The days of pro-life advocates pushing back against Roe v. Wade are over. Radical abortion activists have hijacked the Democratic Party and are ushering in a wave of laws that remove all protections from unborn children and even those born alive. The line has moved from abortion to infanticide.
It was on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal across the country that New York lawmakers gave a standing ovation for legislation that would not only allow the killing of unborn children up until the moment of birth, it also stripped away protections for children who survive the life-taking procedure. The radical departure from previous law on the issue now takes away an infant’s right to a life outside the mother’s womb.
New York’s murderous law has been touted as a crowning achievement for Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The former altar boy has heard calls from Catholic bishops across the country for his excommunication. If Christians in other parts of the nation think that New York values are extreme and outside the church, the trend among Democrats has taken root in other states as well.
In Rhode Island, considered among the bluest of blue states, state Reps. Edith Ajello and Sen. Gayle Goldin have been floating a bill called “Reproductive Health Care Act” since 2017. The bill would eliminate any and all restriction for a woman to have an abortion up until the moment of birth. The bill seeks to change the language in existing law that puts some restrictions on abortion when the unborn child is deemed viable.
The new language would say that “the state, nor any of its agencies, or political subdivisions shall… restrict an individual person from terminating that individual’s pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to preserve the health or life of that individual…”
R.I. state lawmakers are pressing to change existing law to include abortion up until the moment of birth if the mother’s “health or life” are at risk. While life-threatening situations would be rare, the use of the word “health” would likely extend to mental health as well. Should woman become emotionally distraught and decide to have a late-term abortion out of fear, the child would be killed. In many cases, women suffer from extreme guilt and anxiety for the remainder of their lives after such choices.
Like New York, liberal extremists are directing the party’s agenda, and abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood and individual abortion doctors are big Democrat campaign donors. Both Gov. Gina Raimondo and Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea have ties to abortion money. By contrast, the pro-life lobby is relatively powerless in the union’s smallest state.
In Virginia, legislation has also been introduced to allow abortion right up until the moment of birth.
“How late in the third trimester could a physician perform an abortion if he indicated it would impair the mental health of the woman?” GOP Delegate Todd Gilbert reportedly asked the bill’s sponsor Kathy Tran.
“Through the third trimester,” Tran reportedly said “The third trimester goes all the way up to 40 weeks. . . . I don’t think we have a limit in the bill.”
The state’s governor had a further take on the proposed legislation that would go beyond children still in the womb. He indicated in a live interview that children’s lives could be conceivably taken post-birth.
“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam reportedly said in a live interview. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
That discussion could result in the baby being legally murdered under the proposed Virginia legislation supported by the governor.
Given the reckless disregard for life by state-level Democrats, conservative Republicans in Congress have been moving forward with legislation designed to protect the lives of unborn children, implement criminal penalties against doctors who perform late-term abortions, and eliminate the possibility of post-delivery murder.
Pro-life Republicans proposed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act in response to states such as New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Supported by senators such as Florida’s Marco Rubio and South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham among others, the bill says that “any health care practitioner present” is required to “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child” as a “reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”
Democrats have blocked the bill from receiving a floor vote. Although gatherings such as the March for Life and others are garnering increased support, pro-life supporters are now fighting a battle that goes far beyond Roe v. Wade.
