Shout Your Abortion?

Pope Francis is in Washington, D.C., today. He has made headlines recently for encouraging people to have mercy toward those who have committed what the church teaches is a sin -- abortion. I have visited many crisis pregnancy centers, and often it is women who have had abortions who are the most articulate and passionate defenders of life.

But our increasingly secular society has created a culture in which some women, instead of seeking mercy, are proud of their abortions and want to shout it from the rooftops. Pro-abortion activists have started a social media campaign called "#ShoutYourAbortion," because they are upset about the idea that abortion is a sad or negative event.

One of the women behind the new campaign said, "I had an abortion at Planned Parenthood last year and it was a great experience. Not only am I not ashamed, but I know I'm incredibly lucky to have access to this choice and we need to keep it that way."

I have spoken repeatedly about a culture of death. I know women who have had abortions. It has haunted them their whole life. That is the normal human emotional response -- to regret the taking of an innocent human life.

But the culture today, ripped from its Judeo-Christian moorings and encouraged by left-wing politicians, has devolved so that some women, rather than finding meaning in creating life, are celebrating the taking of innocent lives. That radical distortion of the human psyche is hard to comprehend.

Please stand with American Values as we work to create a culture of life in America.

Xi's Next

With Pope Francis in Washington, you may not have heard much about yesterday's arrival of Chinese Leader Xi Jinping in Washington State. He is meeting with American business executives in Seattle before he comes to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Obama. I want you to read how one media report describes today's Seattle summit:

"Chinese officials have summoned top American tech executives to Seattle for a forum on Wednesday in a show of force that could make the Obama Administration's standing in Silicon Valley appear weak by comparison. Beijing . . . reportedly pressured major Silicon Valley players to send their chief executives to what is normally an annual summit for midlevel management, threatening regulatory scrutiny if they didn't comply. . . . Business groups and Silicon Valley say they have no choice but to show up." [Emphasis added.]

The list of "summoned" CEOs reads like a who's who of corporate America: Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Google and Facebook, General Motors, Walt Disney, etc.

When President Xi arrives in Washington, D.C., he's going to get some of the highest honors our nation can bestow upon a foreign leader. A state dinner will be held in his honor. As one report put it, "For the Chinese side, Xi's meetings with Obama and U.S. business leaders offer the chance to bolster [Xi's] stature at home."

I raise this because not a day goes by when China does not threaten our interests. Chinese fighter jets came dangerously close to one of our reconnaissance planes recently. But Xi is in Seattle lobbying U.S. corporate interests to pressure our leaders on trade issues. That's interesting.

The last time a foreign leader dared to lobby Americans, he got slammed by President Obama and the U.S. media. His name, as I'm sure you'll recall, is Bibi Netanyahu.

The Israeli prime minister was treated like a pariah because he dared to come to America to warn the nation that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a danger to his country and ours.

Only in the left's America does an ally get ostracized while the leader of a hostile nation gets a state dinner. That just doesn't seem kosher to me.

Servergate

Hillary Clinton is no doubt rejoicing that Pope Francis is in town and dominating the headlines. If he weren't here, more attention might be focused on her ever-growing email scandal.

In last 24 hours, the former secretary of state has been hit with a series of critical news stories regarding her use of a private e-mail server. I won't bore you with all the details, but here are the latest headlines:

·  "FBI Said to Recover Personal E-Mails From Hillary Clinton Server," Bloomberg.

·  "State Department's Account Of E-Mail Request Differs From Clinton's," Washington Post.

·  "More Emails Surface In Hillary Clinton Benghazi Probe," Politico.

Let me know if you hear about any of these issues on the nightly news.