Concerned Women for America’s (CWA) “Women for Kavanaugh Bus Tour” was featured in a recent New York Times article describing the failure of those who want to oppose Judge Kavanaugh from gaining any traction. In “‘So, So Jaded’: The Campaign to Stop Brett Kavanaugh Struggles for Liftoff,” reporters Nicholas Fandos and Catie Edmondson, write “[A]cross the country this August, energizing and sustaining on-the-ground opposition to a nominee whom most Republicans and some moderate Democrats have deemed well qualified has been difficult…” Indeed. On the other hand, the enthusiasm in support of Judge Kavanaugh continues to grow as the highlights from CWA’s Women for Kavanaugh Bus Tour show.
President Trump should be commended for his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, an abundantly qualified and impartial judge, to the Supreme Court. Throughout his judicial career, Kavanaugh has consistently defended Americans’ constitutional rights, including the religious liberties of all Americans, as enshrined in the First Amendment. Kavanaugh can be trusted to continue to protect this fundamental right as a justice on the nation’s highest court.
First and foremost, Judge Kavanaugh understands that judges must base their rulings on the text of the Constitution and the law, not on their own personal political beliefs or policy preferences. In a keynote address at Notre Dame Law School last year, Kavanaugh explained this obligation: “I believe very deeply in those visions of the rule of law as a law of rules, and of the judge as umpire,” he said. “By that, I mean a neutral, impartial judiciary that decides cases based on settled principles without regard to policy preferences or political allegiances or which party is on which side in a particular case.”
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Click here to read the rest of this op-ed as featured on The Hill.
Washington D.C. — Today, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced that the hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States will begin on September 4.
Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, issued the following statement:
“We applaud Senator Chuck Grassley for swiftly moving along Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings so the Supreme Court seat vacated by Anthony Kennedy can be filled quickly. Concerned Women for America’s ‘Women for Kavanaugh’ six state bus tour spent time this week at Senator Grassley’s townhalls in Iowa, and we saw how enthusiastic Americans – especially women – are about Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination.
“While those on the left will cry that the timing is short, Judge Kavanaugh’s name was listed last November on President Trump’s short list of possible nominees if a Supreme Court vacancy should occur. They have had additional months over the summer to gather documents, read cases, and interview Judge Kavanaugh himself. And just because it’s an election year, it does not mean that Judge Kavanaugh cannot – or should not – be confirmed. There have been at least four Justices nominated and confirmed in midterm election years.
“It’s time for the public to hear from President Trump’s nominee and learn first-hand just how well-qualified he is to hold the position of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.”
The House and Senate are out of session this week but will face a crucial religious freedom question when they both return. Last month the House Appropriations Committee adopted a pro-religious liberty amendment modeled after the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act (H.R. 1881, S.811) in its markup of the Labor-HHs appropriations bill. This legislation in no way excludes any eligible agency from providing child welfare services, including agencies who choose to adopt to LGBT parents or single parents; it simply prevents the government from infringing upon a faith-based agencies’ sincerely held religious beliefs. Over 437,000 children exist in the foster care system, and approximately 117,000 are currently eligible for adoption. Excluding providers based on religious values hurts these vulnerable children who are waiting and hoping to be placed in loving homes.
Earlier this year, Philadelphia made a desperate plea for more foster families to help care for hundreds of children needing homes, many coming into the system due to the opioid crisis plaguing the city. Days later, the city of Philadelphia halted all child placements through two of the top-performing agencies, Catholic Social Services and Bethany Christian Services, because of their belief that children should be placed in a home with a mother and a father. A federal judge recently ruled that these religious charities must adhere to the government’s view of an eligible family, thus violating their sincerely held religious beliefs, in order to be eligible agencies. Philadelphia has forced two out of 30 agencies to close for not doing what the other 28 would do. This is why the Inclusion Act is so crucial; government discrimination against people of faith and agencies who represent them must end. This hurts mothers who want to place children in homes that align with her beliefs, it hurts children who are desperate for good homes, and it violates the foundation of our religious liberties as a nation.
Breaking new ground in the fight for religious freedom in Congress is possible, but won’t be easy. Opponents who view including faith-based agencies in any federal program as a threat to LGBT rights are waging an all-out assault against the measure included in the House appropriations bill. We need your voice to embolden members of Congress to stand up for the freedom of birthmothers and faith-based agencies to express their religious values without threat of government discrimination.
