The World and Everything in It: May 3, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. I am Adam Howard from Wilmington Island, Georgia, where I live with my wife Marsha and my daughter Lillian and serve as the worship pastor of First Baptist Church of the Islands. My son is a freshman theater major at North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina. We hope that you enjoy today’s program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! More candidates for the Republican nomination jump into the race. Can anyone surpass Donald Trump?

ASA HUTCHINSON: He does not define the Republican party, and we have to have other voices. And to me and that’s the key thing for the future.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Washington Wednesday. Also today World Tour: a new report on the state of religious persecution. Plus, adopting children with special needs.

SHELLEY: Having special needs children means you now deal with all the people who love special needs children and who pour their lives into special needs children.

And World commentator Ryan Bomberger on Planned Parenthood, by the numbers.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, May 3rd. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Troops to border » President Biden is deploying 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as authorities brace for a major surge.

Pentagon spokesman, Brigadier General Pat Ryder.

PAT RYDER: In light of the changes on May 11th and the anticipated surge, DHS did reach out and request this support.

One week from tomorrow, the pandemic-era Title 42 rule will expire. That rule has made it easier for the government to quickly expel migrants who cross the border without permission.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained the role of the troops.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: These personnel will be performing like data entry or warehouse support. They will not be performing law enforcement functions or interacting with immigrants or migrants.

She said the point is to free up Border Patrol agents to concentrate on field work.

Even with Title 42 in place, the number of migrant encounters has shattered records in recent months.

Tens of thousands of migrants are already waiting on the other side of the Rio Grande for the end of Title 42.

Senate SCOTUS hearing » On Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats held a hearing Tuesday calling for ethics reform on the Supreme Court.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said Chief Justice John Roberts has answered all of his panel’s questions.

DICK DURBIN: But the answers we received further highlight the need for meaningful Supreme Court ethics reform.

The hearing stems largely from a report suggesting that Justice Clarence Thomas should have disclosed decades’ worth of vacations paid for by conservative billionaire Harlan Crow. Thomas says he’s done nothing wrong.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham:

LINDSEY GRAHAM: This assault on Justice Thomas is well beyond ethics. It is about trying to delegitimize a conservative court.

Senators demand Blinken records » Meantime, two Republican senators are accusing Secretary of State Tony Blinken of lying under oath when he said that he had not communicated with Hunter Biden, the president’s son.

Senator Ron Johnson:

RON JOHNSON: You cannot trust Joe Biden, you cannot trust Hunter Biden, you can't trust the Biden family. 

Johnson and Senator Charles Grassley say Blinken’s wife communicated directly with Hunter Biden while Blinken worked for the State Department under President Barack Obama.

At the time, Biden served on the board of the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. His position there has come under scrutiny for potential corruption.

The senators want Blinken to turn over any records he has related to Hunter Biden.

Vermont suicide » Vermont is now the first state to allow terminally ill people from across the country to commit medically assisted suicide. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed the bill to remove the residency requirement yesterday.

Vermont is one of ten states plus the District of Columbia that allows assisted suicide. All of the states require participants to be residents, but Oregon does not enforce the requirement.

Supporters say the Vermont law has safeguards in place to ensure no one is coerced into euthenasia.

But the group Vermont Right to Life says those are not enough to protect vulnerable people from coercion.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Jobs numbers » U.S. employers are hanging fewer help wanted signs in the window.

Job openings tumbled to a near-two-year low in March, according to a new report from the Labor Dept.

Employers posted roughly 9.6 million jobs in March, down from 10 million in February.

The number of Americans quitting their jobs fell to 4 million, while the number of layoffs increased to nearly 2 million.

The report indicates that the labor market is cooling down. The silver lining is that could help slow inflation.

Hollywood writers » Some late-night shows are airing reruns after more than 11,000 TV writers walked off the job Tuesday after contract talks broke down.

Writer Sean Crespo joined a protest in New York City.

SEAN CRESPO: There’s too much work and not enough pay. There’s not really a path to middle-class living anymore as a writer.

The Writers Guild of America says the shift to streaming content has undercut compensation for writers, many of whom received residual income from shows that aired as reruns on broadcast TV.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: A look at two Republican White House hopefuls who recently threw their hats into the ring. Plus, an unexpected path to adopting kids with disabilities. 

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Washington Wednesday. And we start today with a look at the growing Republican presidential field.

