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U.S. House Passes Legislation to Ban Late-Term Abortions

With a vote of 237 to 189, the U.S. House voted yesterday to pass H.R. 36, the 20-week ban on abortion.  The official title of this important legislation is the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” which restricts most abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, with limited exceptions.  It also specifies that any baby born alive in the process of an abortion should be given the same care as a baby born prematurely.

This federal legislation was sponsored by U.S. Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ), and cosponsored by 182 other lawmakers, including the following Illinois Congressmen: Mike Bost (R-Carbondale), Peter Roskam (R-Wheaton), John Shimkus (R-Collinsville), Daniel Lipinski (D-Chicago), Randy Hultgren (R-McHenry), Rodney Davis (R-Decatur), and Darin LaHood (R-Peoria).  See roll call vote for the Illinois Congressional delegation below.

This legislation now moves to the U.S. Senate for consideration.

We are proud to see that our pro-life leaders in Congress are advancing this commonsense legislation in order to protect the life and dignity of some of the victims of abortion. Regardless of party affiliation, every member of Congress should recognize the scientific research which demonstrates that pre-born babies can feel pain beginning at 20 weeks gestation.  We must pray that the members of the U.S. Senate, including Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, will put their partisan allegiances aside and act in the best interest of our pre-born neighbors and their mothers.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send a message to our U.S. Senators to ask them to support H.R. 36, the 20-week abortion ban, also known as the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.”  President Trump’s Administration has made it clear that he intends to sign it, if and when it reaches his desk.

H.R. 36 is a step in the right direction when it comes to affirming the dignity, sanctity and value of every human life, from conception to natural death.


How Did They Vote on H.R. 36:

Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D)NAY
1st Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-4372
District Phone: 773-779-2400
Webform

Rep. Robin Kelly (D)NAY
2nd Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-0773
District Phone: 773-321-2001
Webform

Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D)YEA
3rd Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-5701
District Phone: 773-948-6223
Webform

Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D)NAY
4th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-8203
District Phone: 773-342-0774
Webform

Rep. Mike Quigley (D)NAY
5th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-4061
District Phone: 773-267-5926
Webform

Rep. Peter Roskam (R)YEA
6th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-4561
District Phone: 630-232-0006
Webform

Rep. Danny K. Davis (D)NAY
7th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-5006
District Phone: 773-533-7520
Webform

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D)NAY
8th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-3711
District Phone: 847-413-1959
Webform

Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D)NAY
9th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-2111
District Phone: 773-506-7100
Webform

Rep. Bradley Schneider (D)NAY
10th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-4835
District Phone: 847-383-4870
Webform

Rep. Bill Foster (D)NAY
11th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-3515
District Phone: 815-280-5876
Webform

Rep. Mike Bost (R)YEA
12th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-5661
District Phone: 618-457-5787
Webform

Rep. Rodney Davis (R)YEA
13th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-2371
District Phone: 217-791-6224
Webform

Rep. Randy Hultgren (R)YEA
14th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-2976
District Phone: 630-584-2734
Webform

Rep. John Shimkus (R)YEA
15th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-5271
District Phone: 217-347-7947
Webform

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R)YEA
16th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-3635
District Phone: 815-708-8032
Webform

Rep. Cheri Bustos (D)NAY
17th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-5905
District Phone: 309-966-1813
Webform

Rep. Darin LaHood (R)YEA
18th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone: 202-225-6201
District Phone: 309-671-7027
Webform


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U.S. House Will Vote Soon on Bill Banning Abortions After 20 Weeks

The U.S. House of Representatives has scheduled an October 3rd vote on H.R. 36, a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks up until the time of birth. The U.S. House passed a similar bill in 2015. During the debate on the bill, Congressman Sean Duffy (R-WI) gave one of the most impassioned speeches for protecting the lives of innocent pre-born children.

“This is not a debate about abortion or even non-abortion, pro-life or pro-abortion,” Duffy said. “Those who are even pro-abortion agree that these tactics are unacceptable. They have no place in our society, and that federal tax dollars should actually go to fund an institution that harvests baby body parts for sale is absolutely asinine.”

“What do we stand for in this institution if we do not stand-up for the most defenseless and voiceless among us?” concluded Duffy.

