What a week this has been! We all suffered through the last-minute political advertisements just to get to Tuesday morning and the start of Election Day. Then there were the interminable comments about Election Day voter turnout. The most ridiculous discussion was about what would happen if Trump refused to make a concession speech. The answer, of course, was nothing. Although it is common to do so, it is not required. The one who receives the most electoral college votes wins. That’s the way the system works.
So, along comes late Tuesday night and the experts are in a frenzy. Just about everything they predicted is wrong. Trump started winning state after state. As the dust settled around 3:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, Trump had won 30 of the 50 states and surpassed the magical number of 270 electoral votes to become president.
Planned Parenthood was aghast. It had spent well over $30 million to defeat Trump. Its president, Cecile Richards, sent an e-mail to her supporters on Wednesday saying she felt “Devastated. Angry. Heartbroken. Outraged. Shocked. Sad. Disgusted. Ashamed. Discouraged. Exhausted. Shattered.” She ended with the most positive thing she could say about PP facilities: “These doors will stay open.” This line elicited a chuckle from many local pro-life activists, as they recall that this is usually the last thing they hear from PP just before a facility closes down.
Later in the day, Richards announced that MoveOn.org, a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee, was organizing protests and vigils, and Richards encouraged her supporters to participate.
Trump’s election has brought hope to the pro-life community. I’ve participated in a national conference call during which the leadership discussed our next steps. The feelings of many in the pro-life community were shown in a statement released by Judie Brown, president of American Life League:
The American people have spoken loud and clear. We hear them saying they love our nation, they love Our Lord, they love His babies, and they want to make America great again by shutting down Planned Parenthood once and for all.
May the good Lord guide President-elect Trump toward that victory sooner rather than later.
Please take a few minutes to thank God for this great victory.