Blog

FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE

On this Memorial Day weekend, please take a few moments to watch this video of one of the most eloquent and moving tributes to our fallen heroes ever given.  It was by President Ronald Reagan.  Click on our Flag above.

I encourage you and your family to prayerfully remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we and future generations may live free.

God Bless America!

THOMAS MORE LAW CENTER

 

 

Richard Thompson
President & Chief Counsel

On November 8, Michigan voters will be deciding Proposal 3, a proposed state constitutional amendment.  If passed, Proposal 3 will turn Michigan into the most brutal state in the nation.  Proposal 3 will then be used as the blueprint for similar constitutional amendments in every other state.

Carefully crafted by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, Proposal 3’s seemingly innocuous words will cause a gruesome change in the way our society views life and the human person.  Children will have the constitutional right to abortions without their parents’ knowledge or consent; mothers will have the right to abort their babies throughout all nine months of pregnancy; children will have the right to gender altering sterilization and castration… and the horrifying list goes on. Click here to read the entire language of Proposal 3.

With a seductive campaign slogan, “Reproductive Freedom for All,” the ACLU and Planned Parenthood have thus far dominated the campaign over Proposal 3.  That’s why courageous women like Erin Mersino, TMLC’s Chief of Supreme Court and Appellate Practice, and Monica Galloway, former Flint council member and former president of the Michigan Municipal League, drafted this commentary against Proposal 3.  Please take the time to read it. The future of your children depends on how you vote on November 8.

Their commentary appeared in Bridge Michigan, a nonpartisan news source.

THOMAS MORE LAW CENTER

 

 

Richard Thompson, Esq. President

 

Commentary on Proposal 3

Like most people, we do not like being used as pawns to achieve someone else’s agenda.  But that is exactly what Proposal 3 does to the people of the State of Michigan.  The ACLU and our nation’s largest abortion provider Planned Parenthood drafted the proposal to further its own extreme ends.  How did we arrive at this conclusion?  Their own words, which reveal three facts about Proposal 3: 1) it eliminates parental rights, 2) it allows abortion through all nine months of pregnancy up to delivery, and 3) it guts the state’s right to regulate abortion, leaving abortionists to regulate themselves.

 

Parental Rights

Currently Michigan requires a minor to obtain the consent of one of her parents or permission from a judge to get an abortion. Proposal 3 invalidates that state law and allows minors to obtain contraception, sterilization, and fertility treatments without parental consent.  In May, this fact was raised by Michigan’s former solicitor general and renowned Supreme Court attorney, John Bursch.  He concluded that a “12-year-old, if they were to get pregnant, would be able to go to an abortion clinic and have the life of their child terminated without their parent even being informed about that fact.” After checking with the ACLU, Bridge Michigan reported that the “[b]ackers of the constitutional amendment don’t dispute the claims.”

Further, Bridge quoted an attorney from the ACLU as remarking that our parental consent laws have created too much of a barrier for children to obtain an abortion: “Our state has put in place substantial barriers that really deprive young people of autonomy to decide what they can do with their own bodies and has forced many young people to carry pregnancy that they are just not ready for.”

After the article was printed, the ACLU attorney changed her response to say that she “can’t talk about the legality of that right now because it is not in front of a court.” Maybe the ACLU realized that polling did not support its admission, or that most parents find eliminating their consent in such important matters stomach-churning?  We are left to guess — but what we do know is yes, Proposal 3 is aimed at denying parents any involvement in their children’s major life decisions such as abortion, sterilization, etc.

 

Abortion Up to Delivery

Internationally, abortion is banned on average at the gestational age of 11.6 weeks. Proposal 3, which allows abortion through all nine months of pregnancy would put Michigan on par with China and North Korea.  Bridge fact checked whether Proposal 3 did extend abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. It reported: “Again, there is no dispute on that point.”  Bridge then quoted the ACLU’s attorney as saying that “the amendment is written to ensure pregnant people who need a late-term abortion out of medical reasons receive one.”  But the amendment prohibits Michigan from regulating abortion at any point before “fetal viability.” And then instead of adopting a definition of fetal viability based on gestational age, as is predominantly done in other states, “fetal viability” hinges on the judgment of a “health care professional” and his/her perceived likelihood of the child’s survival outside the womb without extraordinary means, which the amendment does not define.  Further, even if this “health care professional” thought the child was viable, per the language of the petition, it is the individual’s constitutional right to abort the child for any physical or mental health reason up to the child’s delivery.

