FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 31, 2022
Contact: Mary Owens, mowens@sbaprolife.org
GOP Leaders Unveil Initial Pro-Life Votes
Washington, D.C. – Today U.S. House Republican leadership including U.S. Reps. Kevin McCarthy (CA-23), Steve Scalise (LA-01), Tom Emmer (MN-06) and Elise Stefanik (NY-21) unveiled their agenda of initial pro-life bills to be voted on in the beginning of the 118th Congress.
“The new GOP House majority is kicking off the Congress with bills to rein in the radical abortion lobby. After four years of pro-abortion Democrat control under Biden and Pelosi, the change could not be more welcome,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Democrats in Congress have consistently pushed a harmful agenda of abortion on demand until birth, paid for by taxpayers, and even infanticide. By vilifying pregnancy centers and others that offer support and services for women, they have fueled an epidemic of pro-abortion violence.
“We look forward to working with Rep. Scalise, GOP leadership and all our pro-life House allies throughout the Congress to advance an ambitious, life-saving agenda.”
The bills slated for consideration by the House in January include:
- The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act – requires care for children born alive following an attempted abortion. Babies born alive during failed abortions would be entitled to the same medical care as any other baby born prematurely at the same age. A report from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, SBA Pro-Life America’s research arm, shows that such protections are inconsistent across the United States, with fewer than half of states maintaining sufficient protections. SBA Pro-Life America and CLI have documented hundreds of cases nationwide of babies being born alive during failed abortions.
- The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act – prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion or for health insurance coverage for abortion. This makes the Hyde Amendment and other commonsense laws against abortion funding permanent. It also closes the abortion funding loophole created under Obamacare. The Democratic Party led by President Biden not only aims to repeal the longstanding Hyde Amendment and related federal policies, but also is actively working to undermine and ignore them. With bipartisan support for over 40 years, the Hyde Amendment has saved almost 2.5 million lives. A 2022 longitudinal cohort study by Studnicki et al. examined Medicaid records in the 17 states that use their own taxpayer funds to subsidize abortion and found that abortion of a first pregnancy in this program is associated with increased abortion rates in subsequent pregnancies – abortion, in short, begets more abortion, compounding impacts of the procedure.
- A resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives condemning the recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches. Pregnancy centers and other pro-life health providers outnumber abortion facilities at least 14 to one nationwide and provide vital material, medical, and educational support to millions of families each year. Yet, the toxic rhetoric of leading Democrats has contributed to at least 78 attacks on pregnancy centers and pro-life groups since the Dobbs leak last June. Seventy-six percent of voters, including Democrats and pro-choice voters, are supportive of pregnancy centers.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is a network of more than one million pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.
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