FROM SFLA NEWS

SFLAction Says A Vote Over the Deceptively Named “Women’s Health Protection Act” Will Be Scored – Again

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Caroline Wharton - 15 Jul 2022

Nancy Pelosi says “Not Going to Negotiate” over the Abortion Bill More Radical Than Roe, that attacks People of Faith

“Corporate Abortion has moved past ‘choice’ to lobby for coercion,” said Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins. “SFLAction will score the vote on what should be called the Women’s Health Endangerment Act because of heavy-handed way it harms women and crushes state pro-life efforts.”

WASHINGTON D.C. (07-15-2022) – Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins called members of the U.S. House to vote NO on Friday against the deceptively named “Women’s Health Protection Act,” which is “an abortion industry wish list for power and control over abortion policy and state options that far surpasses the heavy-handed impact of Roe v. Wade. Using the term ‘health’ in the bill is especially deceitful because abortion kills an innocent and can end a woman’s ability to ever have a child. Real healthcare works to save life, fertility, and preserve health.” SFLAction will score the vote that impacts not only what kind of policy is possible at the federal level, but also across the country. Scoring is a process of keeping track of key votes to hold politicians accountable with their voters.

Women's Health Protection Act vote again

While often described as an effort to “codify Roe,” in fact the bill Speaker Nancy Pelosi is fighting for includes new powers for the federal government to stop state pro-life activity and to go after people of faith who do not want to participate in a culture of death. At her weekly news conference Thursday, Pelosi slapped down any negotiation over the push for more abortion. 

CNS News reports: “(A) reporter asked Speaker Pelosi, “Congresswoman Chu’s bill has passed the House before, but it continues to fail in the Senate. Are there any discussions between House leadership and Senate leadership for some sort of negotiations?”

Pelosi replied, “What do you mean negotiations? What do you want to negotiate?”

The reporter followed-up, “Some senators have said that this bill, Senators Murkowski and Collins, for instance, have said that Congresswoman Chu’s bill goes too far.”

“We’re not going to negotiate a woman’s right to choose,” said Pelosi.  “Senator Murkowski [R-Alaska] and Senator Collins [R-Me.] may have their view, but it is not a view that is one about a woman’s having the right to decide. So, we’re not negotiating that, no.”

Women's Health Protection Act vote again

Murkowski said that her objections included the lack of Hyde Protections, which limit federal funding of abortion to cases of rape, incest, and when the mother’s life are in danger, and because “it explicitly overrides the Religious Freedom Restoration Act for the first time. It also allows late-term abortions without any notable restrictions.”

Abusing the conscience rights of pro-life people of faith seems to be a theme for Biden’s pro-abortion zealots this week. This week, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra issued “guidance” to pharmacies “clarifying their obligations to ensure access to comprehensive reproductive health. Care services” basically defined as abortion-related products. 

In Hawkins’ letter to the Senate sent earlier this year,  she wrote: “We know that 7 in 10 Americans favor significant restrictions on abortion. Nearly half of those who consider themselves pro-choice agree abortion should have limits. Additionallymore than 80% of Millennial and Gen Z Americans oppose unrestrained abortions through all nine months of pregnancy. Clearly, most Americans on both sides of the abortion issue recognize that promoting limitless abortions is both dangerous and unnecessary.”

Women's Health Protection Act vote again

Writing for The Hill, Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, explained why this power grab goes far beyond efforts to “codify Roe,” a term used to mean that the current abortion policy evolved through the courts would be made more permanent, federal law.

Turley explains what’s wrong with that phrasing, noting: “The reason is that the WHPA is not a simple codification but a potentially massive expansion of Roe and its successor case, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. CaseyIt seeks to accomplish legislatively what could not be accomplished judicially for decades. Putting aside possible constitutional problems in effectively taking over the entire field of abortion rights from the states, the WHPA’s provisions read like a progressive wish-list based on pages of legislative ‘findings.’ It declares the ‘violent legacy’ of “restrictions on reproductive health, including abortion … [that] perpetuate systems of oppression, lack of bodily autonomy, white supremacy, and anti-Black racism.’ … The calls to ‘codify Roe’ with the WHPA falsely suggest that this law merely preserves the status quo. It does not.”

In fact, as Hawkins notes in SFLAction’s scoring letter, the extreme measure would “radically expanding abortion access nationwide through all nine months of pregnancy without essential protections. Additionally, H.R. 3755 would strip the states of their right to pass regulations on abortion, requiring new pro-life laws be approved by the Department of Justice before taking effect.”

Women's Health Protection Act vote again

Limiting abortion policy choices to the few desired by those in power is not popular with Millennials and Gen Z, now about one-third of the electorate. Recent polling by Students for Life of America’s Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement indicates that “an astonishing 8 in 10 want to vote on abortion policy in their states – UP from 66% last year.” In addition, “(w)hen considering how devalued people have been treated historically by those in power, 65% of Millennials and Gen Z did not support allowing people in power to decide who is fully human and deserving of legal rights.”

For interviews, contact Kristi Hamrick at [email protected] or  [email protected]

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Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), make up the nation’s largest pro-life youth organization and a political and policy operation engaging people of all ages. Together they work to end abortion — the human rights issue of our day — and provide political, legal, and community support for women and their children, born and preborn. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA has more than 1,25groups on middlehigh school, college, university, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. SFLA creates strategy, policy, and programming to connect those most targeted for abortion with people ready to help and builds a framework for political engagement on their behalf. SFLA and SFLAction have more conversations with those most targeted by the abortion industry than any other pro-life outreach in the world, reaching more than 2 million people across social media platforms each week and engaging in approximately 100,000 digital conversations per month. Over more than 15 years, President Kristan Hawkins has grown SFLAction/SFLA into an $18 million organization preparing for a Post-Roe America.

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