Saving lives in the womb

Richard A. Sokerka

As the Catholic Church marks the month of October as Respect Life Month, there was some good news last week from Washington. On Oct. 3, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 237-189 for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The bill has been among the right-to-life movement’s top congressional priorities for the 115th Congress. Like the 16 state bills that have been enacted thus far, the proposed federal law would extend legal protection to unborn humans beginning at 20 weeks fetal age, based on congressional findings that by that point in life (and even earlier) the unborn child has the capacity to experience excruciating pain during an abortion.

This vote, albeit the fact that we cannot fathom how in good conscience 189 of our elected officials could be against its passage, is a real victory for pro-life people. But the battle is not over, even though the Trump administration applauded the House of Representatives for “continuing its efforts to secure critical pro-life protections.” President Donald Trump has said he would sign the Act into law if it reaches his desk.

However, Planned Parenthood is not giving up its push to see that this much-needed legislation to protect the most vulnerable in our society — those in the womb — never reaches the President’s desk.

That’s why Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life, called on secular journalists when writing about the bill and who it would protect, would be very skeptical to fact claims made by pro-abortion organizations, like Planned Parenthood. “Claims that unborn children do not have the capacity to experience pain at 20 weeks ignore the facts,” she said. “Advocates of abortion can try to deny that thousands of unborn children who are killed in late abortions feel pain, but they are the ones dabbling in ‘junk science.’ ”

N.J. state senator Steve Oroho (R-Sussex, Morris, Warren), who is the first prime sponsor of legislation in the N.J. Senate to enact the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” in New Jersey (S-2026), said, “Our humanity is closely defined by how we treat those who are most vulnerable. The Book of Proverbs tells us to ‘Speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable.’ It is a sad commentary that so many leaders fail to treat the unborn as such.”

Public opinion polls show by wide margins that Americans support prohibiting abortion at least by 20 weeks. A Quinnipiac University Poll found that 60 percent would support a law prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks, while only 33 percent opposed it. Women were in favor of the legislation by 59 to 35 percent.

With such overwhelming support for the bill at the grass roots level, one would think the Senate would follow through quickly on its vote. But Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, has opined, “That’s not a near-term priority.”

Not a near-term priority? We beg to differ. During Respect Life Month all of us need to make it a priority to write our senators and tell them in no uncertain terms that the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act needs their immediate attention so it can be passed and put on the President’s desk for his signature.

Innocent lives are lost every day the Senate delays. And that is a national crime.