Tuesday was a dark day for America. The Senate failed to advance two desperately needed pro-life bills: the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Pain Capable would protect unborn children from being aborted after 20 weeks, the threshold science definitively agrees unborn children feel pain. Born Alive requires doctors to provide the same standard of care to a child born alive after an attempted abortion as any other baby born at that gestational age in any other circumstances.
Although each of these bills received the support of a majority of senators, they needed to reach the 60-vote threshold to end a filibuster and pass the Senate. Pain Capable failed to advance by a vote of 53-44 and Born Alive failed to advance by a vote of 56-41.
It is discouraging that 44 senators can’t draw the line to protect human life at 20 weeks, and even more discouraging that 41 senators voted in favor of infanticide. However, there were several pro-life champions who took to the Senate floor to dispel myths on these bills and speak the truth (see list below.) Help us spread the word on what these bills actually do and watch and share these videos on social media and with your friends and family. Together, we can speak truth and life.
During the debate, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) had a sharp exchange regarding what the Born Alive bill would actually do. Sen. Sasse vociferously defended the Born Alive bill.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) sponsor of the Born Alive bill
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) sponsor of the Pain Capable bill,
Majority Leader McConnell (R-Kentucky)
Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota)
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming)
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia)
Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma)
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas)
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana) led a colloquy with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) and Sen. Mike Braun (R-Indiana)
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma)
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
To see how your senators voted on Pain Capable, click here, and to see how your senators voted on Born Alive, click here.