Democrats Block Pro-Life Senate Bill Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats today blocked a vote on a pro-life Senate bill to ban late-term abortions — a bill that would save as many as 18,000 unborn babies form abortions each and every year.

The Senate voted today on whether to stop the Democrats’ filibuster of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks — as neither Congress nor state legislatures can vote to ban all abortions under Roe v. Wade. The bill highlights how unborn babies feel intense pain when they are killed in abortions.

Some 53 senators voted to take the bill up for debate, but 60 votes were required — making it clear Americans need to elect more pro-life senators in November to get the bill to President Trump’s desk. (See vote tally at end of article).

Unfortunately, because Republicans don’t have 60 votes in the chamber to overcome the filibuster, Democrats successfully stopped the bill. The vote came after the White House indicated President Donald Trump would sign the bill into law.

The pro-life bill is sorely needed as a recent survey of abortion centers nationwide finds 143 that kill babies in late-term abortions, some of them ending the lives of little unborn children up to birth.

And most of those abortion businesses do abortions on healthy babies.

Abortion lobbyists admit that most late-term abortions are done on healthy mothers carrying healthy babies. Guttmacher Institute statistics confirm that “most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.” Instead, data suggest that “most women seeking later abortion fit at least one of five profiles: They were raising children alone, were depressed or using illicit substances, were in conflict with a male partner or experiencing domestic violence, had trouble deciding and then had access problems, or were young and nulliparous.”

SIGN THE PETITION: Stop Infanticide! Stop Abortions Up to Birth!

And late-term abortionist Martin Haskell, who is credited with popularizing the partial-birth abortion procedure, said in a 1993 interview with American Medical News: “I’ll be quite frank: most of my abortions are elective in that 20-24 week range…. In my particular case, probably 20% are for genetic reasons. And the other 80% are purely elective.”

Last year, New York Magazine featured the story of an Oregon woman who aborted her unborn baby at 28 weeks of pregnancy even though they both were healthy.

Leading pro-life advocates blasted Democrats for preventing passage of the late-term abortion ban.

Jeanne Mancini, President of March for Life told LifeNews:

“I applaud Senators Sasse and Graham for sponsoring, respectively, two important pro-life bills, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. These bills provide basic, necessary protections under the law for the most vulnerable in society: survivors of failed abortions and the unborn. It is deeply disappointing that some elected officials in the Senate have promised to block even legislation that mandates medical care for children who survive an abortion – an extremist view shared by all Democratic presidential candidates. While any abortion is one too many, the reality is that overwhelmingly Americans want to see greater protections for the most vulnerable and these bills are a strong step in the right direction. Thanks to the leadership of Senator McConnell, senators will have an opportunity to stand with the majority of the American people who support these crucial measures.”

“Democrats have an opportunity today to stop their abortion extremism by joining Republicans to ban painful late-term abortions and infanticide,” added SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “President Trump stands ready to sign both these popular, life-saving bills into law – it is only the abortion extremism of the Democratic Party that stands in the way. Should Democrats continue their extremism, we will work tirelessly to ensure they are punished at the ballot box this November.

She continued: “The science is clear: by at least five months, children in the womb can feel excruciating pain. A strong majority of Americans – including Democrats, Independents, and those who self-identify as pro-choice – agree it is past time to get our country out of the club of seven nations worldwide that allow abortion on demand more than halfway through pregnancy.”

President Trump condemned late-term abortions and supported the bill during his March for Life address last year:

Noting the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Trump lamented that the United States is one of only seven countries in the world that allows elective abortions after 20 weeks.

“As you all know, Roe vs. Wade has resulted in some of the most permissive abortion laws anywhere in the world,” Trump told the crowd.

“For example, in the United States, it’s one of only seven countries to allow elective late-term abortions, along with China, North Korea, and others,” the president said. “Right now in a number of states, the laws allow a baby to be born from his or her mother’s womb in the ninth month. It is wrong. It has to change.”

“I strongly supported the House of Representatives Pain-Capable bill, which would end painful, late-term abortions nationwide,” Trump said. “I call upon the Senate to pass this important law and send it to my desk for signing.”

