The abortion lobby has been very nervous about the possibility of a nationwide 20-week abortion ban. The bill is scheduled for a vote in the House on Thursday, where it is expected to pass, and if it does, it will move to the Senate.
Republicans hold a majority in both houses, so there is a good chance that the bill will get sent to President Obama. The White House, however, has announced that Obama will veto the bill.
The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 36, which would unacceptably restrict women’s health and reproductive rights and is an assault on a woman’s right to choose. Women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care, and Government should not inject itself into decisions best made between a woman and her doctor.
… If the President were presented with this legislation, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto this bill.
Baby at 20 weeks
While this announcement will certainly make the president’s buddies at NARAL and Planned Parenthood happy, most Americans actually support this legislation. Sixty percent of Americans approve a 20-week abortion ban, and that number is almost identical for women – with 59% saying that they do, in fact, agree with such legislation. There is similar support among all age breakdowns as well.
So when Obama claims to be speaking for women, it clearly isn’t true. Instead, he is blatantly ignoring the will of his constituents, even women. If this bill is not passed, the United States will continue to be one of only a small handful of countries that allows late-term abortion on demand for any reason.
H.R. 36 was introduced based on modern science that has found that unborn babies are capable of feeling pain at least by twenty weeks’ gestation. And while viability is typically around 24 weeks, it is not unheard of for a baby much younger than that to survive – Frieda Mangold was born at 21 weeks in Germany and was able to go home with her parents. There will be more cases like hers as medicine continues to advance, and already, she is not the only baby to survive being born at 21 weeks.
Science, viability, and public support are all on the side of this legislation, and there is literally no good reason for Obama to veto it. His only reason for doing so is that he continues to be an extreme supporter of abortion. But then, considering that this is the man who voted three times against protecting babies born alive after abortion — meaning he voted for infanticide not once, or twice, but three times — perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.
