 Coming up on this special edition of Hope Today, Life in a Post Role World, my wife and I have the privilege and honor of sitting down with Senator Judy Ward. You know, this is a pivotal and important election year and it's time for all of us to get off of the front row and to get on to the front line. She is gonna give us information on legislation and how you can be a part of this phenomenal pro-life movement. All that and a whole lot more on this special edition of Hope Today, Life in a Post Role World. Well, welcome. Where have you been all our lives? We're so glad to have you here on this special edition of Hope Today, Life in a Post Role World. I'm J. Anthony Gilmour. I'm here with my lovely, beautiful wife, Pastor Tiffany. Good to be with you. Yes, it's good to be here. I'm so glad we're here this morning together. Trying to lead the charge for pro-life. And we're so glad that you have tuned in and listen, let everybody know this is a special edition. And we've got a whole lot more coming up and you're not gonna wanna miss it. So what do we have coming up today, babe? So we, listen, I am so excited. We have an awesome woman of God and she's also a political leader, but she is doing some amazing work, Pastor Jay, in the area of pro-life. She's awesome. Senator Judy Ward is going to be great. And you know, it's kind of hard sometimes to put political or senator and woman of God together, but we have one in the house today. And actually that's the way that it should be, Pastor Jay. I mean, it shouldn't be a separate issue. We need to bring those two pieces together and roll according to the word of God. That's right. And listen, this is a very important and pivotal year. You're gonna wanna tune in because listen, we're gonna talk about some legislation. We're gonna talk about why it's important for you to vote, how you can get off of the front row and onto the front line. A lot of you watching wanna know what can I do to be a part of the pro-life movement? That's why you've tuned in and that's why this show is tailor-made and fit just for you. And speaking of legislation, you've got a great, not a great law, but some statistics that have come up from Judge Cheryl Allen that we wanna share with everyone. Well, this is just some news that she actually shared with me yesterday. And I wanted to make sure that you all are aware of what's going on because a lot of times we look at the fact that Roe v. Wade was overturned on the federal level. And we think, okay, well, that's it, that's great. Now that's a great victory, but there's so much more that we need to do. And this is, this gives one of the reasons why we need to kind of continue to move forward. And it says, P.A. Supreme Court has regrettably ruled in favor of abortion providers. They overturned the Fisher case, thereby ruling that abortion providers have standing to challenge the funding restrictions of medical assistance. They determined that restricting funding for abortion violates the Equal Rights Amendment to the P.A. Constitution. So Senator Judy Ward, she's actually gonna be kind of going in a little bit deeper in this and explaining this, but this is not a victory per se, but we know that we have victory in Christ. What does that mean for pregnancy centers this year? So that has to do with the funding of the pregnancy centers as well. And she's gonna talk a little bit more about that as well. And that's why we need your support and your help. Even right now, go to VoicesForTheUnborn.org if you wanna get involved and find out more information about this. And listen, we've got a whole lot more that we're gonna get into. And listen, there's something that I wanna share with you. Many times people talk about how that abortion is healthcare. But you know what babe, when you think about it, how can abortion be healthcare if pregnancy is not a disease? Yeah, you know what, that is so good. And I've been really trying to reconcile this point. I mean, it's insane actually. I was talking to you in the back and I was saying, if abortion is good healthcare, how come you have so many people that are in regret? How come you have so many women? When women come into our center, they don't come in, those who have had an abortion, all of the women that have come into our center, post-abortive, they have expressed some type of regret. They're not saying, well, you know what, this was great healthcare, but I'm regretful of this act. No, and in fact, the women that have chosen life, that have chosen not to abort, we have found that they have said, you know what, thank you so much for sharing with us the truth. They look at their child once they're born and they say, I couldn't imagine life without this little one. I couldn't even believe that I actually did even consider aborting. You know what I mean? So I mean, if it's good, if it's healthcare, and if it's good healthcare, what is the reason why we have so many women that are in regret? That's right. Well, you know what the good news is, ladies and gentlemen, you may not know this, but since our last show that we've been with you guys, we have saved two more babies and the possibility of two more on the way. So listen, we need you to be praying right now because there are lives literally hanging in the battle. So keep on praying and we're gonna keep standing there on the front lines and rescuing the lives of the unborn. Now stay tuned because we got Senator Judy Ward coming up right after this. I saw my unformed body all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. This screams designed to me. Somebody made this and made it work to think that this happened by random chance or by coincidence is unbelievable to me. To follow the development of the baby and its delivery is one of the most exciting experiences I think we have on this earth apart from the word of God. You do feel like you are in such a sacred environment, such a vulnerable and intimate space and you can feel the presence of God. The plan, the big picture here of how God does this is absolutely amazing. It should boy the faith of everyone who looks at this to see God has miraculously and wonderfully made us. Well welcome back