Blog | Subscribe | Free Trial | Contact Us | Cart | Donate | Planned Giving
Log In | Search
facebook
rss
twitter
  • CURRENT
    • Fall 2022 PDF
    • SUMMER 2022 ARTICLES
    • NEWSworthy: What’s Happening and What It Means to You
    • Blog
    • INSISTING ON LIFE
    • Pastoral Reflections
    • About Us
    • HLF In The News
    • LIBERTY TO DO WHAT? Hadley Arkes and Rusty Reno join George McKenna June 1, 2022 in New York
  • DINNER
    • GREAT DEFENDER OF LIFE DINNER 2022
    • HOST COMMITTEE Great Defender of Life Dinner 2022
    • Great Defender of Life 2022 Dinner Ticket
    • Great Defender of Life 2022 STUDENT or PREGNANCY CENTER STAFF Ticket
    • DINNER JOURNAL ADVERTISING 2022
  • ARCHIVE
    • Archive Spotlight
    • ISSUES IN HTML FORMAT
  • LEGACY
    • Planned Giving: Wills, Trusts, and Gifts of Stock
  • SHOP
    • Cart

BLOG

Will this January 22 be a historical day for the March for Life and for Congress?
0 Comment

History Will Be Made on Thursday

15 Jan 2015
Connie Marshner
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

As Marchers for Life will be stomping their feet and blowing on their hands to keep warm next Thursday, inside the U. S. Capitol something unprecedented will be happening.

To begin with, the 114th Congress will actually be in session (as I recall, more frequently than not they avoid being in town on January 22)!

But what is historic is that not only will they be in session, but in those hallowed halls they will actually be voting on a pro-life measure on the day of the March for Life! That, at least, is the plan of the House leadership as of press time.

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is scheduled for a vote by the House of Representatives on the morning of January 22, a date chosen on purpose by the leadership of the House. Conceivably, by the time of the Rally, there could be results to announce.

The Act would protect from abortion unborn children from the fetal age of 20 weeks, based on Congressional finding that by this point in development, if not earlier, the unborn child is capable of experiencing pain. Ten states have already enacted similar Pain-Capable Unborn Child legislation, and more are considering it even now.

There isn’t actually anything new about the bill, except its number: H.R. 36 in the new 114th Congress. Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) are the lead sponsors in the House (kudos to them!).

As of this past Wednesday, there were 141 co-sponsors, two of whom were Democrats. But there are 246 Republicans in the House of Representatives. Any who aren’t co-sponsors better have a good reason why not!

An identical bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in the 113th Congress, in 2013, by a margin of 228-196.

In 2013, of course, Harry Reid (D-NV) was in charge in the Senate, so nothing further happened on the bill. This time around, the new Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), has promised that the Senate will take it up. The lead Senate sponsor is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who introduced the bill in 2013.

Of course, there’s still the same President as in 2013, and getting to 51 votes in the U.S. Senate is not a foregone conclusion by any means—let alone getting to the 60 votes necessary to override the President’s certain veto.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that all through the spring we can look forward to the slow, deliberative process of the Senate, as the bill works its way through hearings and markup . . . and all the media exposure attendant thereon. Think of the opportunities this will create to tell reporters that yes, indeed, unborn children are capable of feeling pain.

After all, it will be political news at that point so (some of them at least) will have to cover the hearings. The reporters may be skeptical or they may be hostile, but they still have to turn in a story. That means they will have to interview some pro-life advocates (even if they’re just pretending to be balanced).

Think of the woman planning an abortion who hears that news report while she’s waiting in line at the gas station . . . and is astonished to learn that she will be causing pain to what she has been told is a “blob of tissue.” It just might cause her to reconsider her plan.

And as more Americans hear that unborn babies feel pain, it will further support the growing trend in American opinion to favor more and more restrictions on abortion. And if Congress passes it, it’s easier for representatives in state legislatures to vote for it too.

Stay tuned for follow-up next week.

*     *     *     *     *

Connie Marshner has been a pro-life, pro-family researcher, grassroots trainer, organizer, and lobbyist; manager; writer; homeschooler; editor; campaign adviser; coalition leader; fundraiser; and political strategist. She is absolutely thrilled now to be a blogger for Human Life Review.

 

 

190 people have visited this page. 1 have visited this page today.

Social Share

  • google-share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Comments will not be posted until approved by a moderator in an effort to prevent spam and off-topic responses.

*
*

captcha *

Get the Human Life Review

subscribe to HLR

Recent Posts

Abortion activist attempts to expose crisis pregnancy centers—and fails

17 Jan 2023

An Abortion Clinic in Your Neighborhood

09 Jan 2023

“Benedict XVI, 95, Who Defended Doctrine, Dies.”                                                         — The New York Times, January 1, 202

04 Jan 2023

CURRENT ISSUE

Anne Conlon Anne Hendershott B G Carter Brian Caulfield Christopher White Clarke Forsythe Colleen O’Hara Connie Marshner David Mills David Poecking David Quinn Diane Moriarty Dr. Donald DeMarco Edward Mechmann Edward Short Ellen Wilson Fielding Fr. Gerald E. Murray George McKenna Helen Alvaré Jane Sarah Jason Morgan Joe Bissonnette John Grondelski Kristan Hawkins Laura Echevarria Madeline Fry Schultz Maria McFadden Maffucci Mary Meehan Mary Rose Somarriba Meaghan Bond Nat Hentoff Nicholas Frankovich Patrick J. Flood Peter Pavia Rev. George G. Brooks Rev. Paul T. Stallsworth Stephen Vincent Tara Jernigan Ursula Hennessey Victor Lee Austin Vincenzina Santoro W. Ross Blackburn Wesley J. Smith William Doino Jr. William Murchison

Pages

  • Issues
  • Human Life Foundation Blog
  • About Us
  • Free Trial Issue
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Planned Giving
  • TOPICS
  • GREAT DEFENDER OF LIFE DINNER

Follow Us On Twitter

Tweets by @HumanLifeReview

Find Us On Facebook

Human Life Review/Foundation

Search our Website

Contact Information

The Human Life Foundation, Inc.
The Human Life Review
271 Madison Avenue, Room 1005
New York, New York 10016
(212) 685-5210

Copyright (c) The Human Life Foundation.