Renewing a Commitment to Life

Last year was remarkable for the pro-life movement. On June 24, when the Supreme Court issued their Dobbs v. Jackson decision, it was the culmination of nearly half of a century of compassionate work by pro-life advocates and communities to serve and fight for unborn children and abortion-vulnerable mothers. Yet, as many gather in Washington for the 50th annual March for Life this week, it is a sobering and spurring reminder the work of the pro-life movement is not done.

While the Dobbs decision was a landmark victory in the fight to protect the most vulnerable among us, overturning Roe v. Wade did not make abortion illegal in the United States.  Dobbs merely removed a federal guarantee of abortion on demand up to an arbitrary point in a pregnancy at which a baby was deemed viable outside the womb. The Supreme Court rightly found that this right is not enumerated in our Constitution, and the viability standard was based on outdated science. Amazingly, medical advancements have pushed this threshold earlier by about one week each decade since 1973. As science has progressed, and medical imaging has widened our window into the womb, pro-life support has increased in like measure.

Unfortunately, recent violent attacks on pro-life facilities, organizations, and even churches have cast a dark shadow on the civil debate over this issue. Violence is not and will never be the answer. For this reason, I cosponsored a resolution condemning the vandalism, threats, and destruction suffered by numerous pregnancy resource centers across the country and calling on the Biden administration to appropriately enforce the law for their protection. On January 11, 2023, the House passed this resolution with my support.

Likewise, in the first week of the 118th Congress, House Republicans made it a priority to consider the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act of which I am also a cosponsor. This legislation would simply codify a health care provider’s obligation to provide the proper degree of medical care to a child born alive after an attempted abortion. It is wrong to intentionally take an innocent human life, and it is wrong to deny life-saving care to a child regardless of the circumstances of their birth. This bill passed the House by a vote of 220-210 and has been referred to the Senate.

Congress has a fundamental duty to protect the right to life, and I will continue fighting to affirm the value of every child, mother, and father in America. Now as much as ever, we must renew our commitment to extend compassion to the hurting and the uphold the dignity of every human being, especially the voiceless.

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