According to Lifenews:

During the hearing on the last bill, former abortion practitioner Anthony Levatino told members of the committee the gruesome details of his former abortion practice and how he became pro-life following the tragic automobile accident of his child.

Another bombshell dropped during the hearing came from Dr. Maureen Condic, who is Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She testified that the unborn child is capable of reacting to pain as early as 8-10 weeks. This is when most abortions in America take place.

Sadly, when it was brought to a vote in the Senate (where the Democrats then held a majority) it was defeated via filibuster.

U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy hosted a press conference yesterday providing details of when the House will vote on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 36). McCarthy was joined by pro life U.S. Representatives Diane Black (TN-06), Trent Franks (AZ-08), Vicky Hartzler (MO-04), and and other pro-life leaders such as Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

The family of Micah Pickering was also present at the press conference, according to Lifenews. Micah Pickering is a miracle baby who survived after being born prematurely at 20 weeks. Today, Micah is a happy, healthy five year old.

SBA List Marjorie Dannenfelser stated the faces like Micah help bring this issue to life in many people’s minds.

“Micah really is the real face of this issue,” she urged. “Because it’s really easy to talk about it, the abortion issue, in abstract theoretical terms. But when you really have come across … and see a young man running around full of energy and love, you realize this is not any other political issue.”

U.S. Representative Trent Franks made similar references to Micah, according to Lifenews. “When Micah stands there,” he said, “you can’t ignore him. He’s as real as it gets.”

In a post press conference interview with MRC Culture Associate Culture Editor, Katie Yoder, Representative Franks also stated:

“I understand that mothers are in a great challenge in these circumstances and my heart is so deeply with them, but there’s nothing liberating about taking the life of a child. It doesn’t liberate the mother. It only puts her in a deeper heartache in the long run.

I’m convinced that if America will look at this as it is, and say ‘Okay, what’s the real question here? Does this thing kill a baby or not?’ If it doesn’t, then okay, it’s no big deal,” he concluded. “But if it really does kill a little helpless human baby, and it’s done that 60 million times now, isn’t it about time we changed direction?”

Representative Franks introduced the legislation back in January, and also proposed legislation in July in an effort to try to save the now deceased Charlie Gard.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send a message to your U.S. Representatives to ask him/her to support H.R. 36, the 20-week abortion ban, also known as the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.”  The U.S. House is scheduled to vote on the bill on Tuesday, October 3rd.

It is inexcusable, in the light the pain these babies feel and the broad public support for such bans, that such a federal ban does not already exist.


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U.S. House Votes to Ban Late Term Abortions

How did Illinois’ Congressional Delegation Vote?

As you may know, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 242-184 yesterday to pass a bill to to extend federal protections for preborn children who are 20 weeks fetal age or more, and who are capable of experiencing excruciating pain.  (Read more about this HERE.)  This legislation would also protect babies who are born alive during late abortions.

The bill is called the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 36), and it’s chief sponsor is U.S. Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ).  This legislation was developed from model legislation developed by National Right to Life and enacted thus far in eleven states, and lays further groundwork for the ongoing legal battle that pro-lifers hope will eventually result in forcing the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that  legalized abortion.

In a nationwide poll of 1,623 registered voters in November 2014, The Quinnipiac University Poll found that 60 percent would support a law such as the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks, while only 33 percent opposed such legislation. Women voters split 59-35 percent in support of such a law, while independent voters supported it by 56-36 percent.

Of Illinois’ 18 U.S. Representatives, seven voted to end painful late-term abortion on innocent helpless children while 10 voted to continue. Chicago Democrat Daniel Lipinski joined the majority of Republicans who supported this bill, while Lincolnshire Republican Bob Dold joined the majority of Democrats who voted against this bill. We’ve also indicated in the list below, the Congressmen who co-sponsored this bill.

IFI greatly appreciates the 7 Illinois members of the U.S. House who voted in favor of H.R. 36.

It is unknown if U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will call the bill for a vote in the U.S. Senate.  Moreover, the White House is on record saying that President Barack Obama would veto it if it ever reached his desk, saying it is “an assault on a woman’s right to choose” and “a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade.”  You may remember that as an Illinois State Senator, Mr. Obama repeatedly voted to allow infanticide to continue unabated in Illinois hospitals.

