Democrats accusing Republicans of abortion extremism had the cost thrown again of their faces at a Senate Judiciary Committee listening to on the Women’s Health Protection Act, laws that will raise nearly all limits on being pregnant termination.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat and the panel chairman, mentioned the Supreme Court’s June 24 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson changed “controversy with chaos” as state legal guidelines shift in response to the choice.
He mentioned this creates a necessity for federal laws to “restore abortion access across America.”
“Instead of ending the debate on abortion, Dobbs was really the beginning of a different debate: How far will the war on women’s health go before we say enough is enough?” he requested on the Wednesday listening to titled “The Assault on Reproductive Rights in a Post-Dobbs America.”
The laws would outlaw a slew of restrictions on abortion pre-viability, or about 24 weeks’ gestation, and allow post-viability abortions to “protect the life or health of the patient,” which usually consists of psychological well being.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, known as the invoice “barbaric,” saying it could put U.S. coverage in step with that of China, Iran and North Korea versus Europe, the place 47 of fifty nations restrict most abortions to fifteen weeks’ gestation or much less.
“After Dobbs, our Democratic friends are basically declaring war on the unborn,” mentioned Mr. Graham, the panel’s rating Republican.
He mentioned he plans to reintroduce his laws to put a 15-week gestational restrict on abortions besides within the circumstances of rape, incest and to guard the lifetime of the mom, calling it a “national minimum standard.”
“Two-thirds of Americans believe abortion should be limited after the first three months, and our friends on the other side have the Women’s Health Protection Act, which has really no limits on abortion,” mentioned Mr. Graham. “There is a health-care exception after viability that is no exception at all.”
The strongest testimony got here from Amanda Zurawski, a Texas girl who was prevented from getting a pre-viability abortion in August after her cervix dilated prematurely. She mentioned she was compelled to attend three days and went into septic shock earlier than delivering a stillborn daughter.
“I wasn’t permitted to have an abortion. And the trauma and the PTSD and the depression that I have dealt with in the eight months since this happened to me is paralyzing,” mentioned Ms. Zurawski, who has sued Texas over its legal guidelines banning most abortions.
She referred to Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, each of whom sit on the committee however weren’t within the room for her later feedback.
“What happened to me I think most people would agree was horrific, but it’s a direct result of the policies they support,” Ms. Zurawski mentioned. “I nearly died on their watch.”
Dr. Ingrid Skop, a pro-life obstetrician-gynecologist primarily based in San Antonio, mentioned Ms. Zurawski’s docs “misunderstood Texas law,” saying that below the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ normal of care, they need to have instantly sought to finish the being pregnant.
“They tell us at the time of diagnosis that we should offer immediate termination of pregnancy, which they define as induction, or dilation-and-evacuation abortion, or expectant management,” Dr. Skop mentioned.
That normal stays in place in each state, she mentioned, even these with tight abortion restrictions.
“Every single law allows an exclusion for a doctor to use their reasonable medical judgment to determine when to intervene in a medical emergency, which is usually defined as a threat to the life of the mother or permanent irreversible damage to an organ or an organ system,” Dr. Skop mentioned.
She added that “none of the states have the terminology that the threat must be immediate.”
What’s unreasonable is to permit abortion on demand up to date of delivery. That’s precisely what your invoice does. We need to have America in step with the civilized world – not North Korea and China.@LindseyGrahamSC
More: https://t.co/X6IX2nxmC7 pic.twitter.com/rgWCAaE5cb
— SBA Pro-Life America (@sbaprolife) April 26, 2023
Democrats additionally blasted the Supreme Court for its choice in Dobbs.
Mr. Durbin mentioned the “right-wing majority overruled five decades of legal precedent,” whereas Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, accused conservative justices of being “disingenuous” of their affirmation hearings.
“Their concluding as they did in Dobbs that Roe v. Wade was wrong, with barely a few years after they established their respect for it, I think has helped undermine the integrity and credibility of the court,” Mr. Blumenