November 15, 2023
If you’re tuned into the mainstream media right now, you might think that the road to future abortion policy has only two choices to move forward: we can turn radically Left for abortion through all nine months for any reason or turn widly Left and support more than 9 in 10 abortions by drawing a line at 15 weeks’ gestation (almost 4 months of pregnancy). But that’s a false dichotomy, and it’s meant to keep the pro-life movement down.
It’s a Heads I Win, Tails You Lose dynamic that pumps up abortion industry profits no matter what the “choice” is.
In reality, the road to abortion policy goes more places than those two choices. In fact, it’s more similar to an interchange (when many roads are elevated over one another with different options for travel) than even a crossroads because the pro-life movement has a lot up their sleeve when it comes to protecting life.
An interchange
Here’s some pro-life legislation moving at the federal level in Washington D.C. that Students for Life Action (SFLAction) supports or has helped to introduce that is currently on the move:
Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (S. 204)
Introduced by Senator Thune of South Dakota, this bill would prohibit abortionists from “failing to exercise the proper degree of care” when a child is born alive after a failed abortion and causing them to die outside the womb. The bill also institutes mandatory reporting of policy violations and directs that whoever is found to intentionally kill a child outside of the womb after a failed abortion will be tried for killing a human being (with the exception of the mother).
Noted as a supporter of this bill in the Hill press release announcing it, SFLAction President Kristan Hawkins said:
“The extremism of the Democratic party leadership and the abortion lobby in opposing an end to infanticide shows how out of step they are with most Americans. It’s inhumane to stand by while children are allowed to die even as they survive an abortion, and we have the voices of those who have survived that horrific gauntlet allowing us to see the life and death stakes. This is long overdue and represents a place to begin in this new year, and the Pro-Life Generation calls on Congress to finally end this human rights atrocity. Ending infanticide should be a place of bipartisan agreement.”
Every baby deserves medical care
To learn more about Born Alive Protections, click HERE to read another SFLAction blog entitled “Why This Kansas State Representative Fought for Born Alive Protections: He Watched a Baby Die After Surviving an Abortion.”
Ending Chemical Abortion Act of 2023 (H.R. 5806)
Introduced with the help of SFLAction by Representative Ogles of Tennessee, this bill aims to prohibit Chemical Abortions by making it illegal to “prescribes, dispenses, distributes or sell” any drug for the purpose of abortion. Those who violated this potential law would face imprisonment and/or fines (with clear exceptions for the mother).
Also included in this House press release, Hawkins stated:
“The abortion radicals in the Biden Administration, while claiming to care about the environment, actually allow chemically tainted placenta tissue, blood, and human remains to be flushed into our waterways, where plant, animal, and aquatic life are exposed to what remains. The pills are clearly deadly to the preborn and exceptionally harmful to women.
“In fact, Students for Life of America & SFLAction have prioritized ending exposure to the killing metabolites in Chemical Abortion pills, which have four times the rate of injury and ten times the death rate of surgical abortions, which are also deadly. Also troubling, during the Clinton, Obama, and now Biden Administration, no FDA or EPA environmental assessments were completed to ensure that dumping human remains was not a hazard to all life. Not even hospitals or brick-and-mortar abortion vendors can get away with that.”
Heartbeat Protection Act (H.R. 175)
Introduced by Representative Kelly of Pennsylvania, this bill would mandate that before an abortion is committed, a check for a fetal heartbeat must be performed, and if such a heartbeat is detected, the abortion would be prohibited and the preborn child would be protected.
The preborn’s heart begins to beat around 21 days after conception, and this is typically detectable via medical technology around five and half to six weeks of pregnancy.
As the lack of a heartbeat is a universal sign of death, why wouldn’t the presence of a heartbeat be a universal sign of life? In fact, it is!
Life at Conception Act (H.R. 431)
Sponsored by Representative Mooney from West Virginia, this bill would utilize the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution to guarantee equal protection under the law for the “right to life of each born and preborn human person.” This bill also has clear language stating that “nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child.”
No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion & Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2023 (H.R. 7 & S. 62)
Sponsored by Senator Wicker of Mississippi and Representative Smith of New Jersey, these twin bills would further clarify rules and prohibit federal taxpayer dollars from supporting in abortion in any way.
Protecting Life on College Campus Act (H.R. 435 & S.B 16)
Also created with the assistance of SFLAction, this bill was introduced by Congressman Roy of Texas with Senator Steve Daines of Montana. It would bar federal funds from higher education institutions that affiliate themselves with sites providing abortions to students or institution employees. On top of this, to continue receiving federal monies, these schools would need to submit yearly reports to the Secretaries of Education and Health and Human Services, confirming they do not promote such sites.
Endorsing this bill, Hawkins said:
“Telling students that they can’t succeed in life without abortion is a defeatist and harmful message from any college or university and has no place in our taxpayer-funded schools. The Protecting Life on College Campus Act of 2023 will ensure that the campus health centers help students stay healthy and learn the skills for a career, not be hijacked as a mouthpiece for the abortion industry advocating for ending the lives of future students. Pregnancy is not a disease cured by abortion. Ending young life should not be paid for or endorsed by schools whose mandates should stay focused on building hope and a future.”
Providing for Life Act of 2023 S. 74
Sponsored by Senators Rubio of Florida and Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, this bill would have many different life-affirming effects on our society. These include:
- Enabling paid parental leave
- Increasing the Child Tax Credit
- Expanding the Child Support Enforcement requirements
- Providing further funding and reforms to the Women, Child, and Infants Program
- Expanding adoption tax relief
- Lowering barriers to faith-based organizations to participate in social services
- Creating a grant program to mentor low-income mothers
- Making a clearinghouse of resources for pregnant women
- Furthering support for pregnancy resource centers
- Enforcing the rights of pregnant college students
Clearly, there isn’t only one answer when it comes to what strategy the pro-life movement is working to protect the preborn — and that’s because we are a big-tent movement with creative thinkers in every corner (just check out what the New York Times had to say about House Speaker Mike Johnson’s pro-life record as an example).
SFLAction continues to engage with and promote these legislative efforts, recognizing the value of each one in creating a life-affirming culture.
Keep reading the SFLAction blog and follow us on social media to learn about all the ways that life is being protected in law and in service.