Analysis

Trump, Biden, and COVID-19: The top 10 Live Action News articles of 2020

2020

Live Action News published more than 2,000 articles in 2020 and received more than 20 million unique page views. Our goal is to write and share articles that inform and educate readers on the dignity of all human life, from fertilization onward. In 2020, our team worked diligently to distribute pro-life news during a challenging year of social unrest and a global pandemic. Our articles emphasized the humanity of preborn children, revealed the brutality of the abortion industry, educated on the fight to respect the lives of the elderly and the disabled, and informed about political efforts to protect the most vulnerable among us.

Below are the articles that made the top 10 for 2020, counting down from number 10:

10. The link between sex trafficking, abortion, and Planned Parenthood

sex trafficking, Planned Parenthood

Published in August, this hard-hitting article — viewed approximately 126,000 times — examines the link between sex trafficking, porn, and abortion, as well as Planned Parenthood’s role in helping sex trafficking to continue. Nearly 30% of sex trafficking survivors have stated that they had some form of contact with Planned Parenthood. One survivor said, “At least one of my [six] abortions was from Planned Parenthood because they didn’t ask any questions.”

Live Action’s series Aiding Abusers shines a bright light on how Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry allow abusers to continue to harm their victims, while profiting from their abortions.

9. Horrific: Texas man with disability dies after doctors refuse to treat him for COVID-19

COVID-19

Photo: Texas Right to Life

Published in June, this heartbreaking story was viewed approximately 138,000 times. A husband and father of five, Michael Hickson died at age 46 after he caught COVID-19 from one of his nursing home caregivers because the doctors at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center refused to treat his illness solely because of his quadriplegia. Hickson was reportedly “conscious and alert, responding to jokes, laughing, shaking his head, singing, and puckering his lips when his wife asked for a kiss over FaceTime.” Yet he was refused treatment, and the hospital withheld nutrients from him for six days before he died.

At the time, Hickson’s wife Melissa recorded a conversation she had with the doctor, who stated that his decision not to treat Hickson was based on the determination that his “quality of life” was lacking.

8. John Kasich: Pro-lifers should set aside their pro-life beliefs for the sake of unity

Kasich

John Kasich/Meghan McCain on The View

Published in September, this article about former Ohio Governor John Kasich’s abortion remarks on “The View” garnered more than 146,000 views. Kasich, who claims to be personally pro-life, has been known to put aside the right to life of preborn children for political expediency’s sake. Kasich encouraged pro-lifers to abandon their pro-life beliefs for the sake of unity — and vote for Joe Biden. The article noted, “Kasich essentially equated disagreement on something such as ‘capital gains taxes’ to disagreement about the grave human rights violation of killing human beings in the womb, calling both ‘issues [that] are dwarfed’ by a perceived need to ‘pull us together.'”

Live Action founder and president Lila Rose responded to Kasich’s remarks on Twitter, writing, “There is no way to ‘pull us together’ when your candidate supports the slaughter of preborn children Period. What a disgrace.”

7. Three reasons Michelle Williams’ Golden Globes abortion speech hurts women

Michelle Williams

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 05: Michelle Williams attends The 77th Golden Globes Awards – Press Room at The Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Photo by David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

In January, actress Michelle Williams, visibly pregnant, credited abortion with her success during her Golden Globes award acceptance speech. She said, “… I wouldn’t have been able to do this without employing a woman’s right to choose, to choose when to have my children and with whom.” This article was viewed approximately 153,000 times.

6. California governor wants a ‘no-kill’ state… for animals, not for people

Published in January, this article discussing California Governor Gavin Newsom’s desire to become a “no-kill state” for animals was viewed approximately 155,000 times. The article juxtaposes the state’s desire to ban the euthanizing of animals with California’s laws allowing abortion and euthanasia to continue unabated. The article notes, “According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, the former research arm of Planned Parenthood, at least 15% of all abortions in the country are committed in California. The number, however, could be even higher than that, as California chooses to opt out of reporting its abortion statistics to the CDC.”

5. Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy: If you believe the Bible, you cannot support abortion

Tony Dungy

ATLANTA, GA – FEBRUARY 02: Former NFL Coach Tony Dungy speaks during the 2019 Athletes in Action/Bart Starr award at the 32nd Annual Super Bowl Breakfast during…. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Published in August and viewed approximately 230,000 times, this article notes Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy’s tweet expressing his disagreement with the idea that one can be a pro-abortion pastor. As the article notes:

Dungy commented on a tweet by Georgia radio host Tim Bryant, who had interviewed Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock, a senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Bryant’s August 20 tweet did not reference Warnock by name, but read, “I spoke with a Dem candidate for U.S. Senate (and minister) today. Abortion is ‘healthcare’ and ‘reproductive justice and God is cool with it.”

Dungy tweeted in response, “When you say ‘a minister’ does that mean they represent a church? I’d like to know what book the candidate uses as their foundation for truth and their guiding principles? It couldn’t be the Bible.”

4. Abortion supporter Joe Biden releases statement calling Catholic faith his ‘foundation’

Image: 2020 Presidential Debate Donald Trump and Joe Biden

2020 Presidential Debate – Donald Trump and Joe Biden

Published in August, this article, which amassed approximately 240,000 views, discussed Joe Biden’s response to President Trump’s claim that Biden is “against God.” Biden pointed to his personal Catholic faith, though he has publicly supported pro-abortion policies. The article noted, “In an email to media outlets like the Washington Post and the Hill, Biden called Catholicism ‘the bedrock foundation of my life,’ adding that his faith helped him through difficult times….”

In addition, the article notes, “Biden has promised to repeal the Hyde Amendment, has called abortion ‘essential health care,’ and has been endorsed by both Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, the latter of which has given him a 100% rating on his legislative support for pro-abortion policies. Biden has also vowed to force religious organizations – including Catholic organizations – to pay for birth control….”

3. BOMBSHELL: Planned Parenthood officials admit under oath to selling aborted body parts

Planned Parenthood, abortion, Center for Medical Progress

Screenshot, CMP video, Planned Parenthood officials under oath

This article, which has been viewed approximately 244,000 times, focused on a video released by the Center for Medical Progress in May featuring under-oath testimony from Planned Parenthood officials. The video shockingly shows these current and former executives admitting that the corporation illegally sold aborted fetal body parts, despite Planned Parenthood’s repeated claims that they never broke any laws, and that CMP’s videos were “heavily edited” and “discredited.” (This accusation was disproven by forensic analyses, though the media continues to ignore it.)

The article notes, “This video also disputes the argument that money received was nothing more than reimbursement for costs sustained by Planned Parenthood… During some of the featured testimony in the video, an attorney can be heard in the background repeatedly instructing her client not to answer when asked how much money Planned Parenthood may have received from selling the body parts of aborted children. Yet invoices showed some Planned Parenthood centers receiving upwards of $10,000 in a single month, lending credence to StemExpress’ advertised promises of ‘financial benefit’ and ‘fiscal reward’ for abortion facilities.”

2. Tennessee House rep removed from his party for opposing abortion

John DeBerry Jr., pro-life, Democrats

Rep. John DeBerry, Jr. (Facebook)

Published in September, this article — viewed approximately 291,000 times — exposed what happened to Tennessee State Rep. John DeBerry Jr., who was running for re-election as a Democratic candidate until his party ousted him over his pro-life beliefs. DeBerry, an ordained minister with the Church of Christ, claimed he had made no secret of the fact that he is pro-life. Yet, his former party leaders claimed that DeBerry’s constituents were not aware of DeBerry’s values, adding that DeBerry did not exemplify “basic Democratic principles.”

1. Trump vows to work to ‘fully defund’ Planned Parenthood if he wins second term

Trump

LATROBE, PA – SEPTEMBER 03: President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a campaign rally at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport… (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

The number one article of the year – viewed approximately 351,000 times – focused on President Donald Trump’s promise to do his best to “fully defund” Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry were he to win re-election.

Trump wrote this in a September letter in September to pro-life activists, adding that should Congress pass pro-life laws, he would sign them into law — including a bill protecting pain-capable preborn children, as well as a bill mandating proper care for infants who accidentally survive the abortions meant to kill them. As the article noted, “Both of these acts failed to pass in early 2020. Trump also vowed to sign the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which the letter stated would ‘impose a permanent, comprehensive ban on abortion funding, block tax dollars from financing abortions through Obamacare insurance plans, and enhance disclosure requirements for plans on the exchange that cover abortion.'”

In addition, the article noted Trump’s promise to “[c]ontinue our transformation of the federal judiciary, filling the Supreme Court and lower courts with judges who will respect the Constitution and not legislate an abortion agenda from the bench.”

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