The Facts on Zika and the Abortion Industry’s False Panic Over Microcephaly

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Last week, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a study that claimed the number of women wanting abortions in Zika-infected nations rose after governments warned women about the virus. Conversely, according to the study, no increase was seen when governments didn’t warn women about the potential harms of Zika.

Zika is associated with a number of serious disabilities. Microcephaly, a disorder that can cause minor to major disabilities in children, such as seizures, small head sizes and developmental disabilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is among the most common and most concerning to public health officials.

In order to estimate the demand for abortion in the subject countries, the partially U.S. taxpayer-funded study examined orders for abortion pills from Women on Web, an organization that provides illegal abortions in nations where the procedure is mostly or entirely banned. The lead authors of the study were from the University of Texas, and two of the other authors were from Women on Web.

Many media outlets reported on the study. What was far less frequently reported is that several other studies have discovered that Zika is a real risk to mothers and their unborn children — but the odds of an unborn child being born with a disability caused by Zika are very small.

Should Women Be Concerned About Zika?

Simply put, yes. Zika is suspected to have led to at least 1,500 babies born with the disorder microcephaly in Brazil alone, thanks to maternal Zika infections. (A major caveat to this was published on Monday; see below.) Hundreds of women have been infected in the U.S. and its territories, and in the U.S. at least six children of infected women have been suspected to have had defects.

However, a study published by NEJM in April examining Zika’s effects on children in Brazil and the French Polynesia, as well as a similar study published in May, indicate that the odds of Zika infections turning into disabilities for unborn children are small — even if the mother is infected in the first trimester, when the child is most vulnerable.

Furthermore, the preliminary results of a June 15 study examining results in Colombia found women who were infected in the third trimester of pregnancy did not pass disabilities onto their children.

Should Women Panic?

No. The two earlier studies mentioned above show that the odds of a microcephaly diagnosis in an unborn child born to a woman infected with Zika in the first trimester are between 1 and 13 percent — a finding supported by a new study of Zika-infected women in Colombia.

The Colombian study’s preliminary results found that, as one CDC official told The Stream last week, among the women studied most closely “a majority (over 90%) of those infected in the third trimester delivered no infants with apparent birth defects, including microcephaly.”

For those in the first trimester, continued the spokesperson: “We still don’t know the level of risk from a Zika infection during pregnancy, meaning if a woman is infected, how often her fetus will have problems. However, preliminary data suggest the risk to be about 1-13%” if a woman is infected in the first trimester.

Again, the “1-13%” chance of disability is for women infected with Zika in the first trimester. This means women infected in the second and third trimesters have thus far been shown to be highly unlikely to pass Zika-caused disorders on to their children.

The latest studies have also raised doubts about the Brazilian figures that have been taken as evidence of Zika’s effect. According to an analysis published on Monday by the New England Complex Systems Institute, the disproportionately low number of cases of Zika-caused microcephaly in Colombia compared to Brazil’s outbreak raises the possibility that Brazil’s outbreak has other causes. The Institute also acknowledged, however, that it is possible that more children with Zika-caused microcephaly will soon to be born in Colombia.

All told, this means women should not consider a Zika infection to be a sentence of disability for their children. In fact, current evidence suggests that the majority of women with Zika — well over 90 percent — will raise children who are developmentally normal.

What About Abortion?

If this is the case, why have major news media and pro-choice spokepersons emphasized the danger? Dr. Donna Harrison, the executive director of the American Association of Pro-life OB-GYNs, pointed out in an e-mail to The Stream that many viruses (like cytomegalovirus and rubella) and infections (like syphilis and toxoplasmosis) cause problems in early pregnancy, but

for none of these infections, which have a comparable rate of problems, has there ever been a call to legalize abortion worldwide, despite the fact that these infections have been around for decades. The hysteria being generated over Zika is an unscientific excuse to push abortion legalization on sovereign nations [that] protect and cherish human life.

The University of Texas study closed with the wish that “Official information and advice about potential exposure to the Zika virus should be accompanied by efforts to ensure that all reproductive choices are safe, legal, and accessible.” These scholars aren’t the only ones stressing the danger to pregnant women and urging the legalization of abortion in Latin America in response.

