Congress

 

National Right to Life Congressional Update

U.S. House and Senate to consider major pro-life bills during the coming week

WASHINGTON (Sept. 11, 2015, updated Sept. 16, 2015, 7 PM) — Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are expected to vote on several critical pro-life bills during the the days just ahead.
The majority Republican leadership of the U.S. House announced on September 11 that the House will vote on Friday, September 18 on two pro-life bills.
The first is the Defund Planned Parenthood Act (H.R. 3134), sponsored by Congresswoman Diane Black (R-Tn.), which would place a moratorium on federal funding to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. National Right to Life will strongly support passage of Congresswoman Black’s bill. For more information on this bill, click here.  To read NRLC’s letter to the House in support of this bill, click here.

The second bill, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, (H.R. 3504) sponsored by Congressman Trent Franks (R-Az.), is a new proposal that would provide strong new protections for babies born alive during induced abortions — backed by stringent federal criminal penalties and civil remedies. There is substantial evidence that some abortion providers do not treat such born-alive infants as legally protected persons, and although in theory they are protected by state homicide laws, enforcement of such laws in the abortion context is rare. Longstanding concerns about the fate of infants born alive during abortions have been revived by troubling passages in the hidden-camera videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, some of which were cited by NRLC General Counsel James Bopp, Jr., during his September 9 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. NRLC will strongly support the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. To read NRLC’s letter to the House in support of this bill, click here.

In addition, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has indicated that he will soon — quite likely, before the end of September — force a Senate vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 36). This legislation is based on a model bill originated by NRLC in 2010, which has since been enacted in 12 states. The House of Representatives passed this legislation on May 13, by a vote of 242-184. The upcoming Senate vote will be the first time that the Senate has cast a vote on limiting late abortions since 2003, when the Senate gave final approval to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. For more information on this bill, click here.
NRLC will provide further updates and action alerts on all three of these measures, and on other pro-life developments in Congress, as events develop.

Source: NRLC News