UPDATED May 14, 2012 — Did you know that in our nation’s capital, it is perfectly legal to subject unborn children to terribly painful deaths, even during the sixth and seventh months of pregnancy — or even later? In the District of Columbia, abortion is now legal at any point in pregnancy, for any reason, as long as someone is willing to pay the abortionist for the gruesome “service.”
This appalling situation will be explored by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution on May 17, 2012, in a public hearing on the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 3803), a bill strongly advocated by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).
Our nation was created when the original group of sovereign states came together and formed a federated republic — the United States of America. Article I of the U.S. Constitution established that the national seat of government would be placed forever not within any state, but in a special Federal District — and that the Congress would “exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District.”
But what would the Framers of our Constitution say if they returned today — and learned, to their horror, that well-developed unborn babies are legally being put to death, in terrible pain, virtually within the shadow of the U.S. Capitol and the White House?
One abortion “clinic,” situated not far from the National Mall and the White House, openly advertises abortion on demand up to the beginning of the seventh month of pregnancy — payable by a credit card. (“Checks and money orders are not accepted.”) This facility mentions the method used for its late abortions — “dilatation and evacuation,” also known as “dilation and evacuation” or “D&E.” However, they do not explain that in a D&E — shown in this medical illustration — the abortionist grasps the little arms and legs of the well-developed unborn baby and literally tears them off, one by one, by brute manual force.
The baby is alive, of course, at the beginning of this dismemberment abortion. The baby certainly experiences excruciating pain as her limbs are twisted off with steel forceps.
Who can put a stop to this? The Congress of the United States, and — if he would — the President.
On January 23, 2012, Congressman Trent Franks (R-Az.), with the strong support of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), introduced the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 3803). In this bill, Congress would declare that at least by 20 weeks after fertilization, an unborn child has the capacity to experience pain — and, on that basis, the bill would prohibit abortions within the District (except when acute physical problems endanger the life of the mother) from that point on (from the beginning of the sixth month, in layperson’s terminology). Please click here to see a current list of cosponsors of this bill, arranged by state.
On February 13, the same legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah). Click here to see a current list of Senate cosponsors.
At NRLC’s urging, beginning in 2010, six states — Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Idaho, and Georgia — have already enacted such bans. More states are expected to pass such bans in the future. But it is past time for Congress to act to end the horrors that are occurring in its own backyard.
If your representative is already a cosponsor of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, thank him or her. If not, urge the lawmaker to become a cosponsor.