Their efforts have been echoed by a high-ranking official at the United Nations and President Obama. Just last week, Obama threatened to veto Congress’ funding for Zika prevention in part because the GOP’s $1.1 billion in funding declined to fund Planned Parenthood, and earlier this week Democrats blocked Zika funding in part for the same reason.

It is to the detriment of the abortion industry’s attempt to scare women into abortions and Latin American countries into legalizing that scientific research exists. Even the attempts by high-ranking officials at the UN and at the White House to create an abortion panic cannot erase the fact that the best evidence thus far indicates the vast majority of Zika-infected women will not pass disabilities onto their children. (For more from the author of “The Facts on Zika and the Abortion Industry’s False Panic Over Microcephaly” please click HERE)

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Obama Administration Seeks to Delay Release of Clinton Aides’ Emails Until Late 2018

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The Obama administration filed a motion in federal court on Thursday seeking a 27-month delay in producing emails between Hillary Clinton and her former State Department aides.

If granted, the documents would not be due until October 2018, over a year-and-half into a potential first term of a Clinton presidency.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras had ordered the State Department to produce the emails sought in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Citizens United by July 21.

“The group Citizens United sued the State Department last year, seeking access to emails sent by four former Clinton aides: Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills, Melanee Verveer and Michael Fuchs. The suit seeks access to emails regarding the Clinton Foundation and a firm with close ties to the Clintons, Teneo Consulting,” United Press International reported.

Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate and former secretary of state, is reportedly under investigation by the FBI for “public corruption” in relation to allegedly using her office to financially benefit the Clinton Foundation.

Citing “errors” in its reviewing process, the State Department told the court in its filing that it originally estimated the number of emails responsive to Citizens United’s request at 6,000, but later discovered there are more than 34,000 documents it must review. The department claims that with its current resources, it can review only 500 documents per month, the Daily Caller reported.

Despite the spike in FOIA requests at the State Department in recent years, the Obama administration had not requested an increase in the budget for the office that reviews documents for public release.

“This is totally unacceptable; the State Department is using taxpayer dollars to protect their candidate Hillary Clinton,” Citizens United President David Bossie told Politico. “The American people have a right to see these emails before the election. If transparency is truly important to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, they will order the production of all of these records as ordered by the court by July 21, 2016. The conflicts of interest that were made possible by the activities of Hillary Clinton’s State Department in tandem with the Clinton Foundation are of significant importance to the public and the law enforcement community.” (For more from the author of “Obama Administration Seeks to Delay Release of Clinton Aides’ Emails Until Late 2018” please click HERE)

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Dolly Parton’s Presidential Endorsement Announcement Might Surprise Fans

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Country legend Dolly Parton has announced she’s endorsing Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton for president.

The 70-year-old country star said that she will “be behind her” when Clinton officially secures the nomination.

When asked in an interview with The New York Times how she feels about a female presidential nominee, Parton responded, “Well, I think that that would be wonderful. Hillary might make as good a president as anybody ever has.”

She continued, “I think no matter if it’s Hillary or Donald Trump, we’re gonna be plagued with PMS either way — presidential mood swings! But I personally think a woman would do a great job. I think Hillary’s very qualified. So if she gets it, I’ll certainly be behind her.”

The admiration is mutual. Clinton used Parton’s 1980 hit “9 to 5” while on the campaign trail in 2008 against President Barack Obama, and she also had a Parton-themed birthday party in 1995.

For the most part, Clinton has secured endorsements from major members of the Democratic Party, including Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who endorsed Clinton a few weeks ago.

Trump, on the other hand, has had difficulty winning support from some top Republicans. Last week, former House Speaker Tom Delay publicly stated, after attending a meeting of evangelicals with Trump, that he would not endorse the presumptive nominee.

Trump has said he can do it on his own, but it would be nice to have a more help. (For more from the author of “Dolly Parton’s Presidential Endorsement Announcement Might Surprise Fans” please click HERE)

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HUMA ABEDIN: Say, It Looks Like the State Department Totally Ignores FOIA Requests From the Peons

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Earlier this week, Clinton “body woman” Huma Abedin was deposed by Judicial Watch.

