On April 2nd nearly two hundred energized pro-life members of the U.S. House of Representatives lined up on the House floor to begin signing a discharge petition on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
The discharge petition is a tool that the pro-life Republican minority can use to circumvent pro-abortion leadership which is blocking a vote on this bill. The discharge petition can remain open an entire congress. Once it reaches a simple majority (218) of signatures, the bill can come for a vote. To reach that figure, 21 Democrats must join Republicans.
Led by Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and bill sponsor Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), an impressive 193 members signed the petition on the first day. Currently, there are 198 signers, including three Democrats–Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), Ben McAdams (D-Utah), and Collin Peterson (D-Minn.). The battle continues to reach the crucial 218 number of signatures.
In addition, a different prolife member has gone to the floor every legislative day since the bill’s introduction asking for unanimous consent to consider H.R. 962. Democrats have blocked these requests 28 times.
An always current list of House of Representatives signers is available here.
There was prior action in the Senate. On February 25, the U.S. Senate voted 53-44 for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. However, the bill failed to receive the 60 votes necessary to “invoke cloture” (end a filibuster) due to efforts by pro-abortion Democrats to block its advancement.
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act Hearings in the U.S. Senate
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the sponsor of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, has scheduled a hearing on S. 160 for today, April 9th.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act continues to be one of the right-to-life movement’s top congressional priorities for the 116th Congress. Like the state bills, the proposed federal law would generally extend legal protection to unborn humans beginning at 20 weeks fetal age, based on congressional findings that by that point (and even earlier) the unborn child has the capacity to experience great pain during an abortion.
Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act
On April 4th, Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced the Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act. This vital pro-life legislation would prohibit the performance of dismemberment abortion on living unborn children.
The Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act defines “dismemberment abortion” as “knowingly dismembering a living unborn child and extracting such unborn child one piece at a time from the uterus through the use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments that, through the convergence of two rigid levers, slice, crush or grasp a portion of the unborn child’s body in order to cut or rip it off . . .”
Abortion Pill Reversal and the Second Chance at Life Act
On April 1st, Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), introduced the first-of-its-kind Second Chance at Life Act of 2019 in the U.S. House. This legislation, based on a model developed by National Right to Life, will require that a woman be informed that the effects of the chemical abortion pill can potentially be reversed in order to save her baby if she changes her mind after taking it and does not take the second of the two drugs.
Over 500 babies have been saved by the abortion pill reversal protocol.
High numbers of chemical abortions explain why nearly two-thirds (65.4%) of abortions are now performed at eight-week’ gestation, or earlier.
The chemical (medical) abortion currently involves a two-step drug process. The first abortifacient drug (mifepristone or RU-486) is usually given at the clinic and begins the process of shutting down the unborn child’s life support system (nutrition, oxygen, etc.). The second drug, misoprostol, is taken 24-48 hours later, usually at home, to expel the baby’s remains and complete the abortion.
Research on abortion pill reversal indicates that the first drug, mifepristone, used alone, does not always end the unborn baby’s life. A woman may still have a viable pregnancy after taking the first abortifacient drug, mifepristone.
While action on this legislation is unlikely with pro-abortion Democrats controlling the House, this important legislation can be used to educate and save lives.
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