Voting Results for The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act:

Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D)–No
1st Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-4372
District Phone:             773-224-6500
Webform

Rep. Robin Kelly (D)–No
2nd Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-0773
District Phone:             773-568-2623
Webform

Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D)–YEA
H.R. 36 Co-Sponsor
3rd Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-5701
District Phone:             312-886-0481
Webform

Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D)–No
4th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-8203
District Phone:             773-342-0774
Webform

Rep. Mike Quigley (D)–No
5th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-4061
District Phone:             773-267-5926
Webform

Rep. Peter Roskam (R)–YEA
H.R. 36 Co-Sponsor
6th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-4561
District Phone:             630-232-0006
Webform

Rep. Danny K. Davis (D)–No
7th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-5006
District Phone:             773-533-7520
Webform

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D)–No
8th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-3711
District Phone:             847-413-1959
Webform

Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D)–No
9th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-2111
District Phone:             773-506-7100
Webform

Rep. Bob Dold (R)–No
10th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-4835
District Phone:             847-793-8400
Webform

Rep. Bill Foster (D)–No
11th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-3515
District Phone:             630-585-7672
Webform

Rep. Mike Bost (R)–YEA
H.R. 36 Co-Sponsor

12th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-5661
District Phone:             618-233-8026
Webform

Rep. Rodney Davis (R)–YEA
13th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-2371
District Phone:             217-403-4690
Webform

Rep. Randy Hultgren (R)–YEA
H.R. 36 Co-Sponsor
14th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-2976
District Phone:             630-232-7104
Webform

Rep. John Shimkus (R)–YEA
H.R. 36 Co-Sponsor

15th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-5271
District Phone:             217-446-0664
Webform

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R)–YEA
16th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-3635
District Phone:             815-431-9383
Webform

Rep. Cheri Bustos (D)–No
17th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-5905
District Phone:             309-966-1813
Webform

VACANT SEAT
18th Congressional Dist.
Washington Phone:             202-225-6201
District Phone:             309-671-7027


Click HERE TO SUPPORT Illinois Family Institute.




U.S. House Will Vote on Legislation to Ban Abortions After 20 Weeks

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives will hold a vote on or around the anniversary of the murder conviction of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell on a marquee bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy because unborn children feel intense pain in abortions. This is the second time Republicans have planned a vote on the major pro-life bill — and this vote is expected to take place this week, possibly Wednesday, the anniversary of Gosnell’s conviction.

U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a pro-life California Congressman, confirmed the vote to the Weekly Standard.

“Life is precious and we must do everything we can to fight for it and protect it,” said McCarthy, a California Republican. “Our commitment for the House to consider this important legislation has been steadfast and I am proud of the work of our members to prepare this bill for House consideration next week.”

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send a message to your U.S. Representative asking them to support H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

You can also call the Capitol Switchboard to ask to be connected to your U.S. Representative’s office at (202) 224-3121.

In January, Congresswoman Renee Ellmers led the charge to sabotage the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act — a move that ultimately forced Republicans to pull the bill from the House floor — because she disagreed with a requirement in the bill that rape be reported to a law enforcement agency before an abortion is performed for rape.

Republican leaders in the U.S. House had planned to hold a monumental vote on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade in January on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, legislation that bans abortions after 20 weeks based in part on the compelling scientific evidence showing unborn babies feel intense pain at that point, if not earlier.

However, several Republicans who have pro-life voting records and voted for the bill the last time around, publicly led by Rep. Renee Ellmers, sabotaged the bill by objecting to the provision allowing abortions in cases of rape or incest only if the rape were reported to law enforcement. Ellmers and the lawmakers who worked with her, threatened to vote against the bill or kill it by siding with Democrats to kill it. Although Ellmers publicly indicated she would vote for the bill, privately she painted another picture and she and other members forced House Republican leaders to pull the bill and rework the language.

After months of wrangling over language, with Ellmers and some other members of Congress siding with her for language that was a more expansive rape exception, House Republicans have finalized the language of the bill in a way that has the support of Ellmers and her colleagues, the backing of pro-life groups and in a manner that should result in a strong pro-life vote that paves the way for Senate consideration.