Her testimony was reminiscent of other Clinton aides and cronies, who have either pled the Fifth or simply stated that they have no recollection of any criminal or improper behavior on the part of the Clintons.

With that said, Abedin’s testimony — probably inadvertently — revealed a major issues with the State Department’s responses to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Put simply, it looks like they simply ignored them.

Abedin’s deposition also raised questions about the State Department’s practices responding to government records requests under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. Abedin, a senior aide during Clinton’s entire tenure there, testified under oath that she never searched or was asked to search for documents in her State Department or her private Clinton email accounts in response to requests or lawsuits under the open records law.

But a review of all requests to the State Department during that period found several asking specifically for copies of Abedin’s emails on a variety of subjects, including her husband, one-time disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner.

“Did you ever search, were you ever asked to search your state.gov e-mail account in response to a FOIA request or FOIA litigation?” lawyer Ramona Cocta asked.

“I believe I said ‘no,'” Abedin answered.

“Were you ever asked to search your Clinton email.com account during your tenure at the State Department in response to a FOIA request or FOIA litigation?” Cocta asked.

“No, I was not,” Abedin said.

It was not immediately clear how the State Department could have complied with such legal requests for Abedin’s emails without asking Abedin to search her messages. Some federal agencies permit full-time FOIA staffers to search the inboxes of senior government officials, but many agencies expect officials to search their own accounts and no U.S. employee presumably would have had access to Abedin’s personal account on Clinton’s private server. Abedin said she was not aware that anyone else searched her accounts, either.

Considering this is only the Obama administration’s 840th major scandal, don’t look for any stories on this topic by ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR or CNN.

And, once the fascistic Democrats serving on the FEC finally succeed in killing off Fox News, there really won’t be any avenue for broadcasting the truth on television. (For more from the author of “HUMA ABEDIN: Say, It Looks Like the State Department Totally Ignores FOIA Requests From the Peons” please click HERE)

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Why Americans Should Care About Attacks on Religious Liberty in Russia

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There are troubling new developments in Russia. Russia’s parliament, the Federal Assembly, has just approved so-called anti-terrorism legislation that criminalizes free speech and that attacks religious liberty.

If President Vladimir Putin signs this into law in the coming weeks, it will be illegal for Christians to share their faith outside of a church building, as if faith is constrained by the four walls of a structure and belief to a single day of the week.

In some ways, this isn’t a surprise.

There’s a lot wrong with Russia. We are witnessing a rising authoritarianism in a declining state. Moscow routinely tramples the rights of press, assembly, speech, dissent, and national sovereignty.

Ask the families of murdered journalists. Ask student groups who face intimidation. Ask the political dissidents who fear imprisonment. Ask the Ukrainian people who fear being fully overrun.

Why is this happening?

Because Putin and his government cronies think they can make Russia great again by hoarding wealth, by abusing power, and by crushing any and all opposition. They strike a strongman pose but this is not real strength.

True strength is rooting in virtue: selflessness and sacrifice on behalf of the weak.

Putin is driven by cheap imitation and intimidation, more akin to bullying. Vice masked as virtue. We know that Russia’s offenses are many and egregious.

At the same time, Americans well understand that it is not our national calling—nor is it within our power—to attempt to right every wrong in a broken world.

But we should be clear about what is happening—as well as the fact that there is not an easy fix here. It is naive to hope that Russia can be reformed with reset buttons or with promises of future “flexibility.”

Instead we need to begin telling the truth about an increasingly aggressive actor in global affairs.

Again let me be explicit: The U.S. does not have a solemn obligation to make the world free, but we absolutely do have an obligation to speak on behalf of those who are made speechless in the dark corners of the globe.

This Russian law would be an affront to free people everywhere—at home and abroad—who believe that rights of conscience—the rights to free speech and to freedom of religion—are pre-political.

These freedoms do not ebb and flow with history. They do not rise and fall with the political fortunes of a despot.

Governments do not give us these rights and governments cannot take them away. These rights of speech and religion and assembly belong to every man, woman, and child because all of us are image-bearers of our creator.

I’m speaking tonight because this new Russian legislation is emblematic of a destructive growing nationalism and of a thirst for power that cannot be ignored.

