The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act may have been temporarily stalled in Congress, but in parts of the country where there are fewer political obstacles, it is moving full steam ahead.
The modern GOP-led Congress lost a chance to pass life-saving legislation last week that would ban abortion after five months. One-third of the country has some form of that legislation, The Washington Examiner reports.The fifth month is significant because it is the period when unborn babies can feel pain. It is scientific fact. Fortunately, ten states have recognized this and have already passed laws to protect unborn babies after 5 months. You can find this list HereSimilar laws were introduced this year in South Carolina and West Virginia, and pro-lifers in ohio AND Wisconsin are on a mission to do the same in their states.
Town hall We met with several leading conservatives at this year’s Iowa Freedom Summit and asked them simply, “Do you think the House should pass the Unborn Child Protection Act?” None of them were shy about expressing their support for the legislation. Several interviewees, such as former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, went further and criticized Congress for the missed opportunity, saying, “It’s incredibly disappointing that this bill was withdrawn. I think it was a failure of leadership, quite frankly.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7tDiL7Sceo
Other notable quotes come from Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who declared, “Yes… It’s set at 20 weeks. Medical science says that a baby that’s aborted feels that pain and that painful death,” and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the legislation’s original sponsor, who summed up the bill’s efforts: “That’s our goal, to promote the cause of life.”
Former South Carolina state senator and current president of The Heritage Foundation, Jim DeMint, emphasized that at 5 months aged, “few reasonable Americans believe that a child should have the right to have its life ended.”
Polls support DeMint’s argument. Impressive 60 percent Americans surveyed said they support banning abortion after 20 weeks. That’s why the bill is popular. WeekPascal-Emmanuel Gobry I’m writingthis is not a “far-right position. It’s a political obviousness.”
So why is it taking so long in Congress? Well, it’s all thanks to a few Republicans who feared the bill would be too radical. Reps. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) and Charlie Dent (R-PA) were the two most vocal legislators to make this nonsensical argument. Their complaints led to the introduction of a more moderate bill to ban government funding for abortion—vital legislation, no doubt, but far from the pro-life progress that the Pain-Capable Act could have made.
The time was right: The Republican Party had just won the November election in a landslide, the numbers were on its side, and hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers were marching for life on their doorstep to celebrate the 42nd anniversary. Roe v. Wade. But Congress underestimated the moment.
Let’s leave it to the states to do the jobs of the federal government.