Washington, D.C. — On July 31, the public comment period ended on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services new Protect Life Rule which requires physical and financial separation between abortion services and Title X dollars. Since then, 14 states have threatened to sue the federal government while the governors of Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii have decided that their states will pull out of the program entirely should this proposed rule be put into effect.
Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, issued the following statement:
“Concerned Women for America supporters and other pro-life women recently filed several thousand comments in support of President Trump’s common-sense reform prohibiting abortionist from receiving Title X funds. Our message is simple: abortion is not health care.
“The new HHS policy means that real healthcare providers will be able to compete for and win the $286 million available for contraceptives and other family planning services. By the way, the statute is very clear that abortion is not family planning. This new rule only enforces the law already in place.“The fact that the governors of Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii, are willing to take a pass on approximately $10 million and instead choose Planned Parenthood over care for poor women is shocking. This is an unmasking of the radical ideology behind abortion and proof that healthcare for women was never the point.“This is nothing more than a political stunt. The good news is that HHS can by-pass state governments and award grants directly to healthcare providers. Now faith-based health clinics and other charities, who were squeezed out of the process due to the Obama era’s rules forcing them to refer for abortions, can step forward to care for the least of these.“This is one more example of President Trump keeping his promise to support life.”
Washington, D.C. — Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization, will kick off the #WomenforKavanaugh Bus Tour on August 8 in Des Moines, Iowa. The eight-state bus tour will rally conservative women to use their voices to support Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States.
“This is the moment conservative women and evangelical voters have been waiting for and a huge reason why they voted for President Trump,” said Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America. “This grassroots bus tour will utilize CWA state directors, chapter leaders, and volunteers across the nation to rally behind Judge Kavanaugh and demonstrate that he is abundantly qualified to serve on the United States Supreme Court.”
For an interview with Penny Nance contact Annabelle Rutledge at [email protected] or 916-792-3973.
Thank you all so much for your participation and work submitting comments to the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the administration’s proposed Title X rule. The comment period for this rule closed on Tuesday. Just a refresher, Title X is a voluntary grant program that was enacted in the 70s to provide low income individuals with family planning services. The statute specifically says that abortion is not family planning and no funds can go toward abortion operations, but that hasn’t stopped the abortion industry from grabbing these funds and using them to prop up their abortion business. This new rule would require Title X grant recipients to detangle their abortion operations from Title X activity, better adhering to the law.
Concerned Women for America supporters were responsible for submitting thousands of comments supporting this rule; thank you! HHS received over 200,000 comments and upon some brief preliminary investigation of our own, it appears that the majority of these comments are supportive of the rule. This was not the result we were expecting, but it is reflective of where the American people stand on taxpayer funded abortions and abortion activities. Polls continually show that about 6 in 10 Americans oppose taxpayer dollars from being used toward abortions, and that includes people who identify as pro-choice. Americans want out of the abortion business, and this proposed rule is an important step to detangle the abortion industry from government funding.
From here, HHS will review the comments and then they submit a final rule based on feedback. This will take at least a few months and then these rules will apply to future Title X grants. We hope that when grants are announced in August 2019 this rule will be implemented, and this program will no longer be used as a slush fund for the abortion industry. We do anticipate several states will sue HHS over this rule, which could delay implementation, but this rule is supported by Supreme Court precedent. In 1991 the Supreme Court upheld similar, more stringent rules, proposed by the Reagan administration in Rust v. Sullivan, and there have been no significant cases since then that would impact the precedent set by Rust.
It is unfortunate the pro-choice side had to resort to blatant lies and fear mongering in their opposition to this rule. They know that life is winning in America, and public opinion on abortion is shifting. We are a pro-life nation, and the abortion industry’s free ride on the backs of taxpayers is coming to an end.
In 1997, my mother was nineteen years old, on a path to throwing her life away, and found herself impregnated by a man she barely knew. He denied her. He denied I was his. Her parents shunned her in extreme disappointment and urged her to have an abortion, because she would be unable to care for me. My mom thought her mind was made up. Abortion. She thought it was her only option. Our nation has made it so easy for vulnerable and hurting women to walk into an abortion clinic without knowing their options. A good Samaritan spoke truth into my mom’s life and helped save my life, but the reality of how close I was to never experiencing life outside the womb is something with which I still wrestle.