Two more candidates have jumped in: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson,

ASA HUTCHINSON: Today, I am announcing that I am a candidate for president of the United States.

And attorney-turned-conservative talk-radio host Larry Elder. More on him shortly.

REICHARD: As for Hutchinson, he just wrapped up two terms as Arkansas governor, and that’s the legal max due to term limits.

He’s a longtime public official, former U.S. attorney, former U.S. congressman, former official in the Department of Homeland Security.

Speaking on an ABC Sunday show, Hutchinson presented himself the stable “drama-free” alternative to Donald Trump:

HUTCHINSON: He does not define the republican party, and we have to have other voices. And to me and that’s the key thing for the future. And whenever you look at what’s happened with Donald Trump since he announced that he’s going to run again for president is that you’ve had continued chaos that has surrounded him.

EICHER: He endorsed Trump in 2016 but soured on him, saying now Trump is morally unqualified.

“The Presidency is not and should not be an office of vengeance or retribution,” as he puts it.

On the issues, Hutchinson governed as a pro-lifer. In 2021, he signed an abortion law that protects unborn children in almost every case.

HUTCHINSON: I signed it because it is a direct challenge to Roe vs Wade. That was the intent of it.

He’d later backtrack … saying that he regretted that it went too far. And he says he would sign a federal abortion ban only if it contains as he put it “the appropriate exceptions.”

REICHARD: Hutchinson was widely criticized for vetoing a bill that would protect minor children from so-called transgender medical interventions. He said he agreed with the bill in principle but that the language was too far-reaching.

He defended himself on CNN, making the argument that such a measure was inconsistent with principles of limited government.

HUTCHINSON: Sure, I’ve signed pro-life bills, and I know that there’s a role for government, even in the social issues. But we have to fundamentally ask ourselves, do we need to do this? Is there a better way? Is this something that we need to leave to the home, to the church — our faith leaders to handle?

EICHER: Hutchinson did sign into law conscience protections for doctors who don’t want any part of trans treatments.

He also signed a law that protects female athletes in Arkansas schools from having to compete against men.

The governor built a fiscally conservative, small-government record. He approved tax cuts. He streamlined government agencies, and politically he’s shown the ability to win over some Arkansas Democrats.

REICHARD: Now to Larry Elder, host of The Larry Elder Show.

He first ran for public office two years ago, and although he didn’t fare well, he’s undeterred.

Elder told California Insider that he brings a different voice to the table within the Republican field.

LARRY ELDER: The Democrats are real good at claiming that America is systematically racist and that virtually every issue has to do with race, because the Democrats know the most loyal part of their base are black people. And as long as you can convince black people that they’re under siege, that they’re oppressed, and we, by the way, are the saviors, they’re going to get that near-monolithic black vote, without which they cannot win.

EICHER: Elder says he wants to eliminate things like critical race theory and so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies in government.

He says, as president, he’d also focus on securing the border, on making school choice available, and overturning Democrat policies he says are “soft on crime.”

REICHARD: Here now is Kyle Kondik. He is an elections analyst and director of communications at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. Kyle, good morning!

KONDIK: Good morning.

MR: Well, let’s start with Governor Hutchinson. Now we’ve already seen him take jabs at Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. It seems like he’s really trying to position himself as a pragmatic mainstream Republican alternative to Trump. … Do you think that's the right play for him? Do you think that’s the right play for him?

KONDIK: Look, I think if he wants to win the nomination, I don't think it's the right play. You know, I think he is representative of a kind of old school establishment Republicanism, that just is not particularly in favor anymore in the party.
You know, I think that if, after January 6 than 2021, and the end of the Trump presidency, you know, if the Republican Party was interested in doing a lot of introspection, and also, frankly, after the 2022 midterms, which I think were disappointing for Republicans, if the party, again, was interested in in doing some introspection and kind of winding back the clock a little bit on where the party was going, and maybe trying to win back some of the lost suburban voters, Hutchison might be sort of like a logical choice for that. But but that's not where the party is necessarily.
And it's not even necessarily clear to me that, that the party from an electoral standpoint really should turn back the clock, because, you know, while they've lost some, they've lost people, they've picked up some voters too. But I just don't think that what Hutchinson is selling isn't necessarily what the GOP electorate is buying.
And I think that, you know, it shows that, you know, Donald Trump's poll numbers have been better lately. But DeSantis is still clearly his leading rival. There's not a whole lot of oxygen, really, for anyone else at this point, including Hutchinson.

