FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 29, 2013
Contact: Mallory Quigley, 202-223-8073
Live Action Video shows Babies could be denied Equal Protection under the Law
Washington, D.C. ─ New undercover footage from inside a Washington, D.C. abortion facility released today by Live Action shows an abortionist willing to deny equal protection and life saving medical care to a baby born alive following an attempted abortion. In response, the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) once again called on Congress to protect unborn children capable of feeling pain, by banning abortion past approximately the twentieth week of gestation. The Live Action video makes clear that the logical place to start is in the nation’s capital, where abortion is currently permitted for any reason until the moment of birth. Congress should enact Rep. Trent Franks’ (R-AZ) D.C. Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.
“Kermit Gosnell’s horrifying crimes are proof positive that babies are in fact born alive during failed abortions,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Further proof can be found in the lives of women like Melissa Ohden and Gianna Jensen, abortion survivors who now speak on behalf of the nameless, voiceless children either outright killed or left to die by abortionists no better than Gosnell.
“It is an outrage that within blocks of the White House, children capable of feeling excruciating pain can legally have their lives brutally ended or be left to die without care. What is the difference between killing a baby minutes before delivery compared to moments after? Only the barest of legal nuances. That’s why it is critical that we enact lifesaving protections for unborn children in the District, beginning with those capable of feeling pain.”
Last month, a Planned Parenthood lobbyist in Florida defended denying medical treatment to babies that survive abortion attempts just as President Obama voted to do in the Illinois State House as a State Senator. Planned Parenthood is America’s largest abortion provider, performing more than 333,000 abortions in a single year.
Previously, SBA List grassroots activists sent more than 26,760 messages to Congress encouraging their representatives to support Rep. Franks’ legislation. The re-introduced bill has 92 original co-sponsors. Similar bans are in effect in six states: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, only four states (Iowa, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia) ban abortions past the third trimester.
A National Right to Life Committee poll found that 63 percent of Americans, and 70 percent of women, support a ban on post-fetal pain abortion in Washington, D.C.
The Susan B. Anthony List and its affiliated Political Action Committees, the SBA List Candidate Fund and Women Speak Out PAC, are dedicated to pursuing policies and electing candidates who will reduce and ultimately end abortion. To that end, the SBA List emphasizes the education, promotion, mobilization, and election of pro-life women at all levels of government. The SBA List is a network of more than 365,000 pro-life Americans nationwide.
###