everybody. We have Senator Judy Ward with us today. Senator Judy Ward was elected to represent the 30th district in the Pennsylvania Senate on November 6th, 2018 after serving two terms representing the interests of local communities and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 80th district. In addition to her committee appointments, she also serves as chair of the maternal and infant health caucus, the state community pharmacy caucus and the PA rare disease caucus. And as a member of several other caucuses including the pro-life caucus and the second amendment caucus, Judy is here today to share her insight on the pro-life movement. Senator Ward, welcome to the special edition of Hope Today with us. Thank you, it's such a pleasure to be here. Yes, well I'm so excited. I mean, we've been talking about how excited, you know, we've been up until this point and you are such an awesome woman of God. I know that when we saw her on the march, we didn't even make the connection, but I knew that I was gonna like you. I knew that I liked you from the door. I didn't even know you initially. You know, you're such an awesome woman of God, awesome political leader, which is amazing. Tell us a little bit about, you know, just your call, like God calling you into this particular position. Yeah, so I initially ran for the Pennsylvania House, really had no political experience, none of that. And I felt that I was, everything just seemed to fall into place, right? I prayed about it and I said, Lord, if you want me to do this, I'll do this, but you have to give me the tools I need, you have to give me what I need and I'll do whatever you ask me to do. And so that was my promise. We have this, God and I have this, you know, we've got this relationship. And so, but I didn't know what, like I knew he wanted me there, but I didn't know why. And shortly, just a few months after I was elected, one of my colleagues called me, very devout pro-life Catholic and he called me and he said, I'd like to do a piece of pro-life legislation, but I think I need a woman on the legislation. Would you co-prime this with me? And let's do it together. And I thought about it. I got off the phone and I wept. I mean, I got tearful because I knew that's what God called me to do. So that's what I've been doing ever since I got into the legislature and it's some, I just do what God calls me to do truly. I mean, it's just like you all, just like you all. You're called to do what you do, your ministry and you just, you listen and you turn it over to God and he helps you. Well, first let me say this. We take our hat off to you just for your stance and your willingness to stand. It's not an easy thing to do. You did a phenomenal job at the PA March for Life, which was just outstanding moving the people and mobilizing them. But talk a little bit more about the legislation that you just hear us talking about and what that means for pro-life pregnancy centers. Like, let me say this to you before you do that, just so you all know, she's not just here for TV time. She's already been to our center. She does so much and she is just awesome. You need to make sure she's on your prayer list. When I say she's on the front lines, she is on the front lines and you're standing for legislation, standing for pro-life, but speak to us about this legislation that we just talked about. Sure, so there's two separate things that have happened. And yesterday was the, it's Allegheny reproductive services versus the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. They are essentially suing the state because the state does not allow Medicaid dollars to be used for abortions. And actually most people, if you talk to them, you say, do you think your tax dollars should be used for abortions? They say no, I mean, that's just, but that's what they want. They want these tax dollars to be used to provide abortions. So it had been in the Commonwealth Court and then it got bumped up to Supreme Court. And yesterday, the decision by the Supreme Court was to take it back to Commonwealth Court. They felt it belonged there. It was a 212 page finding. So it's still, we're still getting worked out. We're trying to get things worked out, but it will go to Commonwealth Court. They have been in the past favorable, we'll see. I mean, and that's where elections matter. That's where your vote really matters and it counts. People like to say it doesn't matter. It does because we've not been able to get conservative judges elected unfortunately. And so that has caused some real problems when it comes to these very conservative issues, these very, these issues of faith and our families. And I think that is one of the most important things we can do is vote and support our judicial candidates most especially. Let me ask a follow up question with this. I'm just curious, what do you see being on the Senate floor? What's the condition of our Senate in regards to faith and pro-life and marriage, things along that line, things that we consider very important? What do you see from your outlook in seeing all the people that are there, where are we at? Are we in a good place as a state? Are we in a bad place as a state? Where do you feel that we are? In the Pennsylvania Senate, right now we have a Republican majority, tends to be conservative, right? Right now we need to keep that. That's very important that we keep that. And we have elections that are coming up here this year. Half of the Senate is elected every two years, the other half, the other odd and even districts or certain years. We do have some members up. It's important that we keep that majority to, and I would say we're in a pretty good place as far as those values go. We tend to be the backstop for a lot of bad legislation. The House now is very divided and we do have a Democratic governor. And so if those House bills that are really, some of the things coming over, some of the legislation being proposed in the House is really outrageous. I mean it is troubling because some of it is things like taking away the protections we put in place after the Kermit Gosnell case. I mean remember he was the abortionist who dirty and