Franklin Graham: We’re One of the “7 Worst Nations in the World” Because We Kill Babies in Late-Term Abortions

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Feb 1, 2018   |   11:15AM   |   Washington, DC

Evangelical Christian leader Franklin Graham expressed his disappointment and frustration Wednesday at the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass a 20-week abortion ban.

“This week the Senate was 9 votes short of saving a lot of lives. But the vote finished at 51 for – 46 against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks in the U.S.,” Graham wrote on Twitter, Breitbart reports.

Despite strong public support, the pro-life legislation failed to pass the U.S. Senate Monday because there were not enough votes to overcome pro-abortion Democrats’ filibuster. The bill would have prohibited abortions after 20 weeks when unborn babies are capable of feeling excruciating pain.

“We remain among the worst 7 countries in the world with these 20-week abortions,” Graham continued. “Pray for our lawmakers; and pray for our nation to turn to God.”

He correctly pointed out that the bill was a moderate abortion regulation that would have put America in line with most of the rest of the world. The United States is one of only seven countries in the world that permits elective abortions past 20 weeks a fact confirmed by the Washington Post fact checker.

Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, has been a strong advocate for life in America. He lamented that 46 Senators, including more than a dozen who call themselves Christians, voted against the legislation.

“I cannot imagine the regret these 46 politicians will one day have when they stand before God, the Creator, and realize the opportunity they had to do good, to do right, but they voted NO to protecting lives,” he said. “They voted against human rights, the right to be born in the first place.

“After the vote, President Donald J. Trump even said, ‘Scientific studies have demonstrated that babies in the womb feel pain at twenty weeks … We must defend those who cannot defend themselves,’” Graham continued.

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must Ban Late-Term Abortions

Polls consistently show strong public support for a 20-week abortion ban, including a majority of Democrats and women. However, just three Democrats in the Senate supported the bill. Two Republicans opposed it.

Fourteen Senators who opposed the bill claim to be Catholic, including former vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine of Virginia, according to Breitbart.

The bill would have saved as many as 18,000 unborn babies form abortions every year in the U.S. The U.S. House passed the bill last year, and President Donald Trump promised to sign it.

Sixteen states enacted similar laws to protect unborn babies from painful, late-term abortions after 20 weeks.  These include Ohio, Texas, Nebraska, Idaho, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas.

Though abortion advocates deny the science of fetal pain at 20 weeks, researchers have fully established fetal pain at 20 weeks or earlier. Dr. Steven Zielinski, an internal medicine physician from Oregon, is one of the leading researchers into it. He first published reports in the 1980s to validate research showing evidence for unborn pain.

At 20 weeks, the unborn child has all the parts in place – the pain receptors, spinal cord, nerve tracts, and thalamus – needed for transmitting and feeling pain. The unborn child responds to touch as early as week 6; and by week 18, pain receptors have appeared throughout the child’s body.