According to pro-life sources who spoke with LifeNews, the rape exception language will be airtight by requiring some sort of documented medical treatment or counseling 48 hours prior to the abortion (so hopefully the mother has a further chance to weigh abortion alternatives). In addition, such treatment or counseling must be provided by physicians or counselors that are outside of the abortion industry. In cases of rape or incest of a minor, the abuse must first be reported to either social service or law enforcement.

As pro-life sources have informed LifeNews, other new provisions of the bill that strengthen in include a born-alive infant protection requirement that requires a second doctor be present and prepared to provide  care to the child if he or she is born alive and that the child must receive the same level of care as would any other premature infant. The baby must then be transported and admitted to a hospital.  The woman is also empowered with a right to sue if the law is not followed, and is provided with an informed consent form that notifies her of the age of her baby and the requirements under the law.

Abortionists are explicitly required to follow state mandatory reporting laws and state parental involvement laws.  Finally, abortionists are required to report any late abortions done under the exceptions to the Center for Disease Control and such data will be compiled into an annual public report to ensure accountability.

Top pro-life advocates are strongly supporting the final version of the bill up for a vote next week, according to the Weekly Standard. Two major pro-life groups have already signed off on the revised bill.

“We will have even stronger support than we did in the last Congress,” said Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, a leading pro-life advocate in the House. “It will be good to have a truly unified pro-life conference.”

National Right to Life Committee president Carol Tobias worked closely with Republican leadership staff members and met Thursday with McCarthy. “I felt very comfortable working with leadership staff,” said Tobias. “We were working as allies.”

“We are thankful to our pro-life allies on the Hill, including House GOP leadership and the Congressional Pro-Life Women’s Caucus, who have tirelessly worked to bring this bill to a vote,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List. “This process has yielded a strong bill which we expect to pass next week with enthusiastic bipartisan support.”

Sponsoring Congressman Trent Franks of Arizona says the bill has the potential to save thousands of babies from abortion.

In a statement, Franks told LifeNews: “More than 18,000 ‘very late term’ abortions are performed every year on perfectly healthy unborn babies in America. These are innocent and defenseless children who can not only feel pain, but who can survive outside of the womb in most cases, and who are torturously killed without even basic anesthesia.   Many of them cry and scream as they die, but because it is amniotic fluid going over their vocal cords instead of air, we don’t hear them.”

Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee says several states have already passed the bill.

“The Franks-Blackburn bill is based on the NRLC model legislation that has been enacted in 10 states, and it reflects a policy that is broadly supported in national public opinion polls.  In the new Congress, every member of the House and Senate will go on record on whether to permit the continued killing of pain-capable unborn children, in the sixth month and later,” he told LifeNews.

A national poll by The Polling Company found that, after being informed that there is scientific evidence that unborn children are capable of feeling pain at least by 20 weeks, 64% would support a law banning abortion after 20 weeks, unless the mother’s life was in danger.   Only 30% said they would oppose such a law.

A November 2014 poll from Quinnipiac found that 60 percent of Americans support legislation limiting abortions after 20 weeks, including 56 percent of Independents and 46 percent of Democrats.

During the hearing on the 20-week ban when the U.S. House approved it previously, former abortion practitioner Anthony Levatino told members of the committee the gruesome details of his former abortion practice and how he became pro-life following the tragic automobile accident of his child.

Another bombshell dropped during the hearing came from Dr. Maureen Condic, who is Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She testified that the unborn child is capable of reacting to pain as early as 8-10 weeks. This is when most abortions in America take place.

ultrasound4d49

The bill relies on the science of fetal pain to establish a Constitutional reason for Congress to ban abortions late in pregnancy. The science behind the concept of fetal pain is fully established and Dr. Steven Zielinski, an internal medicine physician from Oregon, is one of the leading researchers into it. He first published reports in the 1980s to validate research showing evidence for it.

He has testified before Congress that an unborn child could feel pain at “eight-and-a-half weeks and possibly earlier” and that a baby before birth “under the right circumstances, is capable of crying.”

He and his colleagues Dr. Vincent J. Collins and Thomas J. Marzen were the top researchers to point to fetal pain decades ago. Collins, before his death, was Professor of Anesthesiology at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois and author of Principles of Anesthesiology, one of the leading medical texts on the control of pain.

