Planned Parenthood Challenging Alaska Law Limiting Elective Abortions

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Photo Credit: Catholic Anchor Planned Parenthood is in court this week challenging a state law that prohibits Alaska abortion practitioners from being reimbursed by the state for performing “elective” abortions which are not done to preserve the life or physical health of the mother.

With the help of ACLU of Alaska, Planned Parenthood is arguing for why the law should be overturned. The case, Planned Parenthood v Davidson, is being argued before Anchorage Superior Court Judge John Suddock, who put the law on hold last summer until Planned Parenthood had an opportunity to argue its case in court.

Supporters of the law note that it closes loopholes that have been exploited by abortion practitioners to gain public funding for “elective” abortions.

The law clarifies when an abortion is considered “medically necessary” under the law and thus eligible for state funding, versus when the procedure is considered merely “elective.”

As in other states, Alaska is subject to the long-standing federal law — the Hyde Amendment — that stipulates that federal dollars can only pay for abortions in cases of rape, incest or to preserve the mother’s life. But if none of those conditions apply, abortion practitioners in Alaska have been able to simply claim that an abortion was “medically necessary” and general funds from the state would then pay for abortions of low-income women on Medicaid.

Prior to 2001, Alaska was only required to pay for abortions where the life of the mother was endangered or the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest, consistent with federal law.

Then in 2001, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that Alaska must use state funds to pay for all “medically necessary” abortions even if the federal government would not. As a result, for the last 12 years, Alaska has paid for all abortions requested by abortion practitioners without ever defining the term “medically necessary.”

In clarifying when an abortion is deemed “medically necessary” Senate Bill 49 stated that the condition is met when there is a “serious risk to the pregnant woman of death; or impairment of a major bodily function.”

Psychological or mental health threats are not covered as medically necessary reasons for an abortion.

But not all pro-life advocates are supportive of the new law. Most notably, Alaska Right to Life issued a strong statement against the legislation because it specifically excludes unborn babies who are conceived in rape or incest.

But one of the most prominent pro-life organizations in the state, Alaska Family Action, supported passage of the law, calling it a “common sense measure that simply requires physicians to describe why they are determining that a procedure is medically necessary.”

Abortion supporters such as Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in the nation, opposed the law and with the legal aid of ACLU of Alaska is asking the court to overturn the law.

The public is free to attend the court sessions each day from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. According to ACLU of Alaska, Planned Parenthood’s main doctor in the trial, Dr. Jan Whitefield, is scheduled to testify on Friday. Closing arguments are expected to happen next Thursday or Friday. (“Planned Parenthood Challenging Alaska Law Limiting Elective Abortions”, originally posted HERE, reposted with permission)

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Interior Secretary Jewell Visits Eroding Alaska Village

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In temperatures slightly higher than Washington, D.C.’s, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell got a firsthand look Monday at the effect of climate change on an Alaska coastal community.

Jewell visited Kivalina, a village of 370 on a barrier island just off Alaska’s northwest coast, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

Once protected from early winter storms by a natural barrier of sea ice, Kivalina has been ravaged in recent decades by erosion because climate warming prevents ice from forming until later in the winter.

“You can see the impact of coastal erosion in the village,” Jewell said. “You can hear the fear in people’s voices about what’s happening with climate change. Things are changing up here, and that’s part of what I’m on this trip to learn about.” (Read more about the visit to the Alaska village HERE)

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Alaska GOP-Controlled House Votes More Bureaucracy, Endorses Law of the Sea Treaty and UN Control

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State House Bill 1 (HB1) was ramrodded through a Juneau floor vote on Friday with a strong push from the rural Bush Caucus. Many legislators didn’t know it was coming up for a floor vote until the night before and felt rushed to study it in a manner that brought back memories of Nancy Pelosi’s railroading through of the Affordable Care Act when she said, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

If HB1 is passed by the State Senate in its current form and signed into law, it can cause a host of problematic consequences for the citizens of Alaska and United States Sovereignty as a whole. First, it will add additional layers of state bureaucracy at a time when the Alaska Legislature is bleeding the annual GDP of a small seafaring nation by spending over $6B with only $2B in revenue largely because we already have over 24k state employees we can’t afford now. Adding more state employees and red tape to further moribund our natural resource development does not make economic sense. Secondly, it sends a clear message to President Obama and the United States Senate that Alaska residents support the U.N. Law of the Sea Treaty which would cede U.S. sovereignty and wealth to a UN organization!

This bill is heavily reminiscent of the attempt to create the Alaska Coastal Zone Management Program (ACZMP) with Ballot Measure Prop 2 back in 2012. It looks like the spirit of this has been re-crafted into this bill to circumvent the will of the Alaskan voters who trounced Prop 2 at the polls.

Growing state bureaucracy typically results in increased delays and costs, while resulting in poorer decision making in the end. As far as the arctic goes, development and research efforts are presently underway through the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission that already consists of plenty of “seats at the table.”

