Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has reintroduced in the Senate the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act that would ban all abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy except in cases of rape and incest.
The bill passed the House of Representatives 242-184 last month.
“This legislation is groundbreaking yet simple at the same time. What I love most about this piece of legislation is how simple it is,” Graham said. “Do you believe that at 20 weeks in the pregnancy, five months, when medical encyclopedias are encouraging young parents to sing to their child because they can begin to recognize the voice, that this is a stage in development where you should be very excited because your child is well on their way? Does the government have a legitimate and compelling interest to protect that baby? The answer, I believe, is yes.”
The Centers for Disease Control says just 1 percent of abortions take place after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Graham says that information combined with medical proof a baby can feel pain at 20 weeks is compelling evidence to put the measure in place.
The Bill is expected to be a struggle for passage in the Democrat dominated Senate.
On a day that hundreds of thousands of American women were marching on the nation’s capitol over the slaughter of over 55 million babies in the 42 years of Roe v. Wade, President Obama marked the moment by speaking about his strong support for abortion.
“Forty-two years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Roe v. Wade, a decision that protects a woman’s freedom to make her own choices about her body and her health, and reaffirms a fundamental American value: that government should not intrude in our most private and personal family matters,” Obama wrote in an official statement.
“I am deeply committed to protecting this core constitutional right,” he continued. “The federal government should not be injecting itself into decisions best made between women, their families, and their doctors.”
The president also said he is committed to reducing unintended pregnancies, supporting maternal and child health, promoting adoptions and minimizing the need for abortions.
Republican leaders in Congress shelved a vote Thursday morning on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act which would have banned abortions after 20 weeks because of some female representatives that said they would not be able to get votes in their districts because of it.
Those in attendance at the March were furious.
“[It was] one of the most disappointing moments of my life,” said Sen. Trent Franks (R-AZ), the main sponsor of the bill.
In a nod to the pro-abortion lobby, Republicans have backed off a plan to vote on a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks.
Several female Republican representatives quietly worked to kill the vote for the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protect Act Resources bill. North Carolina Representative Renee Ellmers and Indiana Representative Jackie Walorski reportedly provided the greatest opposition to the bill, removing their names as co-sponsors, although they claimed on Facebook they would still vote for the bill.
Supporters of the bill say that the women who objected claimed Republicans couldn’t get votes from women if they passed the measure.
Politico broke the news of the action Wednesday night.
“Republican leadership late Wednesday evening had to completely drop its plans to pass a bill that bans abortions after 20 weeks, and is reverting to old legislation that prohibits taxpayer funding of abortions,” Politico’s Jake Sherman wrote, adding later in his piece, “the new legislation doesn’t stand a chance to become law.”
The vote was scheduled to be held Thursday on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the annual March for Life.
The Obama administration has stated they oppose a bill in Congress that would ban abortions after five months.
The administration says that the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is an “assault on a woman’s right to choose.”
“The administration strongly opposes H.R. 36, which would unacceptably restrict women’s health and reproductive rights and is an assault on a woman’s right to choose,” the White House Office of Management and Budget wrote in a memo on Tuesday. “Women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care, and government should not inject itself into decisions best made between a woman and her doctor.”
The bill is scheduled for a vote in the House Thursday, the 42nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision to legalize abortion.
“[T]here is substantial medical evidence that an unborn child is capable of experiencing pain at least by 20 weeks after fertilization, if not earlier,” the bill reads. “It is the purpose of the Congress to assert a compelling governmental interest in protecting the lives of unborn children from the stage at which substantial medical evidence indicates that they are capable of feeling pain.”