by Grace Carr
Legislation for a 20-week abortion ban will head to the Senate for a vote on Monday after an announcement from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“As many as 25,000 preborn babies are aborted after the 20th week of pregnancy each year in the U.S. This bill would prohibit the majority of these abortions. Twenty-five thousand lives are at stake here,” Focus on the Family president, Jim Daly, told the Daily Caller News Foundation regarding Monday’s vote. “It’s imperative that we pass this bill in the Senate,” he added.
The bill, also known as the pain capable act, makes it illegal for a person to perform or attempt to perform an abortion after 20-weeks gestation of pregnancy. Transgressors would face fines and up to five years in prison. The legislation does include exemptions for rape victims, however, but only if the woman received medical treatment or counseling at least 48 hours before the abortion.
Planned Parenthood wrote on their website that “nearly 99 percent of abortions occur before 21 weeks.”
“It’s just a matter of time until we get 60 votes,” bill sponsor GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carlina said, vowing to “get the country where it needs to be on this issue.”
“There are only 7 countries left that still permit elective abortion after 20 weeks—including the US, China, and North Korea. That’s why the #Senate will soon vote to take up commonsense legislation to protect unborn children who can feel pain,” McConnell tweeted in support of the measure.
Seventy-six percent of Americans want significant abortion restrictions, including making abortion illegal after three months of pregnancy, a recent poll showed. More than 60 percent of Americans are also in favor of banning abortions after 20 weeks in pregnancy and six in 10 Americans oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions.
Close to 60 percent of Americans also think abortion is morally wrong, and half of pro-abortion proponents think aborting a child who will be born with a genetic disorder is wrong. The numbers are fairly consistent across the political spectrum as well, with 92 percent of Republicans, 61 percent of Democrats and 78 percent of Independents in favor of significant abortion restrictions.
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