“The functioning neurological structures necessary to suffer pain are developed early in a child’s development in the womb,” they wrote.

“Functioning neurological structures necessary for pain sensation are in place as early as 8 weeks, but certainly by 13 1/2 weeks of gestation. Sensory nerves, including nociceptors, reach the skin of the fetus before the 9th week of gestation. The first detectable brain activity occurs in the thalamus between the 8th and 10th weeks. The movement of electrical impulses through the neural fibers and spinal column takes place between 8 and 9 weeks gestation. By 13 1/2 weeks, the entire sensory nervous system functions as a whole in all parts of the body,” they continued.

With Zielinski and his colleagues the first to provide the scientific basis for the concept of fetal pain, Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand has provided further research to substantiate their work.

One leading expert in the field of fetal pain, Dr. Kanwaljeet S. Anand at the University of Tennessee, stated in his expert report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice, “It is my opinion that the human fetus possesses the ability to experience pain from 20 weeks of gestation, if not earlier, and the pain perceived by a fetus is possibly more intense than that perceived by term newborns or older children.”

“The neural pathways are present for pain to be experienced quite early by unborn babies,” explains Steven Calvin, M.D., perinatologist, chair of the Program in Human Rights Medicine, University of Minnesota, where he teaches obstetrics.

Dr. Colleen A. Malloy, Assistant Professor, Division of Neonatology at Northwestern University in her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2012 said, “[w]hen we speak of infants at 22 weeks LMP [Note: this is 20 weeks post fertilization], for example, we no longer have to rely solely on inferences or ultrasound imagery, because such premature patients are kicking, moving, reacting, and developing right before our eyes in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.”

“In today’s medical arena, we resuscitate patients at this age and are able to witness their ex-utero growth and development. Medical advancement and technology have enabled us to improve our ability to care for these infants…In fact, standard of care for neonatal intensive care units requires attention to and treatment of neonatal pain,” Dr. Malloy testified. She continued, “[t]hus, the difference between fetal and neonatal pain is simply the locale in which the pain occurs. The receiver’s experience of the pain is the same. I could never imagine subjecting my tiny patients to horrific procedures such as those that involve limb detachment or cardiac injection.”


This article was originally posted at the LifeNews.com website.




Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

U.S. Representatives Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have reintroduced the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” an earlier version of which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in the summer of 2013 but was stalled in the Harry Reid-controlled U.S. Senate. If passed, this bill would prohibit abortions performed past 20 weeks, the point at which some research suggests babies can feel pain.

According to Huffington Post, Cecile Richards, president of the feticide-profiteering organization Planned Parenthood, is already proclaiming victory:

This is an unconstitutional ban, and this is something we expect to defeat….The people of this country believe Congress should be focused on making people’s lives better, and they shouldn’t be involved in making personal medical decisions for women and their doctors.

First, let’s not forget that the U.S. Supreme Court has on occasion erred in its decisions regarding the constitutionality of laws.

Second, increasing numbers of “people in this country” believe that “making people’s lives better” necessarily involves preventing innocent people from being murdered, including those who are guilty of nothing other than being unwanted by their mothers. In fact, according to a Huffington Post poll, 59 percent of Americans  support laws banning abortion after 20 weeks.

Third, the decision to kill a preborn baby is rarely a “medical” decision. When the life of the mother is not in jeopardy, the decision is first and foremost a moral decision.

What is most troubling is the pathological commitment of “progressives” to preserving the legal right of women to exterminate their own babies. The regressiveness of their commitment to barbarism becomes increasingly evident when they defend it.

Huffington Post links to a New York Times article in which experts conclude that the science regarding when preborn babies are capable of feeling pain is inconclusive. How can Cecile Richards and other pro-abortion dogmatists oppose this bill if there’s even a possibility of a baby feeling pain—perhaps excruciating pain—during an abortion? Civilized people would err on the side of compassionate caution. Remember, “progressives” are the same people who believe that waterboarding terrorists or testing cancer drugs on mice is a moral bridge too far.

