US Senator Lindsey Graham recently introduced a bill in Congress that has drawn a great deal of controversy.
Senator Graham is a well-known pro-life Republican from South Carolina. Senator Graham is no slacker on the life issue. You may remember him from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings when he defended the nominations of Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
His new bill is called the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act. The legislation would set federal minimum protections for unborn children that are in line with European limits, banning abortion after 15 weeks gestation when unborn children can feel pain.
At a news conference with national pro-life leaders from Susan B Anthony Pro-Life American, Americans United for Life, National Right to Life, CURE, March for Life, and others, Graham noted that the current standard of medical care calls for unborn babies to receive pain medication during fetal surgery at 15 weeks gestation. Life-saving surgeries performed on babies in utero, using pain medication, include treatment for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and spina bifida.
Let’s remember that Texas already has the Human Life Protection Act, a law that protects unborn babies from abortion throughout pregnancy, beginning at conception. This bill will not change Texas law or similar laws in other pro-life states.
However, the new bill would provide protection for babies 15 weeks and later in states that allow abortions up to birth, like California, Colorado, New Mexico, and New York.
Federal abortion laws are not new. In 2003 Congress passed, and then-president George W. Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban after Bill Clinton vetoed it twice. The following year, Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act to include unborn babies as victims of more than 60 federal crimes, including federal murder laws.
When the Supreme Court overturned the terrible Roe v. Wade precedent in June in the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion, the Court held that ‘‘[i]t is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.’’ We the people elect the state legislatures, and we elect members of Congress.
The Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act would protect thousands of babies from abortion every year. For example, shouldn’t an unborn child be protected from late abortion at 26 weeks, a baby who is able to hear, sleeps and wakes, has arms and legs, fingers and toes, and all vital organs, including a beating heart and an active brain?
We are less than 60 days from the November 8 election. How do major candidates stand on this issue of protecting babies from late abortions?
Pro-Life Governor Greg Abbott would have no problem supporting this law. In fact, Abbott proudly signed the Human Life Protection Act and approved $100,000,000 for the highly successful Alternatives to Abortion program. He and his wife Cecelia have a strong commitment to adoption, including adopting their daughter Audrey as a baby.
How about his opponent, Robert Francis O’Rourke, also known as Beto O’Rourke? Mr. O’Rourke’s campaign website makes it clear that he wants to repeal the Human Life Protection Act, and he supports allowing abortion through all nine months for any reason. Late abortions on healthy babies up to the moment of birth.
That’s why it will be critically important for you, and all pro-life Texans, to get out and vote for pro-life candidates this fall.
If you’d like to see which candidates you should support, visit our excellent voter guide ProLifeVoterGuide.org. We are the trusted source of information for pro-life voters.
