By Stacie Stoelting Hudzinski and Carrie Stoelting
This week, the U.S. Senate tragically rejected the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Almost all Republicans -with the exception of Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)- voted for a ban of late-term abortion. Two Democratic Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) voted to ban late-term abortion. Next, all Republicans and the aforementioned two Democratic U.S. Senators voted to provide care for abortion survivors rather than leaving the babies to die without care. But the voting record stands: The majority of Democrats listened to their liberal extremist donors rather than voters, who vastly support such common sense measures.
This travesty is not a miscommunication-related mistake. They have done this multiple times over the years, yet this was especially blatant. Such calloused hearts! Where is America's conscience?
The Alarm for Independents, Democrats, Republicans, and All Americans
The alarm sounded for all moderates, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, Democrats, Libertarians, and independents when the Senate decided to reject these two key bills full of common sense and care for humanity. Suddenly, some people awakened to the reality that late-term abortion for convenience (not health problems) is far from a political issue: It's a power grab and a cover-up for abuse, murder, and harm of both women and children. This is not a political issue. It's a moral one:
Fetal pain is not debatable -especially at a certain point in gestation. According to myriad resources for surgeons performing fetal surgery, fetal surgery requires analgesia. No analgesia would be needed if fetal patients were incapable of pain, responsive movement, etc.
The reality is that saline abortion chemically burns the baby to death and forceps abortion kills the unborn child by tearing him apart. Abortion is heinous. Abortion must stop once and for all. Abortion is a violent procedure and not a peaceful option for mother or child. Frequently, mothers are misinformed, and minorities are targeted by the abortion industry, which garners immense revenue.
Unborn babies are human beings. It helps to put faces and names to numbers. You can see pictures of abortion survivors: Melissa Ohden, Josiah Presley, Claire Culwell, Nik Hoot, and Gianna Jessen all survived abortion and they are speaking out. Their stories are miraculous and powerful. They are living voices for the babies who did not survive.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would have protected preborn children in the U.S. from abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. During the 2020 State of the Union Address, President Trump honored two-year-old Ellie Schneider who was born at just 21 weeks. She is a beautiful little girl with curly light brown hair and is recognized as one of the youngest babies to survive in the United States. Friends, think about that fact: Ellie was born early at 21 weeks and she is thriving now. She is a living illustration of the humanity of a baby at approximately 20 weeks old. Under the law now, she could have been legally killed one week earlier at 20 weeks.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act was just four votes away from moving to final vote. This bill would have mandated that babies born alive after attempted abortions cannot be left to suffer and die or be killed outside the womb. Both scenarios should pierce our hearts with grief and outrage. And yet certain U.S. Senators voted against the bill and precious babies' blood is on their hands.
"...As I recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, infants are indeed being born alive after botched abortions. We have documented over 300 cases of such infants, and yet Congress has still failed to adequately protect them," said Patrina Mosley of the Family Research Council.
Lila Rose of Live Action said it well, "A child's age, level of dependency, or location doesn't change her humanity. She is a human at every stage of development."
Abortion takes the life of an innocent child and harms the mother. In fact, it is under-reported that abortion threatens and actually takes women's lives.
Pray for abortion to stop. Vote for leaders who defend life. Let's work hard to protect life and end abortion once and for all. And let's support leaders who take action to protect life. We are grateful for courageous pro-life leaders like U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst (from our home state of Iowa) and President Trump (who has done more for the cause than previous presidents). Please pray for them as they carry the torch in the fight for life.
Americans must learn to make voting decisions not on verbiage, but on actions. Some people sound fantastic yet do horrific things. Others blunder over and over in their words and yet do amazing things. And then there are the ones who actually match their good words with good works. (They are very special leaders!) Please check the records instead of the commercial recordings. The lives of your fellow Americans depend on it.
Until every American has a birthday, may we passionately continue to pray, vote, and speak out.
Shared with God's love for every American,
Stacie and Carrie
P.S. Please check out our new monthly feature of our nation's heroes. In each edition, we will feature a veteran of the month!