When is a Life Worth Protecting?

Legislation in Congress  intended to protect vulnerable babies should  be embraced and approved widely by members of both political parties.

Sadly, that’s not the case, with pro-abortion politics in play.

One bill – the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act – is designed to protect unborn babies who feel pain and can live outside the womb. It bans abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, when a basic ultrasound will reveal their gender, when they suck their thumbs, when they squirm around, and when they can feel pain and live outside the womb.

As Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma said in support of the bill,

“This is a conversation our nation needs to have. But I can’t imagine it would be controversial to make a simple statement – when a child can feel pain, when a child is viable… at that moment, should we as a nation step up and protect children. This shouldn’t be about whether a child can feel pain. It’s not even about viability. We know that child is viable. … Will our laws catch up to our morals and to our science? … It’s a straight-forward issue that I would hope wouldn’t be controversial. This isn’t about women’s health. This is about the health of little boys and little girls that need our nation to stand with them.”

And yet earlier today, months after the House of Representatives passed this bill, a radical minority of Senators filibustered the bill from being passed. A bipartisan group of 54 U.S. Senators voted to support the bill while the 42 U.S. Senators (40 Democrats and 2 Republicans) – short of the 60 votes needed to move the bill forward.

Sen. Lankford is right. This shouldn’t be controversial. We can have a debate about when abortions should be allowed, but we should be able to agree that when a baby can live outside the womb, it should be illegal to execute it inside the womb.

Another bill passed the House of Representatives last week that should be non-controversial. This bill would require babies born alive during botched abortions to receive medical care just like any other newborn child would. The alternative?   Allowing that baby to die right in front of you, gasping for air and crying for help.

Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska is now introducing a congruent bill in the Senate stating, “If we can’t come together and agree that newborn babies deserve care, our talk about 'human rights' and 'inherent dignity' is empty.”

It’s time to send this bill to the President’s desk.

According to a  press release issued by Sen. Sasse along with 21 Senate co-sponsors: “The legislation requires that, when an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, health care practitioners must exercise the same degree of professional skill and care to protect the newborn as would be offered to any other child born alive at the same gestational age. It also requires that the living child, after appropriate care has been given, be immediately transported and admitted to a hospital.”

This should be simple. And yet 177 members of Congress voted against this bill. They voted to allow that baby to die even though he or she is born alive.

What’s wrong with  our society? Members of Congress are cowardly voting to say that these babies aren’t worth protecting. They are voting against the self-evident truths declared by our Founders that all of us  are created equal and endowed with the right to life.

Throughout our nation’s history, we have been working to achieve a more perfect Union, recognizing the full human dignity of lives previously declared unequal and undeserving under the law.

Now is a chance to do the right thing once again. Now is the time to say that vulnerable babies deserve protection under the law.

The Senate is preparing to vote Thursday to fund the government through December 11th and redirect hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood – the largest abortion provider in the U.S. and an ardent supporter of late-term abortions and the sale of aborted babies – to community health centers that actually perform mammograms and provide other vital health services to women in need.

The ACLJ continues our work on Capitol Hill to encourage our elected representatives of both parties to stand up for all vulnerable lives and recognize the inherent human dignity of every human being, no matter how small.

More than 285,000 people already have signed on to our petition demanding an end to taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood. Please add your name today. Send a powerful message to the Senate before Thursday’s vote: it’s time to stop funding Planned Parenthood.