Last week, the United States House of Representatives voted in favor of a ban on most abortions past 20 weeks, halfway through pregnancy. This is past the point when most in the medical community agree that preborn children can feel pain, though research has shown that it is very possible they can feel pain beginning much sooner, in the first trimester.
The U.S. Senate has introduced the bill as well, and the Trump administration has signaled support, keeping with a promise the president made on the campaign trail to sign such legislation if it came across his desk.
The United States is one of only seven nations which allows for elective abortions past 20 weeks gestation, putting it in company with North Korea and China, as detailed by the Charlotte Lozier Institute. This fact has been pointed out for years by the pro-life community, but became the subject of examination by the Washington Post’s fact-checkers this when the Trump administration issued a statement on October 2, asserting, “Seven out of 198 nations allow elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.”
The Washington Post decided to investigate because the news is almost too stunning to believe. Ultimately, the Trump administration’s statement was verified with “the Geppetto Checkmark.” Writer Michelle Ye Hee Lee acknowledged in the beginning that the claim seemed “a bit surprising,” but noted at the end:
This statistic seemed dubious at first, because it seemed extreme for just seven countries out of 198 to allow elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. But upon further digging, the data back up the claim. We should note that some of the seven countries allow abortions after 20 weeks, but ban it after 24 weeks. And other countries have no federal limits, but legislate at the state or provincial level, similar to the United States.
The Washington Post deserves some kudos for acknowledging that the United States isn’t one of those countries that bans abortion after 24 weeks. If a person only listened to the American abortion lobby and its constant complaints about women’s “rights” being taken away with every informed consent law or regulation on an abortion facility, that person would never know that the United States was so extreme and in the minority internationally on abortion.
READ: Planned Parenthood’s talking points on 20-week abortions are not to be trusted
Abortions are permitted in the United States up until birth, including elective ones, since the threshold in Roe v. Wade’s companion case of Doe v. Bolton included a health exception which can refer to “physical, emotional, psychological, familial … wellbeing.” Abortionists like the late George Tiller and his still-practicing associates have concluded that even being able to attend a concert qualifies for such an exception. Recently, late-term abortion facility Southwestern Women’s Options was caught on tape expressing willingness to commit a 30-week preborn child because the mother was experiencing “stress.”
The bulk of the Washington Post’s fact-check analyzes abortion law data from various countries, and finds that many other nations besides the United States include similar “mental health” exceptions — but what Michelle Ye Hee Lee fails to point out is that the “health exception” is an extremely broad loophole, as was noted above.
While the United States has been seeing a trend of record breaking pro-life legislation, including 21 states which have passed their versions of 20-week abortion bans, a federal ban is crucial. While it is encouraging that 21 states have passed such bans, that leaves 29 states which have not restricted abortion at 20 weeks gestation. A federal ban would mean that a child conceived in Oregon (the state which recently passed taxpayer funded abortions throughout all of pregnancy), and a child conceived in Texas (one state which has a 20-week ban) would have the same protections.
Americans largely support pro-life laws, including the 20-week ban; even generally pro-abortion outlets have acknowledged this, including the Washington Post and the Huffington Post. Polls also reflect that a variety of demographics and those with varying opinions on abortion support greater restrictions on abortion.
As America realizes what a late-term abortion involves, public opinion may begin to shift. The D&E abortion, generally used from 13-24 weeks gestation, dismembers a preborn child limb from limb. Dr. Anthony Levatino, a former abortionist who performed over 1,200 abortions himself, including this type, explains more below:
Even later in gestation, abortionists must use the induction method of abortion, in which the abortionist injects digoxin or potassium chloride into the baby’s heart or the amniotic sac, causing cardiac arrest. The process takes days, and the woman labors, eventually delivering her dead child. (If this method does not work, the abortionist must resort to the D&E method.) Dr. Levatino also details the induction procedure:
At halfway through pregnancy, babies of this age are also meeting other developmental milestones, like thumb sucking, which we typically associate with born babies and toddlers. Babies at this gestation age can also develop and learn language from what they hear while still inside the womb; they can remember, make gestures, and dream.
Any civilized person or nation should feel that laws allowing the killing of these human beings are, to borrow the Washington Post’s expressions, “surprising” and “extreme.” But what’s truly surprising and extreme is the fact that there are far too many in America who fail to support laws protecting these children. The House bill’s sponsor, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), said in a Facebook post that “We can all agree a 20-week-old fetus who feels the torturous pain of being slashed, or cut in two, should not be killed,” also referring to the legislation as the “bare minimum.”
But apparently, we can’t all agree.
The bill passed the House, but 189 representatives still voted against protecting children after 20 weeks, showing a willingness to condemn pain-capable children to a horrific and torturous death simply because the mother wills it. The abortion industry, led by Planned Parenthood and its misleading PR machine, is the face of what’s truly extreme; the nation’s largest single abortion provider opposes virtually all abortion regulations and restrictions, including the 20-week ban. Totally ignoring the fact that a child is being killed, Planned Parenthood and its friends have attacked the law as “anti-woman.”
No Pinocchios from the Washington Post this time. Late-term abortion is extreme in every way possible. Sadly, there are those willing to go along with it, despite the truth.
