VIEW from behind the plow

You might have thought the U.S. Senate was voting on putting down an unwanted kitten or puppy when it refused to enact legislation protecting the life of aborted babies who make it to the world alive.

Newsroom associate Twila Adams says that’s wrong. If it were about saving puppies, the opponents would probably have voted “yes.”

The measure, written by Sen Ben Sasse, R-Neb, and titled the “Born Alive Abortion Survivors Act” actually received a favorable vote, 53-44, but because all but three Democrats voted against the measure, it didn’t receive the super majority (60 votes) it needed to proceed.

Such a thing would have been impossible 20 years ago before the Left gained control of the national media and education and removed Christianity – and its moral uplifting effect – from the political arena.

What is the next step: putting down all older citizens who are putting too much demand on the nation’s budget for medical needs?

Or anyone else the political elite doesn’t think deserves to live?

The three Democrats with the conviction to vote in favor of the bill deserve mention: Sens. Doug Jones of Alabama, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania.

Three Republicans played chicken and didn’t show up to vote: Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Kevin Kramer of North Dakota. May their political careers be short.

Sasse, an unapologetically pro-life advocate, emphasized, however, that the bill was not about abortion, adding:

“This bill doesn’t have anything to do with Roe v. Wade. …

What this bill does is try to secure basic rights, equal rights for babies that are born and are outside the womb.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., challenged Sasse’s legislation, saying that it was “carefully crafted to target, intimidate, and shut down reproductive health care providers.”

Sasse called out Schumer for misrepresenting the legislation.

“This language is … too blunt for many people in this body … Infanticide is what [Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act] is actually about,” Sasse said. “Are we a country that protects babies that are alive, born outside the womb, after surviving a botched abortion?”

The comment of Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is particularly illuminating.

She said:

“The legislation we are debating today is just the latest salvo in the far right wing assault on a women’s constitutionally protected right to an abortion.”.

(We can’t remember the particular portion of the Constitution or Bill of Rights protecting infanticide.)

In an op-ed published Feb. 12 in USA Today, Sasse wrote, “It should not be difficult for the members of the U.S. Congress to affirm that a child, outside the womb, deserves the protections of our law.”

“Well-funded abortion advocates like Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation, who are radically out of step with the national consensus, have convinced some in Congress that requiring medical care for babies who survive abortion is an assault on ‘reproductive health care,’” Melanie Israel, research associate for the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation wrote.

Such callous failure to protect the most vulnerable among us likely defines what the opposition’s real goal is – population reduction (rather than women’s rights). House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) announced Wednesday that he was planning a parliamentary strategy – a discharge petition – to get a House vote on the matter. Scalise applauded colleagues who are “ready to engage in this battle … and get the country engaged.”

Scalise said he wants each American to call their member of Congress and ask him or her to sign on to a parliamentary procedure “so that even though [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi doesn’t want to give those babies who were born alive the same legal protection that everybody else enjoys, we can still force a vote by getting 218 signatures.” The strategy of a discharge petition, which is rarely successful, requires gathering at least 218 signatures from House members to oblige the chamber’s Democrat leadership to bring the bill to the floor for debate and a vote. Discharge petitions may be considered on the second and fourth Mondays of the month when the House is in session.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would require medical professionals to give the same medical care to a baby who survives an abortion as they would to any other baby of the same age, as well as to take the baby to a hospital.

If an abortionist intentionally kills the child who was born alive, he or she would face fines or up to five years in jail, according to a press release from Scalise.