By Richard Reeb

The Golden States well-known descent from its years of prosperity and political clout, which stands in sharp contrast to the nations recently renewed growth and turn to the right, has another side. That is its Democrat leaders determination to facilitate the death of unwanted unborn babies, the elderly and terminally ill. Indeed, this session of the California State Legislature provides more evidence of this ominous trend.We Californians already legalize and finance abortion on demand and last year sanctioned so-called assisted suicide. Now attention is turning to new means and new victims of this misguided movement.In the State Senate, four bills have been introduced to this end, while one constitutional amendment has been proposed to stem the billions in funding for embryonic stem cell research.First, the bill (SB 743) of Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, would guarantee that Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers could still receive federal Medicaid funds via Medi-Cal family planning services. This is a perfect example of California Democrats defiance of the national conservative trend. Fortunately, it will probably go nowhere as President Donald Trump has recently rescinded his immediate predecessors executive order to force states to finance abortions.Exemplifying abortion advocates virtual sanctification of fetal homicide is SB 309, originally introduced by Sen. Pan, which would actually establish a specialty license plate celebrating reproductive freedom. Revenue generated would go to the California Reproductive Freedom Fund, whatever that is.One wonders: did the Third Reich authorize plates for Volkwagens to celebrate the killing of members of inferior races?Sen. Pans SB 481 would allow nursing homes to declare patients unfit to make their own decisions, and then implement medical procedures which may include assisted suicide. The state already permits persons believed to be facing deathin six monthsto end their lives, justified on the grounds of their own consent. This new development demonstrates just how hollow that premise was.While unlikely to make it out of committee, Senate Constitutional Amendment 7 would repeal the (embryonic) Stem Cell Research and Cures Act approved by the states voters in 2004. That misguided measure was sold on the failed promise that embryonic cells offered the greatest potential. But experience with adult stem cells and from placentas has been far more fruitful.Though not directly aimed at death, SB 18, also the work of Sen. Pan, originally sought to challenge parental authority in the name of childrens rights. Of course, parents natural concern for their childrens very lives cannot be surpassed. Yet this bill would have directly threatened parents ability to provide in-home education for their children or to send them to private schools.But Senate committee action has changed the focus of the bill to establish an 18-member Children and Youth joint committee (half from the Senate and half from the Assembly) to direct the legislature to maximize spending on that class of persons. It would undo current code on this subject by the year 2025. The original alarming objectives doubtless will be implemented in bits and pieces through the new committees efforts. Do only children who have been permitted to be born deserve this intense concern?Meanwhile, California's new Attorney General Xavier Becerra has slapped 15 felony charges 14 counts of illegally recording conversations without consent and one count of conspiracy against David Daleiden, the project lead at the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), and his associate Sandra Merritt.In the past 20 months, the Center for Medical Progress has released a series of undercover videos that feature high end Planned Parenthood officials and employees of tissue procurement companies associated with the nation's largest abortion provider. They admitted in recorded conversations various illegalities about how the companies skirted state and federal law to engage in the selling of highly-desired aborted baby tissue, organs and limbs."At the end of the day, the only thing that is different from the work that I did and the work that CMP did and the work that undercover journalists and investigative journalists are doing every single day here in California ... is who I went after," Daleiden said during a telephone interview with the Washington Times."The only difference is that I happened to go after and expose the political ally and financial backers of the establishment power structure in California and in the country. That is the only reason why I am being prosecuted with these bogus charges under California Penal Code 632 and why the local reporters with NBC Los Angeles and other places are not. That really says it all."One can only hope that Californias political leadership would be as zealous in saving lives as they are in ending them. But alas they are not. Such is the situation in our coming sanctuary state.

Richard Reeb taught political science, philosophy and journalism at Barstow College from 1970 to 2003. He is the author of "Taking Journalism Seriously: 'Objectivity' as a Partisan Cause" (University Press of America, 1999). He can be contacted at rhreeb@verizon.net

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California's deadly 'social legislation' parallels its economic and political death spiral - Desert Dispatch