Abortion advocates at the Guttmacher Institute and other
pro-abortion institutions say they are “fighting back” – introducing more legislation
to expand access to abortion than in any year in recent memory. But pro-life advocates say that public
opinion, and the tide of history, is turning decisively against
abortion-on-demand.
Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager
at the Guttmacher Institute,
announced that more pro-abortion legislation has been introduced this year than
any time in the last 20-years. So far,
14-states have introduced 51-pieces of legislation to expand and strengthen
women's access to abortion, she said, up from 32-bills in 6-states in 2013.
Amanda Allen of the Center for Reproductive Rights told Bloomberg News that 2014 is a “tipping
point” in American legislative history. But
“there is a significant difference between bills introduced and those enacted,”
said Denise Burke, vice president of legal affairs at Americans United for Life. She
told LifeSiteNews.com, “Last year,
for example, more than 350-bills related to abortion were introduced in state
legislatures,” but only about 20% became law … most of them pro-life.
The Guttmacher Institute told LifeSiteNews
that, while dozens of new abortion-expanding bills had been offered, “thus far
this year none have been enacted.” “Last
year two proactive bills in California were enacted,” said Rebecca Wind, senior
communications associate at the Guttmacher
Institute to LifeSiteNews. Last October, Gov. Jerry Brown (CA) signed a
bill allowing non-physicians—including midwives, nurse practitioners, and
physicians' assistants—to perform abortions during the first-trimester by
suction aspiration. The same day, he
signed a bill exempting abortion facilities from more stringent health codes
required for other ambulatory surgical centers.
“Between 2010-2012 there was not much in the way of proactive
legislation,” Wind told LifeSiteNews.
“We have started to see much more in
2013 and 2014.”
On the other hand, more pro-life laws
have become law in the last 3-years than in the previous decade combined. States passed 205 pro-life laws from 2011-2013,
and only 189 between 2001-2010. The largest
number, 82, passed in 2011.
In 2013, governors signed 70 new laws
that “sought to restrict access to abortion services,” according to the Guttmacher Institute. Much of that model legislation was crafted by American United for Life … often by
Burke herself. “Pro-life legislation is
more in tune with the views of the vast majority of the American public who do
not approve of the unlimited and unregulated abortion license sought by
abortion advocacy groups,” she told LifeSiteNews.
Just last week, Alabama lawmakers
passed a bill in the House banning abortions after a heartbeat has been detected.
The bill, if it becomes law, would make
it the strictest abortion law in the U.S., and critics are already decrying it. The bill, HB 490, was passed in the House
with a 73-29 vote. The measure severely
punishes doctors who would go against the legislation by making it a class C
felony for doctors who abort a baby with a heartbeat … as defined by the bill …
and promises to revoke the licenses of doctors who go against it. “This bill would make it unlawful for a physician
to perform an abortion on a pregnant woman after a heartbeat has been detected
from the unborn child in accordance with the applicable standards of medical care
for determining heartbeats of unborn children,” explains a synopsis of the bill
HB 490. “This bill would further require
a physician to check for a detectable heartbeat prior to performing an
abortion.” The term ‘abortion’ as
defined by the bill does not include pregnancies terminated due to the unborn child
having a “lethal anomaly” meaning it would die at childbirth or be stillborn. The bill also allows for the termination of
ectopic pregnancies as well as others medically determined to be
life-threatening for the mother.
Jennifer Dalven, director of the ACLU’s
Reproductive Freedom Project called
the bill “blatantly” unconstitutional. A
fetal heartbeat, say critics, can be detected as early as 5-6-weeks into a pregnancy
when many women don't even realize they are pregnant.
Republican state Rep. Mary Sue
McClurkin, who sponsored the bill, said it was needed to protect the lives of
unborn children. “If your heart is
beating that means you are alive,” she explained during a committee hearing. The bill, along with three other abortion
restriction bills, now goes to the Senate, notes Reuters, which highlights that similar efforts in North Dakota and Arkansas
have been blocked by courts pending lawsuits.
The
Apostle Paul said, where sin increases, grace increases all the more (Romans
5:20). He tells us that sin is all about
death, while grace is all about life.
God is all about life; He is pro-life!
Those who are truly of God can only be on that side of the equation. You can’t calculate it any other way.
Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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