To pass or defeat legislation in Congress, it frequently takes a bipartisan effort of pro-life Republicans and Democrats working together to accomplish the goal.
For decades, the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus has brought these lawmakers together and provided them resources to fight the legislative battles and network with allied pro-life organizations.
Today, Rep. Chris Smith, the pro-life champion from New Jersey, announced that he and pro-life Rep. Dan Lipinski will head the caucus as the next session of Congress provides pro-life advocates their highest numbers ever in the House of Representatives.
“Dan Lipinski and I have—and will continue to—work hard together to provide needed protection for unborn children and their mothers,” Smith, who has been the co-chairman of the Caucus since 1982, told LifeNews.com.
Lipinski, who was lauded by pro-life groups for standing up as one of the few pro-life Democrats to vote against ObamaCare over abortion funding, says he is committed to working with Smith and other pro-life lawmakers to protect unborn children.
“Protection of unborn children must be a legislative priority in the 112th Congress and I look forward to leading this bipartisan coalition of pro-life Members with Chris Smith as we continue our work to protect innocent human life,” he said.
Smith says the next session of Congress can be a productive one and will center on two bills to stop abortion funding and funding of abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood.
“We have an aggressively pro-life legislative agenda for the new Congress which includes rolling back federal funding for abortion and the abortion industry starting with H.R. 5939 the ‘No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,’ which Dan and I introduced in August of 2010, and H.R. 5111, the ‘Protect Life Act,’ which Dan introduced with Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA-16),” he explained.
The first bill would ensure there is no taxpayer funding for abortions across the board with respect to all federal departments and agencies.
The second bill targets ObamaCare and ensures abortion funding is not allowed under it.
The Pro-life Caucus “is a bipartisan organization of House Members which provides information to Members of Congress on legislation and issues related to pro-life concerns,” its statement of purpose says.
“We understand that the taking of innocent human life must be stopped and that all persons–regardless of age, health, sex, race, stage of development or condition of dependence–must be guaranteed their full constitutional safeguards,” it says.
