Posted on 01/12/2015 1:47:26 PM PST by Morgana
From Politico this morning, in an article entitled, “GOP hopes it’s cracked the abortion code: Republicans unite around a push to ban the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy”:
… GOP leaders plan to vote on a federal 20-week abortion ban on Jan. 22. That’s the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade and falls on the same day as the March for Life….
In the House, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) opted to tie the upcoming vote to the March for Life event after meeting with leading anti-abortion groups and Republicans who have long been vocal opponents of abortion.
McCarthy met in November with a dozen conservative groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Susan B. Anthony List, and “reiterated his commitment to the pro-life movement and vowed to ensure that the House of Representatives would be in session and voting during the 2015 March for Life,” a GOP staffer said.
The Politico article notes, “60% of Americans support the 20-week ban, according to Quinnipiac, and Democrats are evenly divided on that specific proposal.”
So, battling a ban against abortion past 20 weeks is a loser for abortion proponents and Democrats. Even so, they’re absurdly trying, for instance, National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill , who said, according to Politico:
“If you say ‘viability,’ that’s the time where a fetus can live independently outside of the womb. That’s 24 to 26 weeks. But most people don’t know that. So when you just say, ‘Oh, do you want to ban abortion at 20 weeks?’ People go ‘Yeah, that’s really late!’ No, it’s not. And most people don’t know that it’s not late.”
First, the American Heart Association and American Academy of Pediatrics have established viability at either 23 weeks or 400 grams (14 ounces). Politico could and should have corrected O’Neill’s obvious attempt to dehumanize 20-weekers.
7148415_f260Second, 5 months is “not late”? Does O’Neill really want to go there? Does she really want us to start talking about the advanced development of a 20-week-old preborn baby? I think not. Just goes to show the other side’s uphill path.
And the number of perfectly healthy babies aborted past 20 weeks amounts to over 18,000 annually, or 49 a day, counter to another of the other side’s claims that they are “rare.”
The pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists embarrasses itself by trying to claim, as quoted by Politico, that 20-week-old preborns do not feel pain, when even younger babies, 18-weekers, are now routinely anesthetized if undergoing surgery.
The abortion lobby is right about one thing. As Planned Parenthood indicated, a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks is a “clear attempt to challenge Roe v. Wade.”
It does this two ways.
First, H. R. 36 redraws the line after which abortions would be restricted. At present, the line is viability, according to Roe.
Second, H. R. 36 severely narrows the broad health exception defined in Roe’s companion case, Doe v. Bolton, which was:
… in the light of all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age – relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health.
This health exception has basically allowed abortion on demand throughout all 40 weeks of pregnancy since 1973. H. R. 36’s health exception as:
… substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including psychological or emotional conditions, of the pregnant woman.
Good optics, will go nowhere, but we have to adopt the opposition’s tactic of pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing.
Obama will veto it and Congress won’t have the castanas to override it. As you can tell, I have no faith in our Congress.
Check out photos from The March for Life. It’s not 60 year old Knights of Columbus. It’s 20 something year old women.
I caught some photos from 2014 march for life from federalist.com and priests for life group—so many youth, and children
Few things more honorable these days than the pro-life female.
Kabuki-buki.
Cheeto Boner rides again.
Immoral, unconstitutional legislation.
This is great and all, but even if this bill got passed the very first judge that took up the case would undo it all.
“Immoral, unconstitutional legislation.”
Not this [crap] again.
By all means, let’s keep abortion legal until the 38th week of gestation. Surely it’s better to make those 20-38 babies martyrs to the cause instead of saving them, not to mention how a 20-week ban would help chip away at Roe v. Wade.
For six years, Bush had a Republican congress. At any time, they could have removed abortion from the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. They didn’t do it.
Roe v. Wade itself says that if Congress finds that the unborn baby is “a person within the meaning of the 14th Amendment, appellant’s case collapses.” They have never done it.
It’s time to say that Republicans will not do anything to stop abortion. They merely nibble at it.
It doesn’t “chip away at Roe.” It actually reinforces the main lying premise of Roe, which is that the pre-born child is not a person.
Because, if it is a person - which any sane individual knows is the case - the Constitution absolutely requires equal protection.
Even the Roe judges admitted as much, in their infamous decision.
In fact, immoral, unconstitutional, lawless laws like this actually assure the continuation of abortion on demand. Why? Because they completely surrender the only two real moral, constitutional, and legal arguments against abortion, that being the God-given, inalienable, intrinsic nature of the individual right to life, and the absolute requirement that all persons be provided equal protection before the law, first and foremost in their supreme God-given right.
They're not going to do more than nibble at it because the American people don't want them to do anything more than nibble at it. It's the same reason Democrats don't substantive on gun control when they're in power. Toss a few bones to a small but vocal constituency and pass a few "feel good, do nothing" bills to shut them up for a little bit.
While I understand that absolute pro-life is the default position on this forum, the truth is that outside of Free Republic, it is a little more complicated, with the majority of Americans supporting limits on abortion, --but not an outright ban.
When hearts and minds are changed on the issue, politicians will follow suit.
Q:Why didn't the GOP do this when they controlled both houses of Congress and the presidency?
A: Because they are the same party as the Democrats and Bush is a NWO zombie.
I'm pretty sure they can overcome a Senate Filibuster.
Of course, the courts would stop any implementation, but it would be progress nonetheless.
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who is uncomfortable with this.
It seems that this stops like 15% of abortions, but this makes it much harder to stop the other 85%.
The unborn are still human before 20 weeks. But how can this be argued with any effectiveness after this legislation defines life by viability?
There are lots of us who have this immoral scam figured out.
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