Dangerous Pro-Life Legislation

We pro-lifers have long memories, and politicians who don’t honor their commitments will pay the price.

Unborn babies who might’ve been able to breathe a sigh of relief after 20 weeks have to hold their breath again, thanks to the unconscionable betrayal of Rep. Renee Ellmers and others who followed her lead.

Now potential revisions to the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act could render it worthless—and Ellmers is okay with that.

On January 22^nd, the House was set to vote on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to ban abortion after 20 weeks except in cases such as rape and incest. The bill required that women seeking abortion after five months due to rape had to have already reported the assault to law enforcement. The House passed a similar bill last year, and Rep. Ellmers (R-NC) voted for it.

But this year Ellmers suddenly objected to the reporting requirement and led a revolt among GOP reps to block the vote.

Now, according to Ellmers, the bill has been modified. The changes she described would make the bill worthless, but Ellmers says she’s comfortable with that. Other sources say new language is still being worked out, but if Ellmers gets her way, a woman who wants to kill her unborn baby after five months only has to tell an abortionist she was raped. The abortionist of course would be all too happy to oblige.

Weakening the language like that would damage far more than this one bill. It would set a precedent that could take the teeth out of almost any future pro-life legislation. It would allow politicians to say they’re pro-life without having to take any real stand.

If a woman reports a rape to law enforcement—and she has five months to do so— her health and her baby’s health can be protected. Statements can be taken and evidence collected, and the rapist can be caught and convicted. If she tells only the abortionist, who has a lucrative financial stake in the abortion, none of these protections happen. Instead, the baby feels unimaginable pain as he or she is dismembered and discarded and the mother is left to cope with a second act of unspeakable violence.

Only the rapist remains untouched.

I’ve spoken to women who agreed to abortion after rape and then struggled in ways they never imagined and no one warned them about—certainly not the abortionist. I’ve also spoken to men and women who were conceived in rape, and they’re universally grateful for their mothers’ courage. You can meet some of them through our TV program, Facing Life Head-On, in the episodes Abortion: The Rape I Consented To and Conceived in Rape.

Pro-abortion activists accuse pro-lifers of lacking compassion and blaming the victim. That’s utter nonsense. No one deserves more compassion than a woman who’s been forcibly raped. She certainly is a victim; the rape is not her fault. But if she becomes pregnant, another innocent life has entered the picture who’s also not at fault. Killing the baby doesn’t undo the rape. It only heaps violence on top of violence and leaves the woman with no justice and two nightmarish memories—many feeling as if they were raped twice.

In a perfect world, we wouldn’t be having this conversation: abortion would not only be illegal but also unthinkable. In a less perfect world, we wouldn’t include a rape exception that heaps violence on violence and harms women.

But until we find enough politicians with enough courage to stop abortion altogether, I urge you to contact your legislators and tell them in no uncertain terms that the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act must truly protect women and the unborn. Tell them that anything less than retaining its original rape reporting language is a pro-abortion vote. Then urge them to go a step better by removing the rape exception altogether.