Two Years after Gosnell, House Will Vote to Protect Unborn Life
This Wednesday marks two years since abortionist Kermit Gosnell was convicted of killing live babies, severing their spines using scissors, and routinely performing abortions after Pennsylvania’s 24-week limit.
To commemorate this anniversary and ensure such atrocities never happen again, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act this Wednesday.
This is basically the same bill that made headlines in January when GOP leaders pulled it from a vote when controversy arose around certain provisions in the bill.
National Review has more details on the new bill:
A core group of lawmakers — McMorris Rodgers, Representative Diane Black (R., Tenn.), Representative Trent Franks (R., Ariz.), Representative Vicky Hartzler (R., Mo.), Representative Joe Pitts (R., Penn.), and Representative Chris Smith (R., N.J.) — hammered out a compromise, in consultation with the activist groups. The new legislation modulates the reporting requirements by allowing a rape victim to seek a late-term abortion if she has sought medical treatment or counseling at least 48 hours before the procedure. . . .
On the other side of the ledger, pro-life groups were satisfied by new language stipulating that late-term abortions must be conducted in the presence of a physician who can provide medical care to any baby born alive through a botched abortion. That measure is a direct response to the case of Kermit Gosnell, the late-term-abortion doctor who was convicted of murdering three babies who were born alive.
The bill will ban virtually all abortions after five months of gestation. Additionally, the bill provides a number of safeguards for any abortion exceptions for women who are victims of sexual assault.
One of these safeguards is the mandated Born-Alive safeguard, requiring a second doctor to be present and prepared to provide care to the child in the event of a live birth. This doctor would have a statutory obligation to provide the same level of care of any other infant delivered prematurely. Transportation and admittance to a hospital is then required.
Other safeguards include reporting to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adherence to state reporting and parental notification laws, and protections for minors who are victims of rape and incest.
As the bill explains, there is substantial scientific evidence that unborn children have the capacity to feel pain at least by 20 weeks after fertilization. At the same age that many unborn children are receiving state-of-the-art care through fetal surgeries and in neonatal intensive care units, equally pain-capable children are being aborted in the 6th, 7th, 8th, and even 9th month of pregnancy.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act will ensure vital protections for these unborn children. More than 70,000 Americans already have signed on to our petition to Congress to stop these late-term abortions. With the House poised to act, it’s time to add your name to stand up for life.
In addition to this issue, we have taken our case against Planned Parenthood to the Supreme Court. We are standing up for the First Amendment rights of pro-life sidewalk counselors.
At the ACLJ, we remain dedicated to standing up for the most vulnerable and defending the rights of the unborn.