REICHARD: Okay, well now let’s talk about where Larry Elder fits in this campaign. He’s not yet showing up in national polls. Kyle, do you think he’ll be able to build enough momentum to make it onto the debate stage?

KONDIK: You know, I would describe him as a minor candidate at this point. He was last seen, basically getting blown out in the California gubernatorial recall against Gavin Newsom in 2021. You know, maybe some of these lower tier candidates who are not, you know, previous officeholders like Larry Elder, maybe they'll have a moment in the sun the way that like Herman Cain did during the 2012 cycle. But, you know, again, those were more kind of open races where you had a lot of people who were undecided. The race was those races were fairly fluid. You know, right now, I wouldn't describe the race as all that fluid.
I mean, yeah, Trump is gaining and DeSantis is falling off. But again, between the two of them, they still, you know, combined register, you know, way more than a majority of support within the Republican Party and Trump himself often does get a majority of support. So Um, I don't see there's been much room for a lot of, you know, really other candidates at this point. We'll have to see if things get more fluid down the line. But as of now, I wouldn't describe the race that way.

REICHARD: Okay, now I want to go back to what you referenced earlier, not having to do with Hutchinson or Elder. It was after the midterms and Gov. DeSantis’ big win in Florida, that we saw that big bump for DeSantis. But lately, that bump seems to have faded. And as you mentioned, Trump is consistently over 50% in most primary polls. Kyle, what do you make of all that?

KONDIK: Oh, look, I mean, this is a party that I think is still by and large, pretty comfortable with Trump and frankly, you've also seen some fairly significant people, you know, sort of establishment figures within the party backing Trump, I'd say most notably, Steve Daines, Senator from Montana, who also happens to lead the National Republican Senatorial Committee. I thought it was a telling signal as to where a lot of elected Republicans might be in that whatever their concerns about Trump, they, they feel like they they want to stick with him. And so, you know, DeSantis has taken some hits recently, although he's, of course, not even a declared candidate for president yet. We do still have a ways to go here. But if you combine the fact that Trump is, you know, clearly leading in the polls, basically everywhere, I mean, there have been some polls that are linked to DeSantis that showed DeSantis doing well against Trump, but that's about it in terms of recent numbers, plus the fact that that Trump is displaying some level of institutional support within the Republican Party. You know, this thing it may be getting late, early in the sense that Trump seems like the clear favorite again. I mean, he probably was the favorite whole time, but a situation seems better now than it was a month or two ago. You know, again, there is still time, there's still time, other candidates are gonna get in including maybe even, you know, including DeSantis, quite possibly, and maybe others. There are some ongoing legal problems for Trump. And if in fact, he's indicted later on, there might be some sort of short term political benefit there. But maybe that gives other Republicans a case to make that not renominating Trump is too risky. But, you know, certainly, Trump is not collapsing. And in fact, the opposite seems to be happening.

REICHARD: Mmm-hmm. I’m wondering how important is announcing? So my question is will a race at the top of the GOP polls tighten once DeSantis does announce his campaign, assuming he does?

KONDIK: It's quite possible because sometimes the polls, particularly early on are sort of driven by media coverage. And when and if DeSantis becomes an official candidate, he will get a wave of news coverage in that. He'll probably do some sort of big rollout, he'll be, you know, very public, you know, more public than he's been so far. And that can have some bearing on on the polls. It's just a question of the how much does he restore some of his previous levels of support? I mean, actually, you know, even even now, in his diminished state, DeSantis is still polling fairly impressively for someone who is not an announced candidate never been, you know, Vice President, never been in a presidential ticket, never run for president before. But his position is not as strong as it was. And, you know, maybe maybe he'll restore his his past position, if and when he announces. And, you know, we're in May now, I would think that that that announcement, if it comes should be coming relatively soon.

REICHARD: Kyle Kondik is with the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Kyle, thanks so much!

KONDIK: Thank you.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour. This week, a special report on religious freedom around the world.

NICK EICHER, HOST: On Monday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom published its annual report on persecution. WORLD’s Onize Ohikere has our story.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Last month, the governor of Nigeria’s north central Benue state said armed Fulani herdsmen killed 134 people in Christian-majority communities, all in one week.

In the same week, insurgents with the Islamic State West Africa Province killed Pastor Yakubu Shuaibu Kwala at his home in northeast Borno state. They also shot and wounded his pregnant wife.