When “progressives” wax indignant about the ethical outrage of waterboarding, let’s remember that all Special Operations Units volunteer and journalist Christopher Hitchens volunteered to be waterboarded. When was the last time you heard of anyone volunteering to have their skin chemically burned off or be dismembered as can happen in late-term abortions? This is not a defense of waterboarding. It’s an attempt to point out the Left’s inconsistent moral reasoning. If waterboarding is torture, abortion most assuredly is.

In a concession to the possibility that preborn babies feel pain as their skin is burned off or their bodies dismembered, some doctors, including Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand whose research is often cited by supporters of this bill, recommend administering a heart-stopping poison medication as the solution to the problem of a preborn baby feeling pain:

“In the very few abortions where fetal pain could possibly occur…consider what can be done to avoid inflicting a lot of pain on the fetus.” [Dr. Anand] said a common method used after 20 weeks—injecting amniotic fluid or fetuses with heart-stopping medication before removing the fetus— “would be fine, really, from a point of view of fetal pain,” a “compassionate way to do it.”

At this point, regressive absurdists really get themselves trapped in an ethical sticky wicket. They’re recommending pain management in the service of killing an innocent human being. Barbarism is redefined as “compassion.”

Not to worry—absurdists assure the morally sane among us—even if preborn babies feel pain after 20 weeks, only a relatively few are being exterminated that far along. According to the liberal, pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute , in 2011 there were 1.06 million abortions, 1.2  percent of which were performed after 20 weeks. For the math-challenged among us, that means last year 12,720 preborn babies were killed in utero after 20 weeks. It’s important to note, that many in the pro-life movement believe post-20-week abortions are underreported, so 12, 720 may be an inaccurately low figure.

Let’s see, how many terrorists were waterboarded? Oh, yes, three. Let’s even count each number of times each terrorist was waterboarded. With Khalid Sheikh Mohammed being waterboarded 183 times, let’s round it out to 200 times radical Islamists have been waterboarded as compared to 12,720 preborn late-term babies wiped out.

Those who oppose this law make the silly suggestion that conservatives have a secret ulterior motive for this law. The Left suggests the real motive is to limit abortion. That must be the worst kept secret in America.

What may be news to “progressives” is that those who oppose the intentional killing of preborn babies have more than one reason for supporting legislation that limits or better still prohibits abortion. The central reason is that no ethical, compassionate, civilized society permits the intentional killing of innocent humans—especially children.

The second reason is that no ethical, compassionate, civilized society permits torture in the service of killing innocent humans—especially children.

And the third reason is that no ethical, compassionate, civilized society would permit any means of killing innocent girls and boys that may even potentially torture them before it kills them—even if it’s a mere 12,720 children annually 

Last time I heard, the product of conception between two humans is a new human with its own unique genetic code. A compassionate and just society doesn’t condone the killing of  humans based on their location (e.g., in utero), their dependency-status, their physical or cognitive abilities, or the feelings other humans have about their existence.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send a message to your U.S. Representative asking them to support H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

You can also call the Capitol Switchboard to ask to be connected to your U.S. Representative’s office at (202) 224-3121.

If you live outside of Illinois, Click HERE to send an email through the National Right To Life Committee’s web site.



The Truth Project

First Annual IFI Worldview Conference
featuring Dr. Del Tackett
April 10-11, 2015

CLICK HERE for Details




Sparing 18,000 Babies’ Pain and Suffering

Every year in America, more than 18,000 perfectly healthy babies – developed enough to feel pain and, in many cases, survive outside the womb – are brutally killed in their mother’s wombs.

Eighteen thousand. 

Can you imagine the public outrage if 18,000 babies died every year from faulty baby formula or substandard infant car seats? Liability lawsuits would flood the court systems and manufacturing companies would shutdown in bankruptcy and disgrace.

These particular 18,000 babies have been growing for 20 weeks or more in their mother’s bodies.

“These are innocent and defenseless children who can not only feel pain, but who can survive outside of the womb in most cases, and who are torturously killed without even basic anesthesia. Many of them cry and scream as they die, but because it is amniotic fluid going over their vocal cords instead of air, we don’t hear them, ” U.S. Representative Trent Franks of Arizona told LifeSite News this week.

Eighteen thousand innocent babies.

Next Wednesday, 42 years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe vs Wade decision legalizing abortions for any reason up to the moment of birth, Franks and U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) will ask their Congressional colleagues in the U.S. House to vote on H.R. 36 – a federal measure to protect those 18,000 innocents from painful, violent deaths.

