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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Arkansas Lawmakers Enact Fetal-pain Abortion Law


From Carol Tobias, National Right to Life President

Arkansas becomes eighth state to ban elective abortions
when the unborn baby is capable of feeling pain.   

For those faithful pro-life activists who have slogged through the many years when Supreme Court rulings prevented any unborn children from being directly protected from abortion, today is another great day!

Forty years ago, on January 22nd, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two rulings – Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which, when taken together, prevented states or Congress from stopping any abortions right up to birth.

Of course, pro-lifers never accepted this travesty of justice.  When we could regulate abortion, we did.  When we could stop taxpayer funding, we did.  Each of these regulations saved precious lives.  But we never gave up our efforts to directly prevent the killing of innocent unborn through protective legislation.

By electing pro-life presidents and Senators who determine who’s on the Supreme Court, and through the wise presenting of cases that caused the Court to re-examine its earlier abortion rulings, we’ve been able to change the jurisprudence of abortion.  In 2007, the Supreme Court for the first time allowed the banning of a specific method of abortion – partial-birth abortion.

Now, states are passing laws to protect even more children.  National Right to Life has devised life-saving legislation designed to be upheld by the current Supreme Court – the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.  Now enacted into law in eight states, the law says that unborn babies cannot be aborted from the point that compelling medical evidence exists that they can feel pain.

Nebraska, Kansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and now Arkansas have enacted these laws.  Protecting the lives of so many innocent human beings from death and suffering is a great victory for the pro-life movement, a victory we thank you for helping bring about with your support!

Sadly, the Arkansas legislature had to enact the law by overriding a governor’s veto.  On Tuesday, Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, announced he was vetoing the bill that had been passed by the Republican legislature with the support of many Democrats.  But yesterday and today, the Arkansas House and Senate voted by wide margins to override his veto and make the bill law.

National Right to Life is working to pass this and other laws that protect unborn babies in many other states.  Your support can help us make the case for these life-saving laws – both to the general public and with the direct testimony that we arrange for legislative committees by medical experts on fetal pain.
 

I hope to be able to report soon that other states have passed this landmark legislation.  For the sake of the unborn babies these laws will save, please help with your generous support so we can make that a reality and save babies’ lives!


Use this link to help NRL protect unborn babies  

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