By Ray Cardello for June 24, 2023, Season 20 / Post 21

Let’s stipulate that the Left is passionate about writing laws that make it easier to kill unwanted babies up to the point of birth and beyond. The reason for the termination is immaterial. In the Left’s world, if the mother, the birthing person, decides the unborn infant is inconvenient, they have every legal avenue to end the pregnancy. Maine is poised to allow late-term abortions against the will of Republicans, and 80% of Maine residents polled. Getting 80% of people to agree on any topic is nearly impossible, but 20% can override that supermajority.

In a marathon session on Thursday, the Maine House of Representatives passed LD1619, which has the support of Governor Janet Mills. The Democrat-controlled State Senate is expected to pass the bill on Friday, and Governor Mills will sign it as soon as it hits her desk. Planned Parenthood actively lobbied for passage and spent over $830,000 to ensure passage. There was also a series of questionable manipulations of phrasing in existing Maine abortion policies that made passage of LD1619 more important to Democrat backers and assuaged the Planned Parenthood representatives in the chambers.

There was already an abortion law in Maine that allowed for late-term termination of a pregnancy if the mother or fetus were in medical jeopardy. With this law in play, there was no need for LD 1619. This is where the OAG (Office of the Attorney General) came into play and went to work. The AG distributed a text of the existing policy, omitting the late-term provision. This act turned some to see a need for the new law.

The presence of Planned Parenthood at the Statehouse should concern anyone with a conscience. Planned Parenthood professes to be concerned with women’s health and reproductive assistance. They have a unique definition of reproductive, for in PP’s book, reproductive means abortion. They are in the business of killing the unborn and are doing it with our money.

Planned Parenthood receives money from the government in two main ways: reimbursements for providing services to people covered by Medicaid and grants from government agencies, primarily HHS. Congressional Budget Office estimates that Planned Parenthood receives over $400 million in federal and state Medicaid reimbursements, making it the nonprofit’s single most significant revenue stream. They also receive over $500 million in direct funding. Much of this money, our money, goes to campaign contributions. The potential law in Maine brought nearly $1 million. The government should be looking for a detailed accounting of this money, but you will never see that happen, as many Democrat lawmakers saw some of that money hit their campaign coffers. Let’s be clear that is our money buying votes for a law to kill unborn children. That should anger every taxpayer, but nobody will touch this third rail.

Finally, this bill passed on a party line with a few Democrats crossing the line. Two Republicans were absent; coincidentally, this bill passed by two votes. Showing up for work can be a life or death Matter!

The question I have when the topic of abortion arises is what motivates the Left to push abortion rights. There is never an answer, but the obvious is power and money. The Pro-choice folks tend to be more active and aggressive in supporting Women’s Reproductive Rights. That may be changing as Pro-life proponents are getting more involved and, maybe more importantly, younger. The power is in the form of Pro-choice votes, and the money is all that Planned Parenthood money. These Democrats are selling their votes. This is a classic example of how dirty government can be, even at the state level. We saw on Thursday the convergence of a messy issue and politics. The outcome was a terrible decision that went against the majority’s will.

I want to think the reps that voted for this bill will get their just do on Election Day, but we all know people have short memories, and these politicians with such little regard for life will rarely be held accountable.