The ACLU told Bridge that framing these late-term abortions as anything other than a serious decision with a doctor was disingenuous, but Proposal 3 does not require that only physicians perform abortions, as has been specifically required under Michigan law.  Instead, it substitutes the word physician for “health care professional.”  This is really a win for abortion clinics’ bottom-line as they would not have to staff or pay for physicians, nor ensure that those physicians have certain credentials like admitting privileges.  In this regard, Proposal 3 clearly and blatantly lowers the standard of care for women in Michigan.

 

Abortion Left Unregulated

Proposal 3, almost universally, stops the state from regulating abortion at all.  The State would be disallowed from regulating abortion prior to fetal viability. Then after viability, Proposal 3 requires that the State pass strict scrutiny review for any regulation it tries to impose (a standard almost impossible to achieve in the court). Proposal 3’s high hurdle for any State regulation even constricts the State from enacting any measure that recognizes the health and safety of the developing child, no matter the gestational age of the child.  Any regulations could only serve a “limited purpose” and would be prohibited from infringing on an “individual’s autonomous decision-making.”  Therefore, an adult or child’s choice to abort or go through sterilization would negate the state’s interest, no matter what.

Under this test, it is hard to imagine any state interest in regulating abortion that could be held up in court.  This means abortion regulation is out the window, and the abortion industry is left to regulate itself.

Does anyone actually agree with that?  And if so, what other industries that affect human health deserve the same treatment?  Do you believe that opioid manufacturers should be left to regulate the opioid epidemic or that fast food restaurants should regulate the quality of their own beef?

Proposal 3 is extreme and unnecessary. Worse, it is dangerous for women and children. Michigan’s 1931 abortion law banning abortion is currently “enjoined,” meaning it will not be enforced as we the people determine what makes the most sense for Michigan.  Proposal 3 does not make sense, and now is not the time to be a pawn.  Now is not the time to blindly and gullibly vote yes to Proposal 3, but to demand a real law that works for women, children, and families and does not take advantage of them.

 

America’s Independence Day—the Fourth of July—commemorates our Nation’s birthday, and the significant steps our Founding Fathers took to make the dream of this “great experiment” a reality.

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence from Great Britain and its king, and two days later delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence—the birth certificate of America.

In a letter from John Adams to his wife, Abigail, dated July 3, 1776, Adams refers to that day as “the most memorable epoch in the history of America.”  

He went on to write:

“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore.”

Adams concludes his letter with this challenge to every present day American Patriot:

“I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not.”

Although it’s celebrated with fireworks, burgers on the grill and a day off from work, it’s important to remember what this Day truly represents.

This Independence Day, let us all celebrate the birth of our Nation, resolutely striving to defend our freedoms so boldly proclaimed by our Founding Fathers 246 years ago.

God Bless America!

THOMAS MORE LAW CENTER

Today – June 6, 2022 – is the 78th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy.

On that day soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen braved the horrendous shelling of German shore batteries to storm the beaches at Normandy and bring down Hitler and Nazi Germany.

On the eve of the invasion, General Eisenhower distributed the order to the expeditionary force of 175,000 men which closed by beseeching “the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.” (Click the image below to view video)

More than 2,500 American troops died on the beaches that day.

Also, in the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt broadcast that day, “in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home – fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas – whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them – help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too – strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.”

For additional tribute information and history of the invasion of Normandy, courtesy of the U.S. Army, please click on the following the link: www.army.mil/d-day/history.html

God Bless America

 

 

Richard Thompson, Esq.

President and Chief Counsel,

Thomas More Law Center

Memorial Day is a time to remember the fallen heroes throughout our nation’s history “who gave the last full measure of devotion” to preserve our God-given freedoms of life and liberty.

Remember, “Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary safety can deserve neither Liberty nor safety.”

Benjamin Franklin, 1755

Please view President Ronald Reagan’s moving tribute to our fallen heroes by clicking on our Flag above.

I close this Memorial Day Tribute with a favorite poem by Marine Chaplain Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, which pays tribute to our men and women “who gave the last full measure of devotion.”

It is the soldier, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer
who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag,
who serves under the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
who allows the protester to burn the flag.

God Bless America!

 

 

Richard Thompson, Esq.

President and Chief Counsel,

Thomas More Law Center