women got infections and died and it was a house of whores they called it. We put some protections in to have, they have to have the same medical standards that other clinics have, right? I mean they need to have a medical clean medical facilities. They need to be inspected. While some of the legislation coming over from the House is saying we don't need any of that. We just need abortion doctors. We just need free reign on abortions. And it's troubling. I mean we're talking about people's lives and people care a lot about their pets. You know, we don't want anything bad to happen to our pet. But my goodness, you're gonna put a young lady in an abortion clinic that is dirty and filthy and she might never be able to have children again because of it and she may never even live. So this is, it's important. People don't, I think they don't wanna think about it but it's very important. And it's so true. And I'm so glad that you're there representing the people. That you're using your voice to represent the people and I'm glad you clarified all that as well. Senator, the area that we're in and when you stand up for righteousness, when you're standing up for the right stuff, when you're standing up and you're pursuing what's on God's heart and his agenda. I feel that sometimes it can be in some aspects, it can be like you feel alone sometimes, like it's all you, especially depending on who's all around you. Have you ever felt that way when standing up for this issue and if so, you know, how did you deal with that? You know, can you speak to that a little bit? Sure, I'm blessed. I'm truly blessed. I have a family that's very supportive of that. I have a church community that's very supportive of that. I have colleagues in the Senate that are very supportive of that and our leadership in the Senate is very supportive of that. So there's a lot of people out there to kind of lift you up when you're feeling kind of low because it does, you know, you get a lot of arrows and a lot of pushback and a lot of people don't understand and I think that's one thing that we can do as, I heard you speak earlier about wanting to do action. You know, what can we do? Yes, that's right. And I think one of the things that we can do is to discuss it, understand the issue and talk about it very comfortably in our families, you know, to our children. I'm very fortunate. I have two sons, they both believe in life. They're very, and I didn't know if I could kind of get that to trickle down, but it's something we've just always talked about and how important it is. It's an important issue, but people need to be hearing it in their churches. That's right. That's how much it is. They need to be hearing it with friends, you know, and not in a judgmental way, in a way that is with love and, you know, I understand that you feel that way. This is how I feel. This is, you know, and these are the facts. This is what happens. There's so many women who regret their decision to have an abortion. It changes their life forever. There, I mean, some women never get over that. And I, you know, I don't know how you do any loss of a child. It's incredibly traumatic. It's incredibly traumatic. So these are, you know, just talking about voting pro-life. I mean, you know, I have always, for many, many years, voted pro-life because we need to support those candidates. And also, you know, when you're talking with candidates, ask them what mission, you know, what pro-life causes do you support? You know, what is your favorite, you know, maternity home or is it, you know, a pregnancy care center or is it, you know, is it, you know, the larger abortion movement? But, you know, kind of keep them accountable because I like to donate to a lot of different pro-life organizations because I want to support them and what they need. So we've, and we are going to have some changes coming down the pike with pregnancy care centers because the governor has cut the funding that we've had in place for nearly 30 years. He's cut that funding and we're doing it a different way. And the funding will go to facilities that provide abortions and it's incredibly different than what you all do, right? When you're counseling women and telling them that there are options, there are other ways we can support you. Most women won't have an abortion if they know there's options. I mean, just, and that's how we're going to win this pro-life war. Just giving women options, supporting them. I mean, what can be better than supporting a young woman and a young family possibly in a time of trouble and uncertainty, right? They're uncertain, they're afraid. They don't know what this means. There's just so many ways that we can help them and they don't feel the need to have an abortion. So those are some very, I think, important ways that we can be helpful. Yeah, and then you make a generational impact. That's right. By doing that. Absolutely. You're big on that. You know, it's not just about just that particular family that you're helping, but it's all the generations to come after that. That's right. You know, one of the things I love that you do, you reach across the aisle. You know, I always say this, that ladies and gentlemen, that pro-life and abortion is not a political issue. It is a moral issue. It's a matter of murder. And you not only are very staunch and standing for pro-life, you also reach across the aisle. And one of the things I'd like you to take a minute and talk about is the maternal infant health caucus that you chair and what that is and what type of work you're doing concerning that. Sure. So just in the, you know, in the spring, we decided, my staff and I just decided, you know what, we want to support pregnancy care centers. How do we do that? So we decided, I wanted people, and hearing some of the, you know, some of the national folks are talking about how pregnancy care centers don't tell women the truth and that they're evil and that they, I mean, nothing could be further from the truth. And I want people to see what pregnancy care centers like yours do every single day, the good work, the material needs that they provide for, you know, diapers, wipes, formula, support