U.S. House votes to ban late-term abortions on babies who feel pain
The U.S. House voted 237 to 189 this week to ban most abortions after 20 weeks, when the unborn baby can feel pain. The United States is one of seven countries with absolutely no federal limits in place on late-term abortion. Abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy for any reason is legal in many parts of the country. The bill, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, was sponsored by strongly pro-life Rep. Trent Franks, R-AZ.Two Republicans voted against the bill. Three Democrats voted for it.Similar legislation passed the U.S. House in 2013 and 2015 however it has never passed the U.S. Senate.
The bill contains rape and incest exceptions. For an abortion to take place, the abortionist must file a medical report with a state or federal agency saying an act of rape or incest conceived the child.
At 20 weeks – halfway through pregnancy – an unborn baby is the size of a small cantaloupe. It is a universal fact that mothers can feel their babies kicking. When they are operated on in the womb at this age, its standard medical practice to give the babies anesthesia as well. Babies at this stage of development have a fully formed nervous system, so how can it be claimed that the unborn child cannot feel pain? Shockingly though it is still legal to dismember them in violent, painful abortions.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the President of the Susan B. Anthony List, said she spoke with President Trump last week and that he considers signing this legislation “high priority.” One of Trump’s major campaign promises was to sign the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act into law.
Rep. Mia Love delivered a powerful speech on “the double standards” of abortion laws. Killing a pregnant woman is considered double homicide, but abortion isn't considered murder, she aptly pointed out. “This begs the question – when does the unborn have a right to protection just like their mother?” asked Love.
Republican Ann Wagner, R-MO, brought a giant poster of her grandchild's 17-week ultrasound onto the House floor, explaining her heartbeat began three weeks after conception and she began kicking her mother at just seven weeks old. As the bill was debated, Democrats took the opportunity to attack Republicans for wanting to stop babies from being aborted rather than supporting gun control in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting.
Republican Steve Cohen, D-TN, was particularly heated in his remarks, lamenting his pro-life colleagues “come here and talk about protecting the ‘unborn,’ forgetting the rights of women.” He also suggested Republicans are hypocrites for caring about reducing spending while wanting more babies, which would cost more money.
“You’re right: we don’t put a price on” life, responded Republican Mark Walker, R-NC. “We cherish it.” Republican Franks quoted Thomas Jefferson, who said, “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.”
“A great and tragic shadow looms over America,” Franks said of abortion. It is the “greatest and most insidious human rights atrocity in the United States today.”
Franks noted that under federal law, farm animals have more protection than pre-born babies late in pregnancy. He called these babies “little pain-capable children of God.”
Rep. Diana DeGette, D-CO, one of the co-chairs of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, shared the story of one of her staffers who had a late-term abortion. She called the one who was aborted a “child,” a “fetus,” and a “baby.” Pro-abortion Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA, and Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, also used the word “baby.” Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, used the word “parent” as she vehemently defended late-term abortion.
Republican Ted Deutch told the story of a man who participated in the baptism of his aborted babies and “grieved their loss.” He used this story to argue that there's no “one size fits all” approach to pregnancy and abortion.
Republican Virginia Foxx said she considers it her “solemn duty” to stand up for life. “We must care for these unborn children, not cruelly inflict pain…by treating them as objects,” she said.
The horror of late-term abortion is incomprehensible. Former abortionist turned pro-life advocate Dr. Anythony Levantino revealed that the most difficult part of a late-term abortion 'is usually finding, grasping and crushing the baby’s head.' Some late-term abortions are committed using the “dilation and evacuation” method, which involves opening a woman’s cervix, draining amniotic fluid from her uterus, and pulling the baby apart limb by limb.
“The most difficult part of the procedure is usually finding, grasping and crushing the baby’s head,” AbortionProcedures.com explains.
Other late-term abortions on babies who would be viable outside the womb are committed by injecting digoxin into the womb, causing fatal cardiac arrest for the baby. The baby can feel the needle piercing its body. The stillborn baby is then delivered, usually several days later. Live Action’s Inhuman investigation showed late-term abortionists admitting the humanity of the children they kill.
In advocating for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, SBA List has called attention to Micah Pickering, who was born at 22 weeks and four days. He is now a healthy, life-loving five-year-old boy. Some Republicans called H.R. 36 “Micah's Law” on the House floor. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2013 there were at least 5,770 late-term abortions on babies older than 20 weeks.