As I sit at my desk reading a Teen Voguearticle titled, “Lady Parts Justice League Fights Anti-Abortion Stigma with Humor,” I can’t help but ask myself, am I living in my worst nightmare? My eyes fill with tears of frustration and anger courses through my veins as I force myself to finish reading Solange Azor’s article. I want to understand. What is the purpose and goal of the Lady Parts Justice League (LPJL)?
My conclusion: the goal is to normalize abortion at any stage and for any reason by using humor to ease the tension and emotional trauma that comes hand in hand with the hardest decision of a woman’s life.
Let’s be honest, this group is essentially saying that the murder of an unborn, innocent child is something at which everyone should laugh, just as they would a casual joke. Azor informs us that the Lady Parts Justice League (LPJL) not only believes that abortion should be legal but that it should also be widely socially accepted, regardless of the reason behind it.
One of the most common pro-choice opinions is what I refer to as the “cosmic shrug.” This is when a woman says she is “socially pro-choice and personally pro-life.” Sorry ladies, that isn’t good enough for LPJL. They want it to be so normalized that it is seen as just another routine medical procedure. LPJL uses tactics such as throwing barbecues/parties, staging counter protests, forming fake abortion clinics to draw in protesters, and memes to promote their “Vagical Mystery Tour,” which toured sixteen U.S. cities last summer. Because when someone is murdered, you should just throw a party and celebrate, right?
Abortion isn’t a joke by any definition, and to refer to it as a laughing matter disrespects not only women but all human life. No matter your stance on abortion, when a child is killed in the womb simply because they are still in the womb, it impacts the value of your life.
Abortion is the murder of a human being who has rights and potential. When a child outside the womb is murdered, there is an uproar in society. People demand the highest punishment and feel great sympathy for the family. How is it any different if the child is living in his/her mother’s womb? We wouldn’t dare laugh at a woman who miscarried when six months pregnant, so why are we making it a point to laugh at an unborn child’s life being taken away for any reason?
It would have been so easy for my mother to go to an abortion clinic and make the decision to end my life just because hers had become hard. My mom’s mind was made up, because she didn’t know that there was any other option for her. It took one phone call from one person to give my mom the strength she needed to choose life and to raise me. Here I am 20 years later, and I couldn’t be more thankful. If you ask my mom, saving my life saved hers. My birth is the reason she turned her life around and became a loving mother, kind daughter, and contributing member to society.
With all the joy that my birth brought her, my mom always carried the guilt that she almost ended my life before I even got a chance to see the world. When I found out three years ago, it changed my entire perspective on the topic of abortion. It opened my eyes to the suddenly real and painful repercussions of abortion and how so many people’s lives would look completely different if I wasn’t born. For seventeen years, my mom struggled to forgive herself for almost aborting me. My self-confidence suffered because of it for a prolonged time. I felt that my life wasn’t worth anything to the most important people in my life. The long-term mental impact is something my mom and I are still working through today and through which we will continue to suffer.
It is not a blessing and a gift that my mother was even afforded the option to end my life. It is not a joke that some people believed that I didn’t have the right to my own life. It is not comical that unborn children are being denied that right every day.
The second line of Azor’s article reads, “Yes, abortion can be funny.” As a pro-life woman and a survivor of the abortion epidemic plaguing our country, I am here to inform you that abortion is not funny. So, listen up Lady Parts Justice League, there is a new feminist army in town, and we are here to tell you that your jokes aren’t funny. No one is laughing.
Lillian Knight serves as YWA President at Louisiana State University
A version of this piece was published by the Washington Examiner.
DAY 9
This was one of the most impactful visits for our bus! We drove from Jerusalem to the border of the Gaza Strip and toured Nativa Elseron, a Kibbutz right on the border.
A woman from the community, Ronni, shared her story and the realities of living on the border with constant threats, bomb shelters, and missile alarms. On our way to visit with Ronni, we walked past a children’s daycare. Toddlers played outside as Ronni explained the reason for the layout of the play area and the system for gathering children inside when there are security threats. It was sobering to understand the reality of their life. Many of our girls raised the question, “Why do you stay here?” Their response, “Why would we leave? This is our home.”
