Congresswoman Reneee Ellmers made herself into a thorn in the side of the pro-life movement when she flip-flopped on her support for a major pro-life bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Now, she’s angering pro-life advocates even further.
Ellmers was the subject of considerable angst from millions of pro-life people after her backtracking on the bill led to a handful of other lawmakers pulling their support over the bill and forcing House Republican leaders to have to delay a vote on the pro-life legislation. After the March for Life, pro-life leaders and activists protested outside Ellmers’ office and there has been strong talk about running a pro-life candidate in her next primary election as a result of her fli-flop.
Now, Ellmers has written an editorial calling pro-life groups “abhorrent and childist” that is sure to alienate her from the pro-life community even further.
“Recently, a bill was scheduled to reach the House floor called the Pain Capable bill, which would – and rightfully so– ban all abortions after a 20-week gestation period. Research has shown a baby can feel pain in the womb from the 20th week until live birth. As any member of Congress should do when apprehensive with language in a bill, my colleagues and I took our concerns to leadership, and we held a discussion within the family of our Republican Conference,” Ellmers writes. “I remain disappointed that the concern for the language of mandatory reporting of rape to law enforcement held by House Republican women and many men were not addressed before our leadership made the decision to pull the bill from the House floor in the eleventh hour.”
“Additionally, I am appalled by the abhorrent and childish behaviors from some of the leaders of the outside groups,” she added.
Though Ellmers criticizes House Republican leaders over the language of the bill, the measure has the exact same language Ellmers voted for previously.
The leading pro-life group behind the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the ban on abortions after 20 weeks, is calling on pro-life voters to hold accountable the “pro-life” Republican lawmakers who sabotaged a vote on the bill.
Carol Tobias, the president of the National Right to Life Committee, is calling on pro-life advocates to hold them accountable.
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In an email to supporters that LifeNews.com received titled “Elected Officials Who Betray Unborn Babies Have to Go,” Tobias said, “Last week, a small handful of congresswomen and men did something absolutely unconscionable. These lawmakers claim to be “pro-life,” and they were elected to Congress in part because they promised their constituents they would support laws to save the lives of unborn babies.”
“But despite their solemn promises to their pro-life constituents and more important, to the unborn, they ganged up last week to sidetrack for now the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This humane bill would ban abortions when an unborn baby is developed enough feel terrible pain during an abortion – and if you can’t vote for such a humanitarian no-brainer of a law to protect the unborn, you can’t be trusted to vote for any pro-life legislation,” Tobias added.
Jill Stanek, a pro-life nurse and writer, was one of the pro-life activists leading the protest against Ellmers.
“Having personally held a twenty-week old abortion survivor for forty-five minutes until he died. I can personally attest to the fact that these babies feel excruciating pain as they die,” she told LifeNews.com. “Congresswoman Ellmers attempt to block a bill to protect these babies is reprehensible. I will be protesting at her office today in memory of the baby I held.”
Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of Susan B. Anthony List is also disappointed by the actions of those handful of lawmakers who sabotaged the vote.
“While we are disappointed that the House will not be voting on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act today, we are pleased that the House is moving forward to stop taxpayer funding of abortion,” she said. “We support Majority Leader McCarthy’s call for a prompt vote on Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act this Congress and we will be working with the House Republican leadership to ensure the maximum number of votes. We will also be working with the bill’s sponsor Senator Lindsey Graham to continue advancing this measure in the U.S. Senate. Both the House Leadership and Senator Graham have assured us they are not backing down.”