By far though the greatest logic blunder in HB1 is the Alaska GOP House support for the U.N. Law of the Sea Treaty (see subpart E on page 3 line 27 of the Bill). If the U.S. Senate were to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty, it would reduce Alaska’s “bargaining position at the table” as it were and cede this to a U.N. organization known as the ‘ISA’ or International Seabed Authority. The Law of the Sea Treaty includes some very disturbing elements. It would compromise our national defense capabilities and require the redistribution of wealth from the US Treasury to undeveloped countries, some of which intensely dislike us and are state sponsors of terrorism!

If our legislators took the time to poll Alaskans, they would soundly reject the U.N. Law of the Sea Treaty provision expressed in HB1 by a margin larger than our state coastline. Alaskans by in large are not fans of the United Nations and HB1 is a sneaky way of circumventing both their views and the results of Ballot Prop 2 that soundly rejected the Alaska Coastal Zone Management Program in 2012.

This bill now proceeds to the State Senate where it must be killed. When state legislators vote contrary to the will of the majority of Alaskan citizens on not one voter issue but two, they arise the heat of the electorate which could melt the very thin ice they are treading on.

Here’s how the recent vote went:

Yeas: Chenault, Claman, Colver, Drummond, Foster, Gara, Gruenberg, Guttenberg, Hawker, Herron, Hughes, Johnson, Josephson, Kawasaki, Keller, Kito, Kreiss-Tomkins, Millett, Munoz, Neuman, Olson, Ortiz, Pruitt, Reinbold, Saddler, Seaton, Stutes, Talerico, Tarr, Thompson, Tilton, Wool.

Nays: Gattis, Wilson.

Excused: Edgmon, LeDoux, Lynn, Nageak, Tuck, Vazquez.

Click HERE for text of the bill.

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Flight Service Has Been Cut Off for Three Weeks to Alaskan Village

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The only flight service to a remote Alaska island village has been cut off for three weeks because a designated helicopter was sidelined by maintenance work.

Oregon-based Erickson Aviation spokeswoman Susie Elliott says service to Alaska’s Little Diomede Island is expected to resume Saturday. The last flight to the tiny community of Diomede was Jan. 22.

Company officials say the helicopter was in Anchorage for maintenance when extensive problems were discovered on the aircraft. Elliott says a backup helicopter also had maintenance issues. (Read more about the flight service being cut off to the Alaskan village HERE)

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Ship Company, Engineer Reach Deal in Alaska Pollution Case

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A ship company based in Germany and the chief engineer on one of its vessels have agreed to plead guilty to illegally dumping oily water off Alaska.

Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that AML Ship Management GMBH and Nicolas Sassin, the chief engineer on the AML-operated ship City of Tokyo, agreed to plead guilty to violating federal clean water law by knowingly dumping 4,500 gallons of oily bilge water south of the Aleutian Islands.

The company and Sassin, 45, face a separate charge of presenting false pollution oversight records to the U.S. Coast Guard when the vessel docked in Portland, Oregon, prosecutors said.

As part of the plea deal, AML agreed to pay $800,000 in fines and community service payments.

Prosecutors are recommending a six-month jail sentence for Sassin, to run concurrent with any jail time imposed from a conviction in the Oregon case. (Read more about the Alaska pollution case HERE)

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Assisted Suicide Legislation Rears its Ugly Head in Alaska‏

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Yesterday Representative Harriet Drummond introduced what’s being called “Right-to-Die” or assisted suicide legislation in the Alaska Legislature. This bill (HB99) specifically violates the mission of Alaska Right to Life to “protect and defend innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural end of life”.

Every human being is made in the image of God and is infinitely valuable. God is the one that determines our beginning and our end. We should never tolerate legislation that puts suffering and vulnerable people into the position playing God and taking their own life with the help of their doctor. God’s command “thou shalt not kill” extends to everyone, even in the case of someone contemplating ending their own life.

From a practical standpoint, patients who are given no hope of survival from their doctors are known to have survived and gone on to live profitable and happy lives. A diagnosis can be wrong and taking one’s own life to escape from a current condition shuts off any hope of recovery.

Assisted suicide, no matter how compassionate it may seem on the surface, is nothing more than a cruel lie. To the terminally ill, it tells them that there is no meaning to their life and that when they become a “burden” to others suicide is the easiest answer for everyone. It also robs them of something integral to the human spirit – hope. Real compassion takes time and commitment. It means standing by someone and bearing their burden.

Terminally ill patients in Alaska need love, care and protection from those around them. Instead of killing the pain that terminally ill patients are suffering, these “right to die” activists focus on killing the patient. Few of them seem enthusiastic about educating healthcare professionals about the amazing advances in palliative care. Alaska can definitely do better than assisted suicide.

In a state with the highest suicide rates per capita, why would we think it is a good idea to pass legislation that would, in effect, be encouraging suicide?

