Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio is calling on the U.S. Senate to take up the House-pass Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act a pro-life bill that bans abortions from after 20-weeks of pregnancy up to the day of birth.
Yesterday’s vote for the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act broke down on mostly partisan lines with Republicans supporting the ban on late-term abortions and Democrats opposing it. The House approved the bill on a 242-184 vote with four Democrats voting for the bill and five Republicans voting against it.
The bill now heads to the Senate, where pro-life Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already promised a vote. Urging McConnell to move ahead quickly with a vote, pro-life Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted today that he hopes action happens soon.
“With the House passing #HR36 yesterday, I hope the Senate will take it up immediately,” he tweeted.
The tweet led to a 2014 statement Rubio issued supporting the bill the House passed the first time, that pro-abortion Harry Reid, then the majority Leader, refused to allow on the Senate floor for a vote.
“Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of murder for killing three babies born alive during illegal late-term abortions. His shameful indifference to the lives of both these victims and the desperate women he claimed to treat shocked the nation. On this first anniversary of Gosnell’s conviction, we are reminded of the work that remains to protect the most innocent and vulnerable among us,” Rubo said in that statement.
Rubio said the pro-life bill “would protect unborn babies beginning at 20 weeks – more than halfway through pregnancy – when science reveals that they can feel excruciating pain.”
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“The dignity of each and every human life is fundamental. And deep disagreements exist among our people about abortion, surely we should aspire to be a nation where we protect unborn babies who can feel pain, respond to touch, and recognize their mothers’ voices,” he added.
“This legislation is sound policy and widely supported by the public. Yet sadly, this is a policy on which the United States lags far behind the rest of the world. According to a recent study released by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the United States is one of only seven countries that allow elective abortion past 20 weeks, joining, among others, China and North Korea. This is a tragedy that cannot stand,” he said.
