Twenty Weeks

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on measure H.R. 36 tomorrow. It's called the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The bill would make it illegal to perform an abortion on a fetus that is at least 20 weeks gestation. This is the hill for social conservatives to fight on.

The exceptions include needing to "save the life of a pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness, or injury, excluding psychological or emotional conditions; or (2) where the pregnancy is the result of rape, or the result of incest against a minor, if the rape has been reported at any time prior to the abortion to an appropriate law enforcement agency, or if the incest has been reported at any time prior to the abortion to an appropriate law enforcement agency or to a government agency legally authorized to act on reports of child abuse or neglect."

This is the hill for social conservatives to fight and die on. There are plenty of 20-24 week old fetuses in NICU. Twenty weeks is a viable fetus, a living human being.

Obama will veto this bill if and when it reaches his desk. And why not? He voted against the Born Alive Infants Protection Act when he was an Illinois State Senator. He spoke against the bill on the floor of the Senate. Barack Obama would require that a mewling infant that survived an abortion be denied any efforts at resuscitation.

Late term abortion polls pretty badly, too. According to Gallup, twenty-seven percent of Americans support second-trimester abortions. Only 14 percent support third-trimester abortion. The percentage of people supporting late-term abortion has been falling for years.

GOP Representative Renee Ellmers, NC-2, has been flip-flopping on the issue. Yesterday, she withdrew her name as a co-sponsor of the bill. She said, The first vote we take, or the second vote, or the fifth vote, shouldn’t be on an issue where we know that millennials – social issues just aren’t as important [to them]." I wouldn't be so sure about that, Renee. Millennials grew up in an age of sonograms. They can tell with their own eyes that there is a little human being in there.

Another of her objections to the bill is the requirement that a rape victim has to file a police report. The article reports that "according to statistics from the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, more than two-thirds of sexual assaults go unreported." Well, if the woman wants to claim she was impregnated by rape, she should be reporting it to the police, so rapists aren't out there walking around with the rest of us.

My favorite part of this bill is the exemption for the health of the mother, "excluding psychological or emotional conditions." If you think having an abortion will prevent your emotional problems, then go to the pharmacy and get your pill. If you don't do that, make sure you get to the abortion mill before you are six months pregnant.

This is the hill.