Members of Congress must be as ambitious as possible – working toward the day when abortion is unthinkable, while saving as many lives as possible along the way. To that end, Congress should strongly support legislation to set federal minimum protections to fill the gap where states refuse to do so.
Even though 24 states have enacted pro-life protections since the Dobbs decision, at least 800,000 unborn babies remain unprotected in states that do not have pro-life protections. That is 2,192 lives lost every day.
- Abortion sanctuary states like California and New York, which allow elective abortion at any point during pregnancy, will remain the national standard if Congress does not act to establish a federal minimum protection for the unborn.
- Out of 193 United Nations member countries, the United States is one of only eight that allows abortion on demand without any gestational limits at the federal level.
- The United States must be an international leader for human rights. In fact, the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the responsibility of protecting every “person” in the United States. In the face of state laws that threaten the life of the unborn, Congress cannot neglect its duty to protect all persons’ rights.
Priority Bills
Each of the following bills establish national protections while allowing states to protect even more vulnerable children:
- Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act
- Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (passed by the House on 1/11/2023)
- Heartbeat Protection Act
Congress should also enact the Ensuring Accurate and Complete Abortion Data Reporting Act to combat the lack of complete abortion statistics. Currently several high-volume abortion states, including California, refuse to collect and/or share abortion data.