The commission says these attacks are systemic and ongoing… and recommended for the second consecutive year that the State Department designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern, or CPC.

Here’s Commissioner Eric Ueland.

UELAND: 00:39 - 1:08: We have seen a significant amount of violence against Christians in Nigeria over the past many years, which has accelerated in the past few months, especially since the election of a president a new set of House of Reps, and Senators, as well as state governors and state legislatures, state legislators, all in anticipation of a May 29 inauguration of the President.

The Commission also called for a special envoy in Nigeria and across the wider Lake Chad region…where Islamist insurgents operate. The Bush administration made a similar move in 2001 by appointing former Senator John Danforth as the special peace envoy to Sudan.

UELAND: 2:18 - 2:45 A highly respected figure is able to step forward, bring all the conflicting parties together, begin to bring the moral and economic force to bear to drive down these episodes of violence and try to restore amiability and peace in a country that is more and more beset by anti Christian violence extermination by Fulani militants.

The commission called for Afghanistan, India, Syria, and Vietnam to also be designated as CPCs. And they recommended the State Department renew the CPC designation for 12 other countries: Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

This year’s report cover features an Iranian protester holding a rosary. Iran faced weeks of deadly protests after the morality police killed 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after arresting her for violating rules on head coverings. The commission said Iranian authorities used religious conceptions of modesty and gender hierarchy to crack down on protests. It also accused Iranian security services of targeting Iranians abroad who opposed the head covering laws.

UELAND: 8:10 - 8:27 We are hopeful and indeed insistent that the Biden administration be much more aggressive, in terms of its engagement against Iran directly, indirectly, again, as well with multilateral partners.

For the first time, the commission recommends Cuba and Nicaragua also be re-designated as CPCs. The State Department gave both countries that designation for the first time last year.

In Nicaragua, Commissioner Ueland explained that President Daniel Ortega and his wife … who is the vice president … have further constrained religious freedom. He said Ortega followed a similar pattern during his rule in the 1980s to crack down on religious and ethnic minorities.

UELAND: 5:25 - 5:53 Churches have been closed, individuals have been imprisoned. Individuals have been exiled. Religious leaders have been arrested and put away without the ability to practice their faith. All these sorts of things are indicative of an accelerating trend by Nicaragua's leadership to crack down on Christians and Catholics in Nicaragua.

The commission also listed eleven additional countries under its special watch list. They are Algeria, Azerbaijan, Central African Republic, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.

It’s the first time Sri Lanka has made it on the commission’s list. The commission said Muslims and Hindus in the Buddhist-majority nation faced persecution, discrimination, and land grabs.

The commissioners acknowledged some of the Biden administration’s efforts in the past year … including designating the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group as an entity of particular concern. But they called for more concrete action.

UELAND: 11:04 - 11:40 I’m hopeful that the Biden administration will take countenance of our report, sharpen its efforts on behalf of religious freedom internationally, and power, its ambassador at large for religious freedom as well as its ambassador for anti semitism to work even more aggressively in concert with like minded partners around the globe, to address challenges to religious freedom to call out anti semitic behavior and anti semitism, where it is seen and to push forward the boundaries of religious freedom around the world.

That’s it for this week’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Maybe you remember the banana and duct tape artwork. Remember, a 15-cent banana and less than a dime’s worth of tape? We all thought it was a joke, but a wealthy aficionado paid $120-thousand dollars for it.

Well, a museum in South Korea has an iteration of that artwork on display, and last week it had to do some major art restoration after a guest vandalized the piece.

SOUND: [SOMEONE SHOUTING IN KOREAN] 

Roughly translated a museum employee is basically saying, what do you think you’re doing? What followed was a college student pulls the banana off the wall, peels it, and starts eating. He then taped the banana peel back in place.

Noh Huyn-soo later told KBS News that he regretted skipping breakfast that morning, and said, “isn’t it taped there to be eaten?”

The museum decided not to press charges, and within 30 minutes it had a fresh banana taped in place. Turns out, the museum changes the artwork every few days just in case you didn’t know bananas don’t stay yellow very long. So Mr. Noh may have been doing the curators a favor by eating the banana.

So, maybe we found it appalling, but he found it appealing.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, May 3rd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: adoption and special needs.

Yesterday, we launched Episode 3 of Effective Compassion Season 4. WORLD’s Jenny Rough reports on international adoption and how the landscape is changing.

