Pro-lifers bid goodbye to a year of political disappointments

WASHINGTON—This year has not gone the way pro-lifers planned.

January started with ushering in a new administration—one that made firm commitments to pro-life groups—and Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Newly sworn-in Vice President Mike Pence stood before the 2017 March for Life and declared hope for a new era in the pro-life movement: “Life is winning again in America.”

Nearly a year later, March for Life is finishing preparations for its next big event but not much has changed.

“We’re definitely moving in the right direction, slowly,” March for Life president Jeanne Mancini told me. “Cultural change takes a really long time, and so we can’t give up.”

Mancini and other pro-life advocates had high hopes for 2017: defunding Planned Parenthood, repealing Obamacare, passing legislation to limit late-term abortion. The Republican-controlled Congress did not deliver on any of those initiatives, despite promises made to voters.

But ahead of the 45th annual March for Life next month, pro-lifers remain hopeful. Mancini insists public opinion is shifting in the pro-life direction. More Americans are uncomfortable with late-term abortions, and the number of abortion centers and procedures performed each year are on the decline.

“If you’re not optimistic, you’re not pro-life,” said Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action.

Personnel is policy, and in 2017, the right people moved into positions of power, McClusky said: President Donald Trump appointed, and the Senate confirmed, 16 judges to federal courts this year—including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch; many top staff in the executive branch are sympathetic to pro-life causes, with Pence leading the way; and the United States has the most pro-life Congress since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

The Trump administration also filled hundreds of positions throughout the federal government with pro-lifers, particularly at the Department of Health and Human Services. “You can’t throw a stone at HHS and not hit a pro-lifer,” McClusky said.

Based on all that support, pro-life advocates expect more tangible progress in 2018.

The biggest legislative victory of the year came in March when lawmakers blocked an Obama administration rule to stop 13 states from denying Planned Parenthood Title X funding. Although it was the first abortion-related vote in the Senate in two years, it simply maintained the status quo by blocking a last-minute order from the Obama administration from taking effect—it didn’t break any new pro-life ground.

Republicans currently do not have the votes in the Senate to pass major pro-life legislation. Only 50 of the 52-member majority have a track record of supporting pro-life causes. But Congress could have defunded Planned Parenthood through reconciliation this year, and GOP leaders could have forced votes on other key pieces of pro-life legislation.

The House passed a bill in October to block abortions after 20-weeks of pregnancy, but the Senate has yet to schedule a vote on the legislation. The Conscience Protection Act, which would protect healthcare providers from being forced to participate in abortions, also awaits a vote in both the House and Senate. McClusky hopes GOP leaders will schedule a vote on one of these bills for January, in time for the March for Life.

“You need to draw a contrast,” he said. “If people are holding up this vote, voters need to know who is holding it up. And then it’s no longer convincing members to vote the right way; it’s finding people to replace them.”

No DACA fix in 2017

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said this week a solution for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is not expected until 2018.

Democrats planned to force a vote on immigration legislation as part of year-end spending legislation, and some even threatened to shut down the government if Republicans did not bend, but Cornyn poured cold water on that Tuesday.

“It simply does not advance the interests of these DACA recipients to try and force this into a shutdown narrative and to jeopardize our national security and other government functions just in order to help these young adults,” he said. “We are certainly willing to enter into those good-faith negotiations, but they do not belong in the end-of-the-year spending appropriations debate.”

In September, President Donald Trump announced the end of the DACA program and gave lawmakers until March 5, 2018, to come up with a legislative a solution for the nearly 800,000 immigrants brought to the United States as children. If they don’t act by then, DACA recipients risk losing their work permits and face deportation.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday he doesn’t expect to force a government shutdown. But pressure to pass a solution for DACA recipients continues to build.

Thousands of protesters gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to demand action, with police arresting nearly 200 after they refused to leave. Most Republicans and Democrats agree those enrolled in DACA should get special consideration under U.S. immigration law, but the GOP wants to ensure protecting DACA recipients does not lead to increased illegal immigration and amnesty.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said Tuesday DACA should get its own vote—separate from controversial immigration policy.

“We don’t need to make a statement, we need to make a law,” he said from the Senate floor. “There are many challenges facing us with regard to immigration, but protecting these young people should not be one of them.” —E.W.

The GOP’s Moore dilemma

Republican lawmakers face a dilemma if Roy Moore wins a Senate seat in next Tuesday’s special election: Continue to shun him over accusations of sexual abuse or accept him as Alabama voters’ duly elected representative?

Several Republicans urged Moore to end his campaign last month just days after The Washington Post first reported claims he sexually molested a 14-year-old girl when he was 32 and pursued relationships with three other teenagers. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he believed Moore’s accusers, and the Republican National Committee (RNC) rescinded its joint agreement with Moore’s campaign. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., chairman of the National Senatorial Campaign Committee, said if Moore won, he would pursue efforts to expel him from the Senate.

But this week, President Donald Trump formally endorsed Moore, most Republicans have stopped criticizing the candidate, and the RNC reinstated its support, transferring $170,000 to boost Moore’s campaign less than a week before voters go to the polls.

Despite additional women coming forward to accuse Moore of inappropriate behavior, his odds of winning continue to climb. Now with a cash boost from the RNC and a big thumbs-up from the president—who originally supported Moore’s GOP opponent in the primary but remains quite popular in Alabama—Moore leads most polls over Democrat Doug Jones.

If Moore does win, Republicans who called Moore unfit for office have a tough choice to make. It will be particularly interesting to see whether Gardner follows through with his promise.

At least one Republican senator hasn’t curtailed his criticism. Jeff Flake of Arizona tweeted a photo Tuesday of a $100 check made out to the Jones campaign, with a pointed message: “Country over Party.” —E.W.

House rejects Trump impeachment

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, forced a House vote Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump, but it failed overwhelmingly. Lawmakers voted 364-58 to table the measure. House Democratic leaders viewed the symbolic vote as a distraction from more important parts of their agenda, but that didn’t stop Green from pressing for a tally—something he’s pursued for weeks. “Donald John Trump, by causing such harm to the society of the United States, is unfit to be president and warrants impeachment, trial, and removal from office,” Green said from the House floor. Shortly after Green introduced the articles of impeachment, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., released a joint statement to say, “Now is not that time.” The White House promptly rebuffed the effort and denounced Green and the 57 members who supported the measure. “It’s disappointing that extremists in Congress still refuse to accept the president’s decisive victory in last year’s election,” Trump spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement. “Their time would be better spent focusing on tax relief for American families and businesses, and working to fund our troops and veterans through the holiday season rather than threaten a government shutdown.” —E.W.

Trump’s die-hard fans

Nearly one-third of white evangelicals have unwavering support for President Donald Trump, according to the Public Religion Research Institute’s annual American Values Survey, released this week. Thirty percent of respondents identify as strong Trump supporters, meaning, “there is almost nothing the president could do to lose their approval.” Yet the president still retains historic low approval ratings overall. A majority of survey participants, 54 percent, said they disapproved of Trump’s job performance. And 61 percent of that group said Trump could do almost nothing to win their approval. Contributing to the partisan divide, 8-in-10 Republicans believe reporters can’t convey accurate information because of their personal political agenda. Meanwhile, Democrats are more trustful of the media: Only 31 percent said they don’t trust reporters to do their jobs fairly. —E.W.