Legislating for life

Richard A. Sokerka

A strong rebuke at the state level to the deeply unpopular abortion agenda actively being pursued by President Biden is rippling across the nation this year.

Since January, 536 pro-life bills have been introduced with more than 60 signed into law to date.

Last week in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed legislation protecting unborn children as soon as a heartbeat is detected. The law sets the cutoff for legal abortions at about six weeks after conception.

“The Texas Heartbeat Act is the strongest pro-life bill passed since Roe v. Wade and will save thousands of lives,” said Rebecca Parma of Texas Right to Life.

The Texas Heartbeat Act includes provisions for citizens to take legal action against abortionists who aid or abet in the crime of aborting preborn children with heartbeats.

Texas is not alone in its decision to protect the unborn joining South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, Louisiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, and North Dakota in limiting abortions as early as a fetal heartbeat can be detected.

The sheer number of pro-life bills has not been lost on politicians facing election this fall, even shockingly here in New Jersey, where leaders in the State Legislature suddenly seem in no hurry to move the Reproductive Freedom Act to a vote until after the November election when all 120 seats in the Senate and Assembly are on the ballot.

For those unfamiliar with the Reproductive Freedom Act, if made law it would codify abortion rights in the state allowing abortions throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy. It takes away any rights for the child in the womb. It invalidates the state’s conscience clause that has protected the right of individuals to refuse to perform an abortion. It permits non-physicians to perform abortions. It mandates that every single year the state budget make an allocation of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood and requires insurance carriers to provide coverage for abortion.

The N.J. Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s bishops, has stood against this legislation from the day it was proposed. A statement from the NJCC said in part, “The Catholic Church believes and teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death. For that reason, we, the bishops of each of the dioceses in New Jersey, join in voicing the strongest possible opposition to the Reproductive Freedom Act… . We urge all Catholics and people of good will to reject this proposed legislative initiative in our state and to contact your state legislators to vigorously express opposition to its passage.”

Yet, Gov. Phil Murphy (D), who claims Catholic roots, and is up for re-election in November, continues his relentless push to codify abortion into law in the state and make New Jersey the most abortion-friendly state in the union and the center of the culture of death.

Just last week in an online event with Planned Parenthood and women Democratic lawmakers, he said, “The time to pass the Reproductive Freedom Act is now. I look forward to working with leadership and members of both chambers to ensure this bill gets a hearing and that it gets a vote as soon as we can — with a strong preference by June 30, before the legislature goes on budget break.”

To let the governor know that they stand for and believe in the sanctity of life in the womb, all people of faith in our state should take part in a rally for life to protest the Reproductive Freedom Act from noon to 2 p.m., Wednesday June 9 at the War Memorial in Trenton.

Gov. Abbott, when he signed the Texas Heartbeat Act, said, “Our Creator endowed us with the right to life, and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion… The bill I am signing into law ensures that the life of every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion.”

Gov. Murphy’s bill would do just the opposite, stopping the heartbeats of an untold number of children in the womb.

Where is your respect for life, governor?