Today, she has a story of an American family who adopted four kids from China. An unexpected medical diagnosis led them to open their home to children with special needs.

SHELLEY MANSFIELD: Chores. You’ve got to do your chores. And Shakespeare.

JENNY ROUGH, REPORTER: Homeschooling mom Shelley Mansfield hands her younger kids a chart of tasks and homework assignments. She and her husband, Shawn, have seven kids. Three biological, four adopted. Shawn’s own childhood influenced their decision to adopt. His dad was a preacher. But when Shawn was a teenager—

SHAWN MANSFIELD: Something flipped in him, and he went opposite. Drugs. All kinds of stuff. Lost his job. My family split. I lived on my own for a month or so. My swim coach found out about it, and said, this isn’t working. And he talked to his wife, and they brought me in.

Shawn’s always been grateful the swim coach and his wife opened their home and hearts. Shelley is, too.

SHELLEY: They were much younger. They had three little girls, and not every family with three little girls would have taken in a 15-year-old boy. And so his take on it early in our marriage was I can never repay them, but I can pay it forward in the life of another child.

They thought they’d do something similar. Provide a home for an older teenager. But after their third biological daughter was born, those plans changed.

SHELLEY: And when Lauren was 2, she was diagnosed with Rett syndrome, which is a quite debilitating genetic disorder. Rett syndrome is a really awful diagnosis to receive.

It affects brain development. Lauren can’t talk. She can’t feed herself. Many with Rett syndrome can’t walk in a functional way. But thankfully Lauren can. The day I visit the Mansfields’ home, Lauren walks into the kitchen with a caregiver.

SHELLEY: Lauren says hello with her eyes. Lauren, thank you for saying hi to Miss Jenny.

After her diagnosis, Lauren was in six different therapies a week. The experience opened the Mansfields’ eyes to other kids with special needs. Friends from church had adopted from China, so the Mansfields followed in their footsteps.

SHELLEY: AnnaGrace came home at 16 months.

AnnaGrace had a cleft lip and palate. A medical condition easily corrected with surgery and speech therapy. Overall, her transition went smoothly. So eighteen months later, the Mansfields adopted Avery. She also had a cleft lip and palate. But Avery was older. The orphanage told the Mansfields she was 12. But right away, they suspected otherwise.

SHELLEY: Avery did not look like a 12-year-old. And so I was like, Okay, I think she's older.

Shelley met a friend for lunch who had done missions work at Avery’s orphanage in China.

SHELLEY: She spoke in Mandarin to Avery. And she asked Avery, “How old are you?” And Avery parroted the age that they had told her with the fake birthday that they had given her. And the girl that was doing the interpreting said, “No, no. Really. Like, we don't think that that's true.” And then she said, “Well, they told me I can't ever tell. Or they would know, and I would get in trouble.” And so she did admit. Well, I'm actually 14 and a half and my birthday is not in October. It's in March.

Shelley suspects the Chinese orphanage staff lied about Avery’s age to give her a better chance for a placement.

SHELLEY: I do think on some level, her orphanage was trying to care for her well. But I hate the way they did it.

Avery’s needs ended up being more emotional than physical. But four years later, the Mansfields’ agency called again. Another child needed a home. Matthew. Age 4. And he had severe physical disabilities.

SHELLEY: He has an orthopedic condition called arthrogryposis, which affects both of his arms and one of his legs. So three of his four extremities were affected.  He has contractures in his elbows, his shoulders, his wrists. 

Shelley says her husband was good at thinking through the practicalities. He asked for a video to see if Matthew could feed himself.

SHELLEY: And my husband said, You probably don’t want to have two children you have to feed. Because on days when I’m at work, when are you ever going to eat because you have so many kids that can’t feed themselves.

She’s thankful for that.

SHELLEY: Because if it was just up to me, we may have 12!

Matthew could feed himself. He could walk and even run, although he used the side of his clubbed foot.

SHELLEY: Lauren's our perspective giver. We've always compared everything to Rett syndrome and everything so far that has come into our life with the other children medically has paled in comparison to Rett syndrome. And for us, again, Rett syndrome, we were like, “Well, I mean, but he walks and he runs and he eats, and he, you know, we can do that.”

They brought him home in 2014. Matthew had surgery on his leg and wrist. Today, he golfs and swims, and loves to play outside.

Now the Mansfields thought their family was complete. But then Shelley went on a mission trip to the Chinese orphanage where Matthew had spent the early years of his life. And there she met Natalie.

