Senate Democrats will consider legislation on July 15 that would undermine pro-life laws across the country, if passed. Titled the “Women’s Health Protection Act”, S.1696 is considered “the most radical pro-abortion bill ever considered by Congress” by some pro-life organizations.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, would remove almost all current protections for unborn children and void limitations on abortion. Pro-abortion proponents have been advocating heavily for the bill since it’s introduction last year.
The legislation would make “unlawful a measure or action that restricts the provision of abortion services, or the facilities that provide them, that is similar to any of those described above if it singles out abortion services or make abortion services more difficult to access and does not significantly advance women’s health or the safety of abortion services.”
Legislation summary notes that the measure will implement the following restrictions on abortion law:
- a prohibition or ban prior to fetal viability;
- a prohibition after fetal viability when, in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating physician, continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the woman’s life or health;
- a restriction that limits a woman’s ability to obtain an immediate abortion when a health care professional believes, based on good-faith medical judgment, that delay would pose a risk to the woman’s health; and
- a prohibition or restriction on obtaining an abortion prior to fetal viability based on a woman’s reasons or perceived reasons or that requires her to state her reasons before obtaining an abortion prior to fetal viability.
The National Right to Life Committee notes that the bill is an expansion of the “Freedom of Choice Act” promoted on the campaign trail by then-Senator Barack Obama. The new legislation would topple current state restrictions on abortion and would ban states from adopting future abortion limitation laws affirmed as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
S.1696 would void laws that allow women seeking abortion the ability to obtain specific information about their unborn child. The bill would also invalidate laws that allow for waiting periods and limit abortion only to licensed physicians. In addition, S.1696 would void bans on sex-selective abortions and limits to late-term abortions.
“The bill would also invalidate most previously enacted federal limits on abortion, including federal conscience protection laws and most, if not all, limits on government funding of abortion,” NRLC notes.