Putin has a desire to squeeze down on civil society, on other venues for discussion and debate, and on other institutions outside of politics where human dignity can and should be expressed.

He has this desire because he is weak, not because he is strong. We here in this body, without regard to political party, and representing all 50 states, must be sober and clear-eyed about Russia.

We must become more sober and clearer-eyed about its hostilities and its dangerous trajectory. We have a duty here to be telling the truth early about where this might be headed. (For more from the author of “Why Americans Should Care About Attacks on Religious Liberty in Russia” please click HERE)

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White House Opens Restrooms Based on Gender Identity, but Not Sure of Other Federal Buildings

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The National Park Service says park visitors can use the restroom that matches their gender identity, but the White House isn’t sure whether the Obama administration is applying that policy to all federal government buildings.

The decision on use of public restrooms under federal control might in fact be left to individual government agencies, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said today, although the policy at the White House itself is to allow use of the restroom of choice.

“I have to admit that I can’t speak to the bathroom policy of the federal government. I think you should check with individual agencies,” Earnest said in response to a question from The Daily Signal at the Thursday press briefing.

But, Earnest added: “I can confirm to you that that is the policy here at the White House.”

Spokespersons from both the Interior Department and the National Park Service last week confirmed to The Daily Signal that on federal lands—including national parks—men and women may use the restroom that “aligns” with their gender identity.

National Park Service spokesman Jeremy Barnum told The Daily Signal in a phone interview that national parks will continue to have men’s and women’s restrooms, but that visitors “will be free to choose” based on their gender identity.

The National Park Service has not adopted a new policy in this regard, Barnum added, because there never has been a written rule about who could use men’s and women’s restrooms. It was simply a common understanding, he said.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on federal lands, does not support this change, Cassidy spokesman John Cummins told The Daily Signal in an email.

“The senator’s position is that persons’ biological gender should dictate what bathrooms they use,” Cummins said.

Cassidy sent a letter in May to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Education Secretary John King, and fellow senators after the Obama administration directed schools that receive U.S. taxpayer money to allow students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity—or risk losing federal funding.

Cassidy’s letter said in part:

Deciding which bathroom, locker room, or shower transgender students should use is the kind of issue the states, parents, school boards, communities, students, and teachers should work out in a practical way with a maximum amount of respect for the individual rights of the students who are transgender as well as the rights of those who are not. If the solutions developed by states and communities violate the equal protection guarantees of the U.S. Constitution or federal civil rights laws, federal courts are available to protect students’ rights.

“Until Congress or the courts settle the federal law,” Cassidy added, “states and school districts are free to devise their own reasonable solutions.”

The Department of Interior is charged with stewarding the nation’s public lands, waters, parks, and wildlife. The government maintains 58 national parks across the United States, visited by 307.2 million people in 2015.

The Daily Signal sought comment last week from other federal agencies to determine whether a uniform bathroom policy exists for all federal buildings and federally maintained public restrooms, and whether the administration would hold these federal buildings to the same standard it applies to local schools.

The General Services Administration, responsible for overseeing federal property and procurement; the Justice Department, which enforces civil rights laws; and the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce, did not respond to multiple phone and email inquiries from The Daily Signal. (For more from the author of “White House Opens Restrooms Based on Gender Identity, but Not Sure of Other Federal Buildings” please click HERE)

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U.N. Denies Knowledge of Military Trucks Labeled ‘U.N.’

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The identity of the owner of the military-style trucks painted with the United Nations’ initials seen being transported through Virginia this week was narrowed on Wednesday. A little.

They most probably are owned by Afghanistan. Or Albania, Algeria, Andorra or Angola … or any of the rest of the 193 member states of the international organization. All the way through Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“These are not our vehicles. … We don’t have vehicles,” U.N. spokeswoman Ismini Palla told WND.

But she said it’s possible that a member state placed an order with an American manufacturer, and they simply were being transported to their new owner.

“I assume, and that’s a big assumption, that possibly there has been an agreement for the U.S. to manufacture, to produce these vehicles,” she said. (Read more from “U.N. Denies Knowledge of Military Trucks Labeled ‘U.N.'” HERE)

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