Israel is a small nation, and there aren’t many places to which you can run. The Israelis who live in the border towns near Gaza are not willing to uproot their lives and allow Hamas terrorists to win. They have adjusted. They rely on excellent Israeli security, the Iron Dome, and the Israeli Defense Forces to keep them safe. They understand that there is risk to living there. In actuality, they explained how their daily lives are similar to Israelis across Israel. Walking through their Kibbutz and driving in the bus, it was easy to understand their point of view that day. It was a beautiful sunny day with no threats from across the border. Kids were playing outside, and moms were sitting on their porches. It was a normal day.
On the flip side of the same coin, Sderot, the city where we were, is different from other cities in Israel. In Sderot, it is hard to look around without seeing a bomb shelter. At first you might not see it, but that bus stop is a shelter and so is the play structure at the playground. This is an area where when the siren goes off, you have eight seconds to find shelter. Israel has made sure that bomb shelters are abundant. Each house is equipped with one room that acts as a shelter. This is their reality.
Our young ladies were thankful for the opportunity to tour this area, meet Ronni and tour this Kibbutz. Because of fire kites sent from Gaza to ravage the Israeli border towns and intense rocket fire from Hamas that has significantly increased this summer, we were one of the few buses who were cleared to visit Sderot on their tour.
DAY 10
We spent our last full day in Tel Aviv before flying out late that night to the United States. We toured Jaffa, the port from which Jonah fled, and the House of Simon. We also visited Independence Hall where Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948. We sat in the room and listened to recordings of David Ben-Gurion pronouncing the establishment of the State of Israel.
The 10 days spent in Israel were FULL, a little exhausting, but absolutely life-changing. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and followed along!
Here are some closing thoughts from participants:
“From being baptized in the same river where Jesus was baptized to floating in the Dead Sea, sailing on the Sea of Galilee, reading the Scripture in the land where the stories took place, praying and crying at the Western Wall, observing traditional and modern Israeli culture, visiting the Garden Tomb where Jesus was buried and where He rose again, learning about the geopolitical issues that plague the region, worshipping in Jerusalem, and making new best friends, Israel was an absolute dream! I embarked on this journey to discover the roots of my faith, and I left having accomplished that and so much more. I was blessed to grow not only in my faith, but in my role as a leader and advocate for the peace of Israel. I am in awe of the resilience of this nation and its people, and I am eternally grateful to have been a part of God’s story in the Holy Land.” Brittany McMillian, YWA Chapter member, University of Alabama
“When I first heard about the YWA trip to Israel, I was instantly interested and had a desire to go; however, I thought that I would just forget about it and never follow through. Fast forward to the day that the application was due, I found out the cost of the trip, the details of the schedule, and that three of my best friends had decided to apply. I had gotten the “okay” from my parents to apply, and the only thing that was holding me back from attending the trip was an overwhelming sense of fear and worry. I was fearful of going to a country with such controversy, fearful of traveling there, and was feeling as if the Lord was telling me that this trip might not be for me. I prayed about it and went to a worship night on campus to gain some clarity and realized that fear and worry are not of the Lord; they are from Satan. I realized that only fruitful and glorifying things for the Lord would occur from a trip to Israel, and that I was letting Satan get ahold of me. With only about 10 minutes left until the deadline, I quickly submitted my application, and am so grateful I did. This trip to Israel blessed me in so many ways, and I had the most incredible experience learning more about who Jesus is and taking some of His very same steps in the Holy Land. I grew in my relationship with Him and was constantly encouraged and inspired by the amazing group leaders and other girls on the trip. It truly was an experience of a lifetime!” Olivia Szolack, YWA participant, Liberty University
“My time in Israel changed my life. From picking up rocks at the Sea of Galilee to visiting the peace wall along the Gaza Strip, I learned so much about all that has happened and is happening there. Coming home I brought with me a bag of Israeli snacks, but also a passion for Israel and all of its people! I will never stop praying for the Israeli people, especially the ones that had such a huge impact on me while I was there. And to the amazing girls I got to travel with; each one of you taught me so much about life and friendship. I am so, so blessed. The past eleven days have given me memories that I will carry with me forever. Thank you to each person who poured into me during this trip; our God is real. He is alive! And we all got to walk in His holy land! I am so thankful.” Abby Voggenreiter, YWA member, Liberty University