to the mom. I mean, any possible way, you know, many of them, you know, offer, you know, sometimes there's daycare that they can, you know, take advantage of and just all sorts of things, clothing for their babies. These are just, they're doing such good work. So we started this caucus. I invite, we go to different areas of the state. We've been north. We've been to Philly. We've been, we came to Pittsburgh. We've been in Allentown. We've been different places and what I invite Republicans, Democrats, House, Senate members and come see this. We make it very non-partisan, non-judgmental but they see the good work that these centers are doing. And how can you turn your back on someone that has walked into this center and really needs you more than ever? And I think it's just such a wonderful way to showcase all the good work that you all do. Absolutely. And I'm so glad that you mentioned that, you know, as we are kind of moving forward, how can we pray for you? I know just like, you know, Pastor Jay shared that you all are really on the front lines in a variety of ways. How can we as the church really intercede and stand in the gap and pray for you all? So thank you. That's a great question. And the prayers are one of the best things people can do for us. Really and truly. But I, you know, so many times I'm coming out of the grocery store or in the grocery store and I'm trying to get my shopping list done. Then we'll come up and say, hey, thanks for what you do. You know, I'm very pro-life and thanks for what you do. It's such a shot in the arm to me. And I know to others, you know, just thank them for what they do. Support them, support, you know, I mean, you know, politics is a tough game. It's a really tough profession. You're not going to please everybody, but you know, maybe you haven't agreed with them on everything else or, you know, maybe there's a vote they took that you're, I don't know why they would do that, you know, but understand it in totality and support these pro-life legislators because it's not easy to be out there, to be on the forefront. But you see at the march in Harrisburg, you all do such a great job, you get the crowd going. But many, many legislators come out to be vocal and to, you know, be seen in this crowd of people that are so high on life, right? They're high on life. And so thank you all for what you do and the light that you're shining on the pro-life movement. Why don't you take a minute with all of you that are at your homes. We're going to take a minute and why don't you just pray for the senator as we're here on air. And I want you all there, just stretch your hands towards your TV screen and we're just going to take a minute and pray over her. Yes, well, Lord, we just thank you today, Father God, for who you are, Lord. We lift up before you, every senator, every representative, Father God, every political leader right now, Lord. We ask, oh God, that you just cover them, Lord God, that you would give them a kingdom, boldness, oh God, to stand up for what is right, God. To stand up, Lord God, for what is on your heart, Father God. I pray, oh God, that that boldness that you're giving them, that you're depositing into them, even right now, Lord God, that it's a boldness that can't be shaken by man's opinion, oh God. It's a boldness, Father God, that can't be shaken, Lord God, by any outward thing, but it's solidified, Father God, in you, Lord. So I just thank you, oh God, for bringing up and raising up, God, men and women in the political sphere that are gonna stand up for you, Father God. And I ask, oh God, that your favor and your blessing, oh God, would fall upon all of them, would fall upon Senator Judy that's here today, Father God. I pray, oh God, that you would even just bless her socks off in Jesus' name, Lord God. We just thank you, oh God, for your presence, Lord God, that you would just bring forth in those political spheres, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, amen. I am so touched by you two. Thank you. Oh, listen, we're still left. We feel the same way. Thank you so much for joining with us today and just all that you're doing and we so appreciate you. Thank you, thank you for letting me be here. Well, ladies and gentlemen, listen, this has been a phenomenal time and listen, if you've been blessed by this show, I need you to contact and dial 888-665-4483 and let them know that you want more of shows like this. Listen, we wanna keep the pro-life movement going forward. We wanna get you off of the front row and onto the front lines. You can also go to our website, voicesfortheunborn.org and you can find out more information how you can support us or any other. Thank you for those of you that have called in, those of you that have already supported us financially. Some of you have called in, wanted to step up and volunteer your time. Thank you so much. We couldn't do it without him, babe. We couldn't do it without you. And I just wanna emphasize this point that you shared earlier, Pastor Jay, is that abortion is not a political issue. It's a kingdom issue. Our God is a pro-life God. There's so many women that are sitting in the pews that have suffered from abortion that are post-abortive that need us to talk about it. We need to talk about these issues. So I just wanna encourage you to make sure that you talk about these issues. Just allow God to really lead you in talking about these issues. And don't forget to pray, pray, pray, pray, pray for our senators, pray for our leaders that are moving forward in pro-life. Well, thank you all so much for tuning in. We so appreciate you. Thank you for joining us on this special Hope Today Life in a Post Role World. We need you to get off of the front rows onto the front line. Lives are at stake and you and I can make a difference in 2024. Go get them today. On Tomorrow's Hope Today, discover a life-changing blueprint that focuses on God's design for your talents and purpose. Freedom Prayer founder and president, Andy Rees, helps us to identify our spiritual giftings and the purpose God has for our lives. That's tomorrow on Hope Today. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.