FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 21, 2014
Contact: Mallory Quigley, SBA List: 202-223-8073, Jerry Cox, Family Council: 501-375-7000
Arkansans Commemorate Anniversary of Roe v. Wade by Asking Pryor to Co-Sponsor Legislation Ending Abortion after 20 Weeks
Washington, D.C – This week the Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) and the Arkansas Family Council will launch a statewide grassroots campaign to call on Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) to co-sponsor the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (S. 1670). The bill, introduced in November by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), has 40 cosponsors including Arkansas’ Senator John Boozman, and would protect babies beginning at 20 weeks, or more than halfway through pregnancy. The week-long campaign encompasses Wednesday’s 31st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and will mobilize pro-lifers to call Sen. Pryor’s in-state offices.
Most recently when asked about the legislation by National Review, Senator Pryor “looked at [at the reporter], sort of smiled, said nothing, and kept walking.” Similarly, Pryor’s office has refused to answer similar questions from Talk Business Arkansas. Pryor’s 2014 senatorial opponent, Congressman Tom Cotton, voted for the companion legislation which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last June.
“Arkansans deserve to know where Senator Pryor stands when it comes to protecting unborn children and their mothers from the painful death of abortion more than halfway through pregnancy,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “The majority of Americans are opposed to brutal, late abortion – and women support this bill in even higher numbers than men. Senator Pryor should do the right thing: honor the strength and dignity of women and protect the weak and vulnerable from pain. We urge him to respect life and the pro-life people of Arkansas by cosponsoring this compassionate legislation.”
“Arkansas is the third most pro-life state in the nation,” said Family Council President Jerry Cox. “I am disappointed every time our elected officials refuse to stand up for the weakest members of our society—the unborn. The appropriate response to late-term abortions should be outrage rather than silence from our elected officials. This is why we are asking Senator Pryor to co-sponsor the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.”
Last year national polling by Quinnipiac, National Journal, Huffington Post, NBC/Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post/ABC News all found that a plurality or majority of Americans support limiting abortion after 20 weeks gestation and that women support the measure in higher proportions than men.
Before the bill was introduced, Senator Pryor told The Weekly Standard: “I’ll have to look at it. I haven’t focused on it.” In 2003, Senator Pryor voted for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.
The Susan B. Anthony List, is 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. The SBA List is a network of more than 365,000 pro-life Americans nationwide.
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