As abortion-restricting legislation reaches new heights at the state level across the nation, congressional pro-life legislators are planning unprecedented efforts to save lives of the unborn, while pro-abortion Republicans hold firm: “I’ve been supporting a woman’s right to choose throughout my time in public life. [I want to] make sure that we don’t overturn Roe v. Wade . . .” says Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Illinois).
UPDATE 4/7/15: Now Illegal to Rip Unborn Babies Limb From Limb in Kansas & Oklahoma
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
75% of Abortion Clinics Closed: Jan. 2015 vs. 1991
Abortionists Lament Ever-greater State Limits
Missouri Legislators Override Governor's Veto: Pro-life Law
Democrats Restrict Abortion in Louisiana and South Carolina
Also read Abortion Rates Plunge: Liberals Fume, Call for More Access
-- From "GOP hopes it’s cracked the abortion code" by Burgess Everett and Lauren French, Politico 1/12/15
Now, with Congress and two-thirds of state legislatures under GOP control, the party hopes the 20-week [gestation limit for abortion] offers a moment of unity while aligning Republicans with polls that show most Americans support such a [limit] . . . an easy-to-explain proposal they believe will animate their base without alienating swing voters who might be turned off by a frontal assault on Roe v. Wade. The 20th week — about halfway through a typical pregnancy — approaches the point when a fetus is viable outside the womb. It’s also the time at which anti-abortion activists maintain that unborn fetuses can feel pain.
Their first salvo will come from the House, where GOP leaders plan to vote on a federal 20-week abortion ban on Jan. 22. That’s the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade and falls on the same day as the March for Life, an annual mass demonstration of anti-abortion activists on the streets of Washington.
And eight major potential Republican presidential hopefuls are on board with the national ban, cementing the party’s abortion plank long before primary season. Besides [former Florida governor Jeb] Bush and [Kentucky Sen. Rand] Paul, that list includes Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, Govs. Mike Pence of Indiana and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. Huckabee and Bush are the two candidates who have taken the most concrete steps toward running.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "The GOP wants to take the abortion wars national again" by Irin Carmon, MSNBC 1/8/15
. . . Monday, the first day of the new session, Rep. Trent Franks and Rep. Marsha Blackburn reintroduced the tendentiously named “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.” It bans abortion after 20 weeks on the medically-disputed theory that fetuses can feel pain at that point.
Republicans are now surely feeling confident after a focus on reproductive rights didn’t deter a GOP wave in the midterm elections, including in purple Colorado. And the optics have improved, too. Thanks to that election, they’ve gone from two anti-abortion women in the Senate, Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Sen. Deb Fischer, to four, with the addition of Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Sen. Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia. Capito ran as a moderate, but has already voted for the House version.
Meanwhile, one way or another, the Supreme Court is expected to address the abortion issue after long avoiding it. Ever since Justice Anthony Kennedy expressed his distaste for later abortions in Gonzales v. Carhart, the decision upholding the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, anti-abortion legal strategists have been hoping to use a 20 week ban to chip away at Roe v. Wade.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "GOP renews funding fight against Planned Parenthood" by Sarah Ferris, The Hill 1/8/15
More than 80 House Republicans are again seeking to block federal funding for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, saying they want to defund "the big abortion industry.”
"Planned Parenthood and organizations like it that profit off the destruction of innocent life do not deserve one more dime from American taxpayers,” Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) wrote in a release Thursday after reintroducing the bill.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-chairman of the Pro-Life Caucus, said the federal government should not be supporting Planned Parenthood at all, describing the nonprofit as “Child Abuse, Incorporated.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Planned Parenthood Reports its Abortions & Profits Increased Last Year
And read Taxpayers Provide Almost Half of Planned Parenthood's $Billion$
From "Abortion Restrictions Pick Up Steam in GOP-Led States" by Arian Campo-Flores and Cameron McWhirter, Wall Street Journal 1/11/15
GOP gains in legislatures across the U.S. are boosting abortion foes seeking to spread restrictive laws to more states or devise new approaches to limit the procedure, advocates on both sides say.
Antiabortion bills have been filed in advance of this year’s legislative sessions in at least 10 states, including Missouri, South Carolina and Texas, with more sure to come, said Elizabeth Nash, state-issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute. The proposals range from declaring that “personhood” begins at fertilization to requiring medical professionals to conduct ultrasounds on pregnant women and display the results to them.
The National Right to Life Committee, a federation of antiabortion groups, plans to push for abortion bans after about 20 weeks of pregnancy in states such as South Carolina and West Virginia, said Mary Spaulding Balch, director of state legislation. Such measures, already in effect in 10 states, rely on the contested argument that fetuses can feel pain at that point.
Meanwhile, Americans United for Life intends to continue promoting a package of measures it has championed in recent years that include restrictions on the use of abortion-inducing drugs and stiffer regulations for clinics, [AUL President Charmaine] Yoest said. The group also will keep pressing for laws that require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, an approach that has triggered litigation across the country and resulted in the closure of about half the clinics in Texas.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Abortion Hostility Depends on Your Zip Code" by Lindsay Menard-Freeman, posted at Huffington Post 1/7/15
From 2011 to 2014, the number of legislative restrictions against abortion rights skyrocketed to 231, quadrupling the number of restrictions within just three years. In 2014 alone, legislators enacted 26 brand new measures to restrict access to abortion rights.
According to a new report by the Guttmacher Institute, the number of measures enacted are not just surging, but the severity of these 'hostility' classifications is alarming and threatening to women's rights.
To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.
From "Abortion by ZIP Code" by Lucia Graves and Libby Isenstein, National Journal 1/6/15
A recent analysis of state abortion laws by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-rights think tank, categorized states with four to five abortion restrictions as "hostile" to abortion, and placed states with more than five restrictions into the "extremely hostile" camp.
It's not just a matter of outright abortion bans. The restrictive measures include a variety of measures making abortions more difficult to obtain, from expanding mandatory waiting periods to making it more difficult for minors to access those services.
But there is a silver lining for abortion advocates. Over the past year, some lawmakers have pushed back against the rising tide of restrictions, introducing 95 measures designed to expand access to abortion in 17 states. While the win is dubious—only four of those measures have actually been signed into law—that still accounts for more pro-abortion measures than have been introduced in any year since 1990.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "In Just the Last Four Years, States Have Enacted 231 Abortion Restrictions" posted at the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute 1/5/15
. . . In 2000, 31% of women of reproductive age lived in a state hostile to abortion rights, with no women living in a state with enough restrictions to be considered extremely hostile. By 2014, 57% of women lived in a state that is either hostile or extremely hostile to abortion rights.
[The 2014] midterm election results provide good reason to be concerned about a renewed focus on restricting abortion in the upcoming 2015 legislative sessions. Republican legislators, who overwhelmingly oppose abortion rights, solidified their dominance in the states. Republicans will now control both legislative chambers in 30 states, three more than in 2014; in 23 of those states, the governor will also be Republican. Democrats will control both legislative chambers and the governor’s mansion in only seven states. In addition, the ballot initiative approved in Tennessee likely will open the door to additional restrictions in that state.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
