This is why, instead of Democrats, I call them Demonrats.
Various states of our disUnited States of America have been making progress on protecting the lives of the unborn. But if Senate Demonrats have their way, all that progress will be obliterated by one bill.
On Tuesday, July 15, 2014, Senate Demonrats held a hearing on S. 1696, a bill that wipes out virtually every pro-life law across the country, including state laws that came into play in Pennsylvania that held late-term abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell accountable for killing babies who were born alive and killed during a gruesome late-term abortion procedure.
S. 1696 has the deceptive Orwellian title of the “Women’s Health Protection Act” even though it revokes protections for women and their unborn children. Instead, the bill would be far-reaching in how it would topple virtually every pro-life law passed in states across the country.
The bill has been heavily promoted by pro-abortion activist groups since its introduction last November, although it has been largely ignored by the mainstream news media. S. 1696 has 35 Senate cosponsors, all Demonrats, including 9 of the 10 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. The chief sponsor of the bill is Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.).
S. 1696 is an updated and expanded version of the old “Freedom of Choice Act” that was championed by Barack Obama when he was a senator. The new bill would invalidate nearly all existing state limitations on abortion, and prohibit states from adopting new limitations in the future, including various types of laws specifically upheld as constitutionally permissible by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Among the laws that the bill would nullify are:
- Requirements to provide women seeking abortion with specific information on their unborn child and on alternatives to abortion.
- Laws providing reflection periods (waiting periods).
- Laws allowing medical professionals to opt out of providing abortions.
- Laws limiting the performance of abortions to licensed physicians.
- Bans on elective abortion after 20 weeks.
- Meaningful limits on abortion after viability.
- Bans on the use of abortion as a method of sex selection.
- Invalidate most previously-enacted federal limits on abortion, including federal conscience protection laws and most, if not all, limits on government funding of abortion.
The above laws that would be nullified by the truly diabolical S. 1696 generally have broad public support in the states in which they are enacted, including support from substantial majorities of women.
During the Senate hearing, Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, told lawmakers that the bill is a radical departure from laws that have helped stopped late-term abortions and helped hold abortion practitioners like Gosnell accountable:
“Dr. Kermit Gosnell of Philadelphia is only the most notorious recent example of a certain type of abortion provider who flourishes under the aura of political immunity generated by pro-abortion advocacy groups in some jurisdictions. There are many others who have demonstrated repeatedly that they should not be allowed anywhere near pregnant women or their unborn children, some of whom have been operating in multiple states for many years, shielded from real accountability by the timidity of state officials who are weary of offending the abortion industry and the political activist groups that fly cover for that industry.”
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins says his group opposes the bill for similar reasons:
“Senator Blumenthal’s bill is extreme and out of touch with the views of millions of Americans on both sides of the abortion debate. It is deeply troubling that the Senate Judiciary Committee would consider a measure that puts vulnerable women in greater danger by undermining clinic health standards that are grounded in common sense. The measure even revokes laws requiring abortionists to be licensed physicians and any restrictions on late-term abortions. These laws are vital to avoid a future Kermit Gosnell house of horror. It is my hope that the Senate reject this bill and instead work to protect unborn children that can feel excruciating pain from abortion, and pass the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, S. 1670, sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).”
ACTION: Contact your senators and urge STRONG opposition to the bill.
Sources: Life News of July 14 and July 15, 2014
H/t FOTM’s Sig94
~Eowyn
