major abortion case since President Trump was elected. The case involves a Louisiana law that requires abortionists to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. The law was introduced in 2014 by State Representative Katrina Jackson, a pro-life Democrat, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, and signed by a Democratic governor.
Speaking at a pro-abortion rally outside the Court, Senator Schumer singled out President Trump’s two Supreme Court appointees by name with a chilling threat: “I want to tell you, Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Gorsuch, you have unleashed a whirlwind, and you will pay the price…you won’t know what hit you if you go forward.”
Imagine for a moment if a Republican leader had used such unhinged, violent rhetoric. Every American should be horrified by Schumer’s outrageous comments, his refusal to apologize, and his implausible attempts to spin them away after the fact. Voters, elected leaders of both parties, and the media should demand to know exactly what he meant – impeachment? Further attempts to personally destroy the lives and good names of two upstanding public servants? Something even worse?
Equally horrifying is the context of abortion extremism in which Schumer’s comments were made. In recent weeks, Congress had three opportunities to vote on bills that would stop late-term abortions after five months of pregnancy – a point when science shows unborn children can feel excruciating pain – and to protect babies born alive in failed abortion attempts by ensuring they receive appropriate medical care that could save their lives. Pro-abortion Democrats blocked these compassionate, popular bills every single time.
Meanwhile in the presidential race, every leading Democratic contender has backed abortion on demand through birth, paid for by taxpayers, and even infanticide. Several have entertained the idea of packing the Supreme Court; in a February debate, frontrunner Joe Biden vowed to apply a pro-abortion litmus test to high court nominees if elected. His closest competitor, Bernie Sanders quickly agreed, pledging never to nominate anyone who is not “100 percent” pro-abortion. What is such a litmus test, if not Schumer’s threat in policy form? Candidates should have to answer whether they unequivocally condemn Schumer’s bullying.
The average American might rightly wonder, why the fuss over a modest, popular law that prevents no one from seeking an abortion, but simply protects women’s health and safety? Abortion activists claim abortion is “safe” and that it is like any other routine medical procedure – ignoring the fact that two patients go into every abortion appointment and, by design, at least half of them don’t come out alive. Abortion businesses show their true colors when they demand special treatment, fighting tooth and nail against sensible regulations that hold abortion centers to the same standard as other outpatient facilities.
A look at Louisiana’s abortion facilities shows they need more oversight, not less. The appalling violations uncovered by pro-life advocates include rusted surgical equipment, floors and furniture caked with dried blood, missing and expired emergency medications, falsified records, orders not to call an ambulance, and procedures so badly botched, just last year a patient required an emergency hysterectomy. Similar conditions have been found across the nation in facilities run by so-called doctors like James Pendergraft, Steven Chase Brigham, Ulrich Klopfer, and of course Kermit Gosnell. The abortion industry has proven incapable of self-regulating and putting patient safety before profits, and so states must step in to protect their citizens.
Abortion extremists have everything to lose. Any gain for unborn children and their mothers, no matter how small, is a step back from the national status quo of abortion on demand through birth imposed by Roe v. Wade and a loss for the radical abortion lobby.
Under the Trump administration, there have been many such gains. President Trump has governed as the most pro-life president in history, taking action to stop taxpayer funding of abortion businesses, protect conscience rights, and give voice to the victims of Democrats’ cruel extremism. The Trump Department of Justice is fighting on the side of women, submitting a brief to the Court in support of Louisiana’s pro-life law. And with two Supreme Court justices and nearly 200 federal judges successfully confirmed, and the potential for future vacancies, the abortion lobby has seen its undemocratic grip on power steadily eroded.
This explains the desperation on Schumer’s side and shines an enormous spotlight on the stakes of the coming elections. Susan B. Anthony List takes this threat seriously. After all, activist lawyer Debra Katz confessed preserving our national abortion-on-demand regime was a significant motivator – perhaps the most significant – in the smear campaign against Justice Kavanaugh. Our ground team is active in key battleground states now, on a mission to make four million visits to voters’ homes through Election Day to defeat abortion extremists so Schumer’s threat never becomes a political reality. Voters should take the Democrats at their word, take no chances, and re-elect President Trump and the pro-life Senate majority.
Marjorie Dannenfelser is president of the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List. She serves as national co-chair of Pro-Life Voices for Trump.
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