20-Week Abortion Ban Makes Its Way to Senate

WASHINGTON -- Science shows unborn babies 20 weeks and older can feel pain. And preemies that young are now frequently surviving outside the womb.

The U.S. Senate will soon debate whether America can in good conscience continue to abort unborn babies this age and older.

At least, if Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has his way. Graham already has 45 co-sponsors and he's now introducing the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a ban on abortions of the unborn 20 weeks or older.

"What I want to do is make the American people think long and hard about wholesale abortions at 20 weeks," Graham told a Capitol Hill news conference. Estimates are the bill would ban some 15,000 to 18,000 abortions a year.

Prominent Washington-based pro-life leaders surrounded Graham as he discussed the bill with reporters. Among them was National Right to Life President Carol Tobias, who admitted passage in the Senate is an uphill battle.

Sixty votes are needed for the debate to go forward and Senate Democrats are a solid wall of opposition.

"The Democratic party is in lockstep with the abortion movement," she told CBN News. "They don't want any limits on abortion at any time during pregnancy."

Marjorie Dannenfelser of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List added, "60 votes is a heavy lift, but God is good and senators have consciences, so it is certainly possible."

If the bill does pass in the Senate, it's certain to face a presidential veto. But supporters say it's still a fight worth having and part of a long-term strategy.

"Part of the whole strategy here is to build support for a prolife president," Dannenfelser explained to CBN News. "Every single candidate that's running on the GOP presidential side so far has written their own personal statement communicating how much they support this bill and what they're willing to do."
 
"My greatest hope is that this will be signed into law February 2017 with a brand-new prolife president," she added.

But as the Senate tussles over the issue, Tobias warns lawmakers and the public to beware of what they hear in the mainstream media, which seems to accept as gospel what the abortion industry and its allies present as facts.

"What they're going to get is inaccurate information," she said. "We are being told babies past 20 weeks can't survive, and they can. We're being told that babies at 20 weeks can't feel pain, and they can."

The bill already passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month 242-184. And polls show 59 to 64 percent of the American people support banning abortions of the unborn 20 weeks and older.