For decades, the pro-life spotlight has shone on Washington, D.C., and for good reason. Congress and the Supreme Court have made legislative or judicial decisions that affect the reproductive rights of the born and unborn. Forty-six years after Roe v. Wade, the battle to actually protect the latter group rages on.
According to their latest annual report, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, received $563.8 million in federal government reimbursements and grants in the last calendar year. We as taxpayers fund this industry giant to the tune of more than half-a-billion dollars per year. This continues to sicken those in the pro-life community. Additionally, Congress has done little in recent years to protect unborn life. While many individual politicians have passionately defended life in word and deed, the votes to pass life-affirming legislation in the Senate are usually not there.
On Monday evening, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called for unanimity from his colleagues for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Unfortunately, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., objected, blocking a bill that is essentially banning infanticide.
Although it is stomach-churning that there is not full consent for such a bill at present, it is not surprising. This is the state of our nation’s conscience.
While we await real change at the national level through legislative success and a possible, future reconsideration of Roe/Casey by the Supreme Court, we can’t ignore the state-level gains and losses. This has been especially apparent in recent weeks.
In January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., signed the Reproductive Health Act, which expanded the state’s already-lax abortion laws and provided for late-term abortion past the 24-week mark. In Virginia, Del. Kathy Tran, a Democrat, introduced a bill that would basically allow infanticide, a claim made viral by her own statement as well as that of the state’s now-scandal-ridden governor, Ralph Northam.
This national focus on the extreme measures in New York and especially Virginia is unwanted by the abortion lobby. As the Washington Post reports:
Pro-life voters in every state are always eager to elect pro-life individuals to represent them in Washington. Often, those seeking a seat on the national stage will highlight and clarify their abortion views while on the campaign trail. The polarizing issue can make or break their chances, and they know it. However, those running for statewide office often don’t elaborate on their abortion position. To some, state legislatures don’t seem as instrumental in the fight to protect unborn life. While the ultimate hope is that abortion will be overturned at the national level, it’s not enough to wait for that day.
The celebrated law in New York and the casual attitude toward same in Virginia serve as a reminder that the grassroots level is where the real change, for good or bad, occurs. Members of the pro-life community should continue to look at the big picture while remembering that impacting this current culture of death starts from the ground up. We must not wait on the pro-life revolution from a Congress that continuously lacks a backbone on the issue. For example, Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and the aforementioned Ben Sasse are all indomitable defenders of life. Their passion for the unborn is palpable.
But without many of their colleagues joining in the cause, victory is out of reach. This is one of the many reasons why local and regional movements among the pro-life community are a must.
Abortion proponents are wincing at the press their infanticidal dreams have received. As they struggle, the pro-life community must emphasize how something so horrific is now received as commonplace and work to combat similar trends in their own backyard.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a freelance writer and contributor to the Washington Examiner’ s Beltway Confidential blog.
