On Tuesday, September 22, 2015, Senate Democrats filibustered the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would have prohibited “abortion on unborn babies after five months post-fertilization, since there is incontrovertible scientific evidence that, at this age, babies can feel pain.”1 The bill was sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina. Sixty votes were needed to invoke cloture, which would have moved the bill forward for a direct vote.
The YEAs—54—consisted of 51 Republicans and 3 Democrats (Casey of Pennsylvania, Donnelly of Indiana, and Manchin of West Virginia). The NAYs—42 in number—consisted of 38 Democrats, 2 Republicans (Collins of Maine and Kirk of Illinois), and 2 Independents (King of Maine and Sanders of Vermont).2 While the vote was not purely partisan, opposition to cloture had overwhelming support from Democrats, and support for cloture was overwhelmingly Republican.
It’s important to see the Senate vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act against the backdrop of recently released videos that expose Planned Parenthood’s [PP’s] practice of selling the body parts of aborted children. Planned Parenthood should not get one thin dime of taxpayer money, yet it receives hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars annually.3 In early August, the US Senate voted in similar numbers to preserve taxpayer funding for PP.4
Clearly, Democrats bear heavy responsibility for allowing barbaric practices and procedures against innocent children to continue. In the name of “choice,” “health care for women,” and other deceptions,5 unborn children are being slaughtered, dismembered, and their body parts sold illegally.6,7,8 Yet in light of the release of the videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer-funded savagery9 as well as Republicans’ refusal to use this evidence to pass a defunding measure with teeth, we have to say the GOP also is to blame.10,11 Moreover, according to at least one conservative group, the voting record of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggests either support of or indifference to PP’s practices.12
Yes, we know President Obama will veto any bill that defunds Planned Parenthood. He and his Democrat allies therefore ought to be made to defend an actual veto!13,14 At some point, media bias and propaganda must be challenged. There is no better time for Republicans to challenge them than now. If they wait too long, it will be too late.
In his insightful book When a Nation Forgets God: 7 Lessons We Must Learn from Nazi Germany, Erwin Lutzer warns,
I’ve observed, as I’m sure you have, the power of what I call “a cultural current.” That is, a dominant idea promoted by the media and willingly adopted by a critical mass of people who want to believe a myth so badly they will close their minds to all contrary evidence. When such a cultural movement gains momentum, people will stare at facts and filter out what they don’t want to believe. Contrary evidence will be ignored or reinterpreted to fit their deepest wishes. And the more people who believe the myth, the more difficult it is for those who wish to counter it. In a spirit of euphoria, all warning signs are brushed aside. Before we know it, we are in a world where facts do not matter.15
If the Republican leadership continues to miss the point, the people need to remind them why they now are in the majority—and why they might not remain there. Voters expect action that makes a difference. Lila Rose, president of Live Action, had this to say about about the September 22 Senate vote on cloture for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and about the looming battle in Congress over funding the government.
As we move toward a budget deadline of September 30, I urge Congress, especially those influenced by the abortion lobby, to face the facts and realize that our country is at a turning point in our history. While the Senate has not voted to protect the lives of the preborn at 20 weeks and beyond today, we still must fight to redirect a half billion dollars of taxpayer money away from abortion giant Planned Parenthood to the over 13,500 federally qualified health centers that provide comprehensive health care to women and their children.16
Here’s the bottom line: If Obama loves Planned Parenthood’s barbarism so much, then Republicans should put him in the position of having to shut down the government to preserve it. Fund the government, but divert money that otherwise would have gone to PP to facilities that provide real health care. Then send the proposal to the president’s desk. These actions will do more to cut through media bias than almost anything else.
Then the country will be given a chance to see this really isn’t about women’s health care; rather, it’s about butchering innocent children for profit.
Copyright © 2015 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All Rights Reserved.
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