Franks and Blackburn expect to be joined by nearly 180 other House members who will co-sponsor the measure.

Five Illinois Congressmen have signed on thus far as co-sponsors, four Republicans: Randy Hultgren (Geneva), Peter Roskam (Barrington), Aaron Schock (Peoria) and John Shimkus (Effingham) and one Democrat: Dan Lipinski (Chicago).

Three Republican House members have yet to commit on the bill: Adam Kinzinger (Rockford) and newbies Mike Bost (Murphysboro) and Bob Dold (Mundelein).  Historically the remaining Democratic members of Illinois’ delegation have supported abortion advocates’ position.

Abortion defenders are holding the line against any restrictions whatsoever.  They deny the medical studies showing 20 week old preborn babies can feel pain.

“The studies are pretty clear — at 20 weeks, there is no indication that nerves are developed. Abortion is really rare past 20 weeks and is incurred because of a set of complex circumstances,” Jamila Perritt, MD, medical director of Planned Parenthood of Metro Washington, D.C., said at a press conference this week.

In response, numerous brain and nerve activity experts cite the need for prenatal surgeons to anesthetize their patients during in utero surgical procedures.

“To experience pain an intact system of pain transmission from the peripheral receptor to the cerebral cortex must be available. Peripheral receptors develop from the seventh gestational week,” Marc Van de Velde and Frederik De Buck wrote in, “Fetal and Maternal Analgesia/Anesthesia for Fetal Procedures”:

From 20 weeks’ gestation peripheral receptors are present on the whole body. From 13 weeks’ gestation the afferent system located in the substantia gelatinosa of the dorsal horn of the spinal cord starts developing. Development of afferent fibers connecting peripheral receptors with the dorsal horn starts at 8 weeks’ gestation. Spinothalamic connections start to develop from 14 weeks’ and are complete at 20 weeks’ gestation, whilst thalamocortical connections are present from 17 weeks’ and completely developed at 26–30 weeks’ gestation. From 16 weeks’ gestation pain transmission from a peripheral receptor to the cortex is possible and completely developed from 26 weeks’ gestation.

Numerous other doctors have filled in about prenatal infants’ pain capability and made their testimony available at www.doctorsonfetalpain.com.

Medical science is convincing the American public that preborn babies can indeed feel pain. In a March 2013 survey by The Polling Company, 64 percent of 1003 registered voters said they would support a law such as the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks — when an unborn baby can feel pain — unless the life of the mother is in danger. Less than a third opposed such legislation.

It’s very likely Franks and Blackburn’s H.R. 36 will pass the U.S. House as the nation remembers the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe vs Wade decision.  It could also pass the U.S. Senate in the days after.

However, Congress.gov says the measure has less than a five percent chance to be implemented because it’s unlikely President Barack Obama, who hailed the practice of Partial Birth Abortion, would ever sign abortion restrictions into law.

And what about the chances of overriding an Obama veto?

“I’m told there is no way there are 60 votes to override a veto in the Senate,” said nationally-popular prolife blogger Jill Stanek.

So why try to so hard pass legislation that won’t become law?

“We just keep pushing, educating, making a big deal out of the humanity of preborn babies and pain,” Stanek said. “This will be similar to when [former President Bill] Clinton vetoed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban twice.”

The Partial Birth Abortion Ban was finally signed into law by President George W. Bush November 5, 2003 – nearly eight years after the first version was introduced.

H.R. 36 prohibits an abortion from being performed if the pain-capable child is 20 weeks or more, except when a mother’s life is endangered, or the pregnancy is the result of reported rape or incest.

How can anyone oppose saving those 18,000 innocent babies’ lives and protecting them from potential inhumane pain and suffering?

On the other hand, perhaps we should ask ourselves how we could ever explain to future generations how we didn’t even try.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send a message to your U.S. Representative asking them to support H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Or call the Capitol Switchboard to ask to be connected to your U.S. Representative’s office: 202-224-3121.

If you live outside of Illinois, Click HERE to send an email through the National Right To Life Committee’s web site.



The Truth Project

First Annual IFI Worldview Conference
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April 10-11, 2015

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