In an age of soaring healthcare costs and cutbacks, how much longer until the “right to die” becomes the “duty to die?” How much longer until those considered a “burden” on society are systematically denied healthcare and life-saving measures in order to cut costs?

Alaska Right to Life stands in opposition to HB99 and asks that you contact Health & Social Services Committee Chairman Paul Seaton and demand that he not schedule the bill for a hearing. You can contact Representative Seaton via email at [email protected] or by phone at 907-465-2689. It is imperative that we protect and defend all innocent human life!

(Read more from Alaska Right to Life HERE)

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Alaska Conservationists Concerned With Cruise Ship Rules

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Photo Credit: APTowering cruise ships, sometimes four at a time, sit at port in Juneau at the peak of summer, delivering tourists important to the economy of this and other southeast Alaska communities. But some conservationists worry about what the ships could be leaving in Alaska waters and are fighting proposed new rules for the discharge of treated wastewater . . .

Over the years, Alaska has rolled back provisions of a 2006 citizen initiative that called for cruise ship wastewater to meet water quality standards at the point of discharge. In 2013, for example, the Legislature struck that discharge requirement, saying instead that wastewater cannot be discharged in a way that violates applicable state or federal law.

The 2013 law allowed for mixing zones, where wastewater can be diluted into the water, if ships meet certain standards for treatment of discharge. The change followed a debated preliminary report from a science advisory panel that found none of the advanced wastewater treatment systems on ships operating in Alaska waters could consistently meet water quality standards at the point of discharge for four “constituents of concern:” ammonia, copper, nickel and zinc.

The proposed general permit, under which ships can apply to be covered, are based on that law. (Read more about the concerns from the Alaska conservationists HERE)

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Corruption: Seven Congressmen (Including Mark Begich) Who Joined Lobbying Firms Less Than a Month After Leaving Office

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Less than a month after leaving office, at least five former House members and one U.S. senator are already on the payroll at firms that make millions lobbying their congressional colleagues. The findings, provided to Vocativ by the Center for Responsive Politics, a government watchdog group, also show that a second senator who left office at the beginning of January, Alaska’s Mark Begich, took the extra step of starting his own public affairs consulting firm, which has already secured clients in health care and aviation.

While Washington’s contentious revolving door spins in perpetuum—allowing a stream of money, influence and access to flow seamlessly between the private and public sectors—the speed with which these public servants have offered themselves up to big business may raise a few eyebrows . . .

By law, ex-House members are required to wait one year before they can officially lobby lawmakers on the Hill, while former senators must wait twice as long. Many, however, are able to work around those requirements at firms by signing on as consultants, counsel and strategic advisors, as a recent analysis by CRP and the Sunlight Foundation shows. That study’s conclusion: “The many loopholes limiting who can lobby whom in Washington and whether that lobbying must be disclosed to the public make a hunk of Swiss cheese look like the Berlin Wall.” (Read more about the congressmen who joined lobbying firms HERE)

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FBI Director: ISIS Probes in Every State Except Alaska

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Photo Credit: clarionledgerAs Americans stood horrified at the news of a Jordanian pilot burned alive by the terrorist group known as the Islamic State, one of the top law enforcement officers in the country talked about how Mississippians can fight those kind of extremist ideals within our own borders.

FBI Director James Comey, who was in the state for the second visit of his 10-year term, said there are open cases looking into individuals who may be related to ISIS/ISIL in every state in the Union except Alaska.

“Mississippi is a great state, but like all 50 states it has troubled souls that might look to find meaning in this sick, misguided way. The challenge that we face in law enforcement is that they may be getting exposed to that poison and that training in their basement,” Comey said. “They’re sitting there consuming and may emerge from the basement to kill people of any sort, which is the call of ISIL, just kill somebody.”

So he stressed that the threat is very real, not just for military or law enforcement or the media, all of whom have been warned by the FBI that ISIS could be gunning for them, but for ordinary citizens as well. (Read more about where ISIS probes are HERE)

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Former Adjutant General Retiring From Alaska National Guard

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Brig. Gen. Leon “Mike” Bridges, who served as acting adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard after the ouster of a former leader, plans to retire on May 1 after he was not chosen to permanently take over the job. . .

Bridges said in an interview Wednesday that he applied for the position and considered himself to be a useful soldier and public servant. But he said Walker is commander in chief of the state’s military forces and has selected his new leadership team . . .

Bridges oversaw a transitional period for the Guard. In September, a report on allegations of sexual assault and other misconduct within the Guard by the National Guard Bureau’s Office of Complex Investigations found victims lacked confidence in the command . . .

Since taking office, Walker’s administration has named retired state court judge Patricia Collins as a special investigator to look into allegations of sexual abuse or harassment by National Guard members. Collins also has been asked assess whether allegations were adequately investigated by law enforcement; whether any cases were handled appropriately by prosecutors; and other matters. (Read more about the general leaving the Alaska National Guard HERE)

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