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By Mary Szoch

On February 28, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will bring the Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act, otherwise known as the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA, S. 1975), to a vote. This legislation codifies Roe v. Wade‘s precedent of legal abortion through the entirety of pregnancy. The bill passed the House in September and needs 60 votes in order to pass the Senate. If the bill does pass and is signed into law, it will become the first-ever piece of federal legislation legalizing the killing of an unborn child.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision ruled that abortion is protected under the U.S. Constitution. In doing so, the Court overturned nearly every state-level protection for life in the womb and usurped the power of state legislators to pass laws reflective of their constituents’ views in regard to protecting the unborn. Currently, only 17 percent of Americans (including 31 percent of Democrats) agree that abortion should be available to a woman any time she wants one during her entire pregnancy (a view in line with Roe and its companion case Doe v. Bolton). Yet after decades of tyranny under Roe, state and federal efforts to protect the unborn have largely failed. That began to change in 2011 with a wave of pro-life laws.

With Democrats currently in control of the U.S. House, Senate, and White House, no one could have predicted the recent success pro-lifers have had protecting life in the womb. Texas passed the Heartbeat Bill, which protects life in the womb once an unborn child’s heartbeat can be detected. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled Texas’ law can remain in effect even as litigation challenging the bill remains ongoing. In another Lone Star State victory, Lubbock, Texas, became a sanctuary city for the unborn and the first place in America to completely protect life in the womb since the Roe decision.

Perhaps most importantly, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which concerns the constitutionality of Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act and pre-viability protections for the unborn. Since the oral arguments in December, many have speculated that the Court will most likely return the issue of legislating on abortion to the states. The Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act is the response of Democrats in Congress.

The Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act is co-sponsored by all but two Democrats. Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) didn’t co-sponsor the bill but did vote to bring it to the Senate floor. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has completely distanced himself from the legislation. This bill embodies the extremism of the Democratic Party platform, which supports abortion through birth.

Bowing to the pro-abortion lobby, Democrats are willing to enshrine a law that would be on par with the abortion policies of notorious human rights abusers China and North Korea instead of one that would be supported by the majority of Americans.

If passed, the legislation would prohibit currently-enacted state legislation that requires the viewing of a fetal ultrasound or detection of a fetal heartbeat before acquiring an abortion. It could undermine existing conscience protections for doctors who do not wish to kill unborn children. It could also eliminate the Hyde Amendment, thereby forcing Americans to fund the atrocity of abortion with their tax dollars.

The Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act notes the evils of white supremacy and anti-Black racism but misguidedly prescribes abortion as the solution. It erroneously argues that the legacy of protections for unborn children has resulted in “enslavement, rape, experimentation on Black women; forced sterilizations; medical experimentation on low-income women’s reproductive systems; and the forcible removal of Indigenous children.”

Instead of solving the problem of racism, the Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act would further perpetuate the harms wrought on minority populations. Instead of resolving inadequacies in maternal health care, the Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act would allow abortionists to kill a mother’s child. Instead of protecting low-income women from medical experimentation, the Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act would create a pipeline of unborn babies to be used for experimentation.

March for Life founder Nellie Grey once said, “[O]n this basic subject of life … there is no compromise. You’re either for or against it. There is no neutrality and there is no in between. You can’t have a little bit of abortion.” She was right.

Every abortion takes the life of an unborn child, not just a little bit of it. The Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act is proof that congressional Democrats do not want a “little bit” of abortion. They want abortion until birth–and they want you to pay for it.

To voice your objections to this wildly extreme bill, click here to contact both of your senators.

** On Monday, in advance of President Biden’s State of the Union address, FRC President Tony Perkins will be delivering remarks on the “State of the Faith, Family, and Freedom” at 8:00 p.m. (ET). Tune in at FRC.org.

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