During his State of the Union address this evening, President Donald Trump repeated his call on Congress to ban late-term abortions ending the lives of thousands of unborn babies every single year.

“I am also calling upon numbers of Congress tonight to pass legislation finally banning the late-term abortion of babies,” the president said. “Whether we are Republican, Democrat, or independent, surely we must all agree that every human life is a sacred gift from God.”

Such a ban has strong support from a majority of Americans.

“Overwhelming majorities of Americans—some 60-64% according to pollsters—support legal protection for pain-capable unborn children,” said pro-life Congressman Chris Smith. “Today we know that unborn babies not only die but suffer excruciating pain during dismemberment abortion—a cruelty that rips arms and legs off a helpless child.”

During the House debate last year on the bill, Smith talked about the gruesome nature of late-term abortions.

A former abortionist, Dr. Anthony Levatino, testified before Congress that he had performed 1,200 abortions—over 100 late-term abortions up to 24 weeks.

Dr. Levatino described what the abortionist actually does to the helpless child. “Imagine if you can that you are a pro-choice obstetrician/gynecologist like I was.”  Using a Sopher 13” clamp with rows of ridges or teeth, “grasp anything you can” inside the womb.  “Once you’ve grasped something inside, squeeze on the clamp to set the jaws and pull hard—really hard. You feel something let go and out pops a fully formed leg about six inches long.  Reach in again and grasp anything you can…and out pops an arm.” He noted that “a second trimester D&E abortion is a blind procedure.”  He said, “Reach in again and again with that clamp and tear out the spine, intestines, heart and lungs.”

Sixteen states have enacted similar laws that ban abortions after 20 weeks.  These include Ohio, Texas, Nebraska, Idaho, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas.

The House passed the measure in 2015 as well and that marked the second time the House has voted for the legislation — having approved it in May 2013. The bill was then blocked by pro-abortion Democrats who controlled the U.S. Senate.

During the hearing on the last bill, former abortion practitioner Anthony Levatino told members of the committee the gruesome details of his former abortion practice and how he became pro-life following the tragic automobile accident of his child.

Another bombshell dropped during the hearing came from Dr. Maureen Condic, who is Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She testified that the unborn child is capable of reacting to pain as early as 8-10 weeks. This is when most abortions in America take place.

Americans strongly support legislation that would ban late-term abortions and protect babies who are capable of feeling intense pain during an abortion.

Currently, 16 states have pain-capable unborn child protection laws in effect, Kentucky being the most recent. Other states are considering similar bills.

Together, these laws potentially are saving thousands of babies from painful, late-term abortions. There were at least 5,770 late-term abortions at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy in 2013 in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. Another approximate 8,150 abortions took place between 18 weeks and 20 weeks, the CDC reports.

Though abortion advocates deny the science of fetal pain at 20 weeks, researchers have fully established fetal pain at 20 weeks or earlier. Dr. Steven Zielinski, an internal medicine physician from Oregon, is one of the leading researchers into it. He first published reports in the 1980s to validate research showing evidence for unborn pain.

At 20 weeks, the unborn child has all the parts in place – the pain receptors, spinal cord, nerve tracts, and thalamus – needed for transmitting and feeling pain. The unborn child responds to touch as early as week 6; and by week 18, pain receptors have appeared throughout the child’s body.

Dr. Colleen A. Malloy, a professor of neonatology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, told a U.S. Senate committee last year that “anesthesiologists, and surgeons use pain medication” for unborn babies at the 20 week stage when performing surgery, “because it’s supported by the literature completely.”

“I could never imagine subjecting my tiny patients to a horrific procedure such as those that involve limb detachment or cardiac injection,” Malloy added.

This bill is based on model legislation developed by National Right to Life in 2010, and is in effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), along with 46 cosponsors, and has been one of the right-to-life movement’s top legislative priorities. The operative language is identical to H.R. 36, approved by the House of Representatives on October 3, 2017. This legislation extends general protection to unborn children who are at least 20 weeks beyond fertilization (which is equivalent to 22 weeks of pregnancy—about the start of the sixth month).

HOW DID YOUR SENATORS VOTE?