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Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma.KJRH -TV | Tulsa | Channel 2 / YouTube

PETITION: Urge state governors to stop abortions during coronavirus crisis Sign the petition here.

March 30, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — With experts warning that the coronavirus pandemic is going to place enormous strain on the health care system and speculating about potential shortages of PPE (personal protective equipment) and even of medical professionals themselves, the abortion industry is fighting tooth and nail to keep its doors open — even if essential medical supplies need to get diverted to those ending lives rather than those saving them.

Some abortion facilities in Texas and Ohio are still protesting state orders to close their doors in preparation for the pandemic, and abortion activists in Texas are suing the state over an executive order to halt abortions. Abortion activists are claiming that their services, which physically destroy pre-born children in the womb, are “essential” and “time-sensitive.”

According to Created Equal, an Ohio-based pro-life organization leading the charge to lobby states to shut the abortion industry down, “8 states have ordered abortions to stop.” According to Mark Harrington of Created Equal, “[s]urgical abortions have been specifically ordered to stop in OH, TX, LA, MS, TN, KY, OK, IA. Non-essential surgeries have been banned, yet abortions continue in MD, FL, CO, MI, RI, AZ, NY, AK, IN, WV, GA, VT.”

In other states, Harrington stated, non-essential surgeries have been banned, but governors have carved out specific exceptions for abortion, including MN, MA, WA, IL, NJ, CA, PA, AL, NC, VA, and NM. Thirty-one states have thus far issued directives specifically calling on health care facilities to put a stop to all non-essential medical procedures. According to Harrington, pro-lifers can confirm that in Texas and Oklahoma, surgical abortions have stopped.

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“It’s working,” Mark Harrington said. “Our phone calls to Governors are having an effect. Babies are alive today because of the efforts of hundreds of pro-life Americans. Almost daily new states are issuing orders to stop the spread of COVID 19 by demanding that abortions stop. We need to keep the pressure on.” Created Equal is also working to ensure that abortion facilities have actually stopped offering services after the state directives have been issued by calling clinics and facilitating visual confirmation of closure.

Governor Kevin Stitt stated that abortions would be prohibited in Oklahoma under the state’s ban on elective surgery during the pandemic on Friday, amending his executive order to single out abortion specifically, with an exception “to prevent health risks to the mother.” The abortion ban will be in effect until April 7, and the governor could extend it at that time if he deems it necessary.

Predictably, abortion activists have condemned Stitt’s executive order and are considering legal action. “Oklahoma is the latest in a dangerous and alarming trend of state’s governments’ abusing emergency powers to attempt to ban abortion care,” stated Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center of for Reproductive Rights, a pro-abortion group based in New York. “The Center for Reproductive Rights is working with clinics in Oklahoma to assess the State’s orders and will pursue every legal avenue to keep abortion available in the state.”

Created Equal has launched a website with several pro-life partners to spearhead the lobbying effort to persuade more governors to shut down the abortion industry during the coronavirus pandemic, especially as medical supply shortages are expected. For many states, the pandemic is becoming a moment of truth: how far will they go to ensure that the killing of pre-born children continues? Will they allow PPE and other supplies to be used by abortion workers rather than frontline health care workers? Will they state that the work of those who end human life has the same importance as those who are working desperately to save human life? What price is our society willing to pay to keep the facilities where babies are killed open when everything else is closing down?

The answers to those questions will reveal much about what America has become.

Jonathon’s new podcast, The Van Maren Show, is dedicated to telling the stories of the pro-life and pro-family movement. In his latest episode, he speaks with William Gairdner, author of The Trouble with Canada and a Canadian political philosopher, businessman, and former Olympian. The discussion centers on how socialism has taken such a strong hold in Canada and the impacts it has had on the country, plus what Canadians can do in the here and now to restore their country and the warnings Canada offers other nations, like the United States, considering going down the same path. 

You can subscribe here and listen to the episode below: 

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Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.

He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.