Dozens of pro-life groups lobbied for the bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and the House approved the bill Tuesday afternoon, with a 32-vote margin.
Several pro-life groups have already issued statements within the first hour following passage of the bill. Below is a collection of some of the statements LifeNews has received.
National Right to Life:
“This legislation reflects the views of the overwhelming majority of both men and women,” said NRLC President Carol Tobias. “The Obama White House, and all but a handful of House Democrats, fought for essentially unlimited abortion in the sixth month or later, despite growing public awareness of the violence perpetrated by late-term abortionists such as Kermit Gosnell and the pain they inflict on unborn babies.”
Tobias said a veto threat issued yesterday by the Obama White House was not surprising, “because as a legislator, Barack Obama said he would trust abortionists to take good care of any babies born alive — he would trust the Gosnells, in other words. Obama’s veto threat harkened back to his opposition to the ban on partial-birth abortion, and his attacks on the Supreme Court for upholding the ban on that brutal method of late abortion.”
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins:
“I applaud the House vote on a bill that is truly informed by modern science, which shows unborn children are fully capable of experiencing pain by 20 weeks after fertilization. Unborn children in their sixth month of pregnancy or later are routinely given anesthesia during prenatal surgery, so this legislation conforms federal abortion law to modern science.
“It’s disappointing that the president is stuck in the Roe v. Wade science of the ’70s and has threatened to veto the bill. Ignoring modern science is harmful to both unborn children and mothers, as we know babies can survive as early as 22 weeks after gestation. The horrific pain of being ripped apart limb by limb must be stopped.
“Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s house of horrors shows we must stop late abortion. He was convicted of murdering babies born alive but also of 21 counts of illegal late abortions after 24 weeks in violation of state law. Yet many states continue to allow these brutal late abortions through the ninth month.
“The only difference between killing a baby born alive and aborting them just prior to birth is location. Human dignity is not dependent upon location.
“We call on the Senate to update legal protection for pain-capable children and pass this legislation to stop future Gosnells. Americans overwhelmingly support restrictions to late abortion and we urge the Senate to ignore the president’s advisors and pass the House bill,” concluded Perkins.
Susan B. Anthony List:
“Congress has taken an important first step toward making sure we stop abortionists like Kermit Gosnell and his horrific abortion clinic and procedures. The House listened to the overwhelming majority of Americans, men and women, who instinctively recoil at the dehumanizing and degrading practice of late-term abortion,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the SBA List. “This pro-woman, pro-science, Constitutional bill deserves an immediate vote in the U.S. Senate. It’s simple: children capable of experiencing unimaginable pain from abortion must be protected across the country.
“The big abortion industry cannot defend late-term abortions. Americans are disturbed by the callous nature of this practice, the disgusting clinic conditions in Pennsylvania, Delaware and other states, the 330,000 abortions Planned Parenthood of America performs every year as it receives half a billion in taxpayer dollars, and the repeated harm women experience as a result of their exploitation. Women and the unborn deserve better than abortion, and making late-term abortions illegal is a simple step in that direction. Votes have consequences. Congress should take note we’re pulling together our 2014 target list tonight.”
Concerned Women for America:
“We applaud the House of Representatives for a brave vote for life. Today, women led the vote and the lobbying on a monumental bill. After the Kermit Gosnell trial, the American people were horrified and demanded action and, today, the House answered by passing the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Gosnell was not an aberration, and we praise the legislators who acted to prevent future babies from the same fate. Now the battle moves to the Senate. Supporters of this bill recognize that these babies can’t speak for themselves but that they can feel pain and respond to their mother’s voice.
“Our members were overwhelmingly engaged in this battle. This movement was driven by women. CWALAC saw 250,000 members actively engaged on this bill, knowing how monumental this vote is and its potential to change the debate in our country. We praise them and their legislators for their courage to take on this issue.”
The Catholic Association:
“The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act passed Tuesday in the House will save lives. We are deeply grateful to the supporters of this bill. The brutality of the Gosnell case demonstrated that not only is late-term abortion a danger to viable babies, but to women as well. A recent poll reported that only 14 percent of Americans support third-trimester abortions and only 27 percent support second-trimester abortions showing that Americans overwhelmingly support restrictions on late-term abortion.” Ashley McGuire, Senior Fellow with The Catholic Association
“We commend Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn and the House for voting to limit late-term abortion in the wake of the murder conviction of Dr. Kermit Gosnell. The overwhelming majority of Americans support such a ban, recognizing that there is no difference between a fetus in-utero in the sixth month of pregnancy and a baby in the NICU born at six months of pregnancy, except the protection of the law.” Maureen Ferguson, Senior Policy Advisor with The Catholic Association
Americans United for Life:
Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest commended the U.S. House for voting to limit abortion after a child reaches 20 weeks – or about 6 months – of pregnancy. “Even though the bill did not contain explicit findings regarding the adverse effects of late term abortion on maternal health, there is no dispute that the health risks of abortion to women greatly increases with late-term procedures and the pain endured by the child in the womb is clearly horrific,” said Dr. Yoest. “I applaud the members of the U.S. House for respecting the viewpoint of the vast majority of women, who do not support such gruesome abortion procedures performed against fully formed infants.”
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
“This bill both safeguards unborn children and takes an important and necessary step toward protecting the health and safety of women from the dangers inherent in abortion,” said Dr. Yoest, who noted that a woman seeking an abortion at 20 weeks is 35 times more likely to die from abortion than she was in the first trimester. At 21 weeks or more, she is 91 times more likely to die from abortion than she was in the first trimester.
“Now the members of the U.S. Senate should stand with the women of America protect women and unborn, infant children, from dangerous, later-term procedures,” said Dr. Yoest.
Indiana Right to Life:
“We applaud Reps. Susan Brooks (IN-5), Larry Buschon (IN-8), Luke Messer (IN-6), Todd Rokita (IN-4), Marlin Stutzman (IN-3), Jackie Walorski (IN-2) and Todd Young (IN-9) for protecting innocent human life from a horrific abortion procedure when they are capable of feeling pain,” stated Becky Rogness, Communications Director for Indiana Right to Life. “These unborn babies should not suffer by the abortionist’s hand when they will feel the procedure. The passage of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is a positive step forward in valuing our country’s unborn children and will help prevent future atrocities like the kind uncovered in the Kermit Gosnell ‘House of Horrors.'”