SHELLEY: She is a spunky little girl. And she came leaping into my arms the day we got her.

She was 5 at the time. Today, she’s 13. And ready for lunch.

NATALIE: What are you doing?

SHELLEY: I’m making you some ravioli. It’s ravioli.

NATALIE: Why?

SHELLEY: Well, do you want to eat? Are you hungry?

ROUGH: [LAUGHS]

SHELLEY: You’re hungry? She’s always hungry.

Natalie has Down syndrome. She’s capable of daily tasks, but she needs extra encouragement to do them.

Shelley says Natalie and Matthew, with their physical disabilities, never would’ve gotten out of the orphanage without the international adoption program.

SHELLEY: Her orphanage, you know, they didn't go outside. They had bars on the windows. It looked like a prison. There were gates on the staircases, so you couldn't even travel from floor to floor. It was a sad, sad place. And I remember she's just spinning in circles while we're there. And I’m like, I want to take her home.

The future of the Chinese international adoption program is uncertain. It’s been shut down since COVID. And as of April 2023, there are no assurances that it’ll reopen.

A life spent raising special needs kids has been difficult. But the Mansfields say their faith and faith community has helped them every step of the way.

SHAWN: God will take care of it. We deal with some of the most amazing people. Having special needs children means you now deal with all the people who love special needs children and who pour their lives into special needs children. You can't see it on the front end, but I promise you, on the back end, looking back at it, we wouldn't do it differently.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Jenny Rough in northern Virginia.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, May 3rd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Planned Parenthood is America’s biggest abortion provider—and a recent report highlights it’s still profiting from the killing of the unborn.

World commentator Ryan Bomberger, co-founder of the pro-life Radiance Foundation, says the new report reveals some important truths about the on-going fight for life.

RYAN BOMBERGER, COMMENTATOR: I’ve been researching Planned Parenthood for nearly 15 years. The billion-dollar abortion business kills 1,025 human lives every single day. Their original slogan, “Every Child a Wanted Child,” has turned into the commercialized slaughter of millions. They are the leading killer of black lives, yet they’re praised by once-great civil rights groups like the NAACP and the National Urban League. They’re funded by major corporations (directly or through employee match programs) such as Paypal, Chase Bank, Shell, Bath & Body Works, Starbucks, Liberty Mutual, Costco, and many more. They’re protected by pro-abortion news media. And their violent destruction of those made in God’s image goes ignored by many in the Church.

Last week, Planned Parenthood released its 2021-2022 Annual Report, declaring that they are “relentless.” I think they meant ruthless. The report shows they killed 374,155 unrepeatable human beings – down only slightly from the last fiscal year. They had 2.13 million patients, also a drop from the previous fiscal year. Taxpayer funding, however, increased by tens of millions rising to the highest level ever: $670 million. Twenty years ago, they served 2.6 million people yet received $241 million in government funding.

It apparently pays to care less. With more government help, Planned Parenthood raked in the second highest profit in their history last year: $205 million.

In the report’s introduction, Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson and Board Chair Dr. Kulleni Gebreyes wrote this strange sentence: “Planned Parenthood is the health center staff pulling snacks out of their desks to give to patients so they have something to eat on their long drives across state lines.”

So, wait, they pulled out bags of chips and candy from their personal stashes in a grand display of charity? Wow. That’s some real sacrifice.

They continued: “We are the voice on the other end of the phone line, moving mountains to find an appointment.” Not sure adding a calendar entry is “moving mountains.” Perhaps if they were providing millions of free baby and maternity items each year, like pregnancy centers, that would be moving mountains. Or, if they provided nearly 300,000 moms and dads parenting classes each year and every service for free. Or, if they helped to meet financial needs or connected women to resources so that they could be stronger than their circumstances – that would be moving mountains. But making an appointment to benefit from killing someone’s unborn child is just making money, not moving mountains.

Planned Parenthood’s latest report shows that they profit, no matter what. But I–and millions of others like me–will let love lead us as we work to end the violence, no matter what.

I’m Ryan Bomberger.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Some blue states are encouraging kids to run away if their parents won’t go along with gender transition. We’ll have a report on what in the world is going on here. And, a chaplain takes us behind the scenes at the Kentucky Derby.

That and more tomorrow. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. 

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says: Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 1st Corinthians chapter 2, verses 12-13.

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.