With a national controversy swirling surrounding abortion as the Kermit Gosnell murder trial unfolds, several Senate Republicans are seeking hearings on the abortion practitioner and abortion in general.
Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, released a letter along with 10 of his GOP colleagues introducing a resolution calling for the Senate to hold hearings on abortion facility regulations.
“Congress and States should gather information about and correct abusive, unsanitary, and illegal abortion practices and the interstate referral of women and girls to facilities engaged in dangerous or illegal second- and third-trimester procedures,” the resolution states.
“The lack of oversight at abortion facilities puts women’s lives at risk and leads to the kind of unconscionable practices we have seen recently,” Lee said in a statement on the resolution. “The Senate should formally recognize that this is a problem in our country and we have a responsibility to investigate the causes, review the effects of certain public policies, and determine what we can do to prevent any woman from being subjected to these reprehensible practices again.”
“Congress has the responsibility to investigate and conduct hearings on abortions performed near, at, or after viability in the United States, public policies regarding such, and evaluate the extent to which such abortions involve violations of the natural right to life of infants who are born alive or are capable of being born alive, and therefore are entitled to equal protection under the law,” the resolution says.
“The facts of the Gosnell case are disturbing and heartbreaking,” Lee said. “It should be a wake-up call to all Americans.
If the resolution does not draw the opposition of any senators, committee hearings will begin on possible legislation.
The senators who joined Lee include Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Sen. James Vitter of Louisiana, Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska, and Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas.
No Democrats signed on to the resolution.
The resolution has the support of pro-life blogger Jill Stanek, who said she sees no reason why abortion backers would oppose it.
“What abortion supporter interested in “safe” abortions could possibly oppose investigating and outing unsafe abortion clinics nationwide? We shall soon see,” she said.
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Stanek continued: “The resolution also addresses an issue that is long overdue, to “evaluate the extent to which such abortions involved violations of the natural right to life of infants who are born alive or are capable of being born alive.” The Born Alive Infants Protection Act was passed in 2002, but there has never been any follow-up to determine whether the law was being violated. Since then, incidents have been reported of abortion survivors who were left to die, such as the baby who was born alive in a toilet in an Orlando, Florida, abortion clinic in 2005, and who clinic workers abandoned to die despite pleas from his mother; or the baby who was zipped still alive in a biohazard bag and thrown on the roof of a Hialeah, Florida, abortion clinic in 2006.”
Stanek is also happy the resolution addresses the issue of fetal pain, interstate trafficking for abortions, the woeful lack of abortion reporting among the states, unenforced abortion clinic regulations, and mentions as an example of unsafe abortion clinics the “meat market” that is Planned Parenthood of Delaware.
