Two important pro-life bills before the U.S. Senate next Tuesday could save tens of thousands of babies’ lives.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, Senate Bill 3275, and the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, Senate Bill 311, would increase protections for both born and unborn babies who are targeted for abortions.
Pro-life leaders are urging Americans to contact their U.S. Senators and tell them to vote for both important pieces of pro-life legislation.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks when strong scientific evidence indicates unborn babies can feel pain.
There are more than 12,000 abortions annually after 20 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of the abortion lobby. If passed, the law could save tens of thousands of unborn babies from painful abortion deaths.
Growing evidence indicates that unborn babies are capable of feeling intense pain by 20 weeks, if not sooner. In January, a “pro-choice” scientific expert in fetal pain urged the medical community to put politics aside and consider new evidence that unborn babies may feel pain as early as 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Also slated for a vote next week is the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska. The bill requires that a baby born alive during an abortion must be given the same degree of medical care that any other baby born at the same gestational age would, including transportation to a hospital.
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“It’s pretty straightforward. Babies ought to get the care they deserve,” Sasse told the Daily Caller News Foundation earlier this month. “This is about love. Love is stronger than power, and we will pass this bill.”
Though statistics on babies who survive abortions are limited, those that are available indicate that a bill is necessary to protect babies’ lives.
At least 40 babies were born alive after botched abortions in just three states between 2016 and 2018. According to the state health data, 11 babies were born alive after botched abortions in Minnesota, 10 in Arizona and 19 in Florida. Most states do not keep track of abortion survivors.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as the personal testimonies of nurses and abortion survivors themselves, also provide evidence that babies survive abortions. According to the CDC, at least 143 babies were born alive after botched abortions between 2003 and 2014 in the U.S., though there likely are more. Research by the American Center for Law and Justice estimated the number is much higher, at least 362 between 2001 and 2010.
Though Republicans are in the majority in the U.S. Senate, both pieces of legislation will require a 60-vote threshold because pro-abortion Democrats are likely to filibuster both of them. The votes on ending the filibuster would give Americans another indication of just how radical three of the leading Democrats running for president are on abortion — U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar. None of them are expected to vote to end the filibuster and allow votes on either common-sense bill.
Jennifer Popik, J.D., legislative director for National Right to Life, urged lawmakers to support the protections.
“Babies capable of feeling pain are considered by the medical profession to be a ‘second patient.’ Babies born after an abortion are considered separate individuals in the eyes of the law and every effort should be made to preserve their lives,” Popik said earlier this month. “These bills have the power to speak to the people of this country, highlighting that without such laws, it is legal not only to kill these very developed, living unborn children who can feel pain but also to neglect those born alive following an abortion which is tantamount to infanticide.”
A 2019 Marist poll found that 71% of Americans support banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, except to save the life of the mother. Only 18% think abortion should be allowed until birth.
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Author: Micaiah Bilger
