A Person Is A Person

By Lori Carmody

What does the United States have in common with North Korea, China, The Netherlands, Singapore, Vietnam and Canada?  And what does that answer have to do with us who are fed up with many of our Senators and Representatives of both political parties? 

Last week I was dismayed by our US Senators – both the Democratic and Republican ones.  Let me explain.

Science has made great gains in discovering what the unborn feel while they are in utero.  The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act that the US Senate voted on Jan 29th took into account the scientific information that fetal neural development experiences pain after 20 weeks of gestation.

 

Even with having this knowledge, our Senators voted against passing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.  (60 votes were needed.)  Let me say that again.  Even knowing that babies feel pain, our elected Senators voted down the legislation that would protect these children.

Republicans needed Democratic support in addition to the votes of their own 51 Republican Senators to stop a filibuster (which requires 60 votes).  Two Republicans voted against the bill – Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.  That left only 49 Republican votes for the measure to pass so they now needed 11 Democrats to vote with them.  They only got 3 – Senators Bob Casey, Joe Manchin and Joe Donnelly so the bill was defeated by our US Senate by a vote of 51-46.  Heart breaking news as far as I am concerned.

Three facts to consider:

1*  The US is 1 of only 7 countries in the world that allow abortions past 20 weeks of gestation.  The other countries:  North Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, The Netherlands, Canada

2*  The nervous system of the child begins functioning in the 4^th month of pregnancy

3*  Since the baby feels pain after 20 weeks, often the abortionist will give the baby anesthesia before the abortion (which suggests that abortionists know that the baby feels the procedure)

I understand that our US Senate will again take up debate on this bill later this year.   A recent poll by the Knights of Columbus discovered that 76% of Americans support limiting abortion in the United States to the first trimester. 

As Dr. Seuss says, “A person is a person no matter what.”   Writing an email to your legislator or making a call expressing your thoughts about the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would be a good thing, don’t you think?   

Thanks for reading,

Lori

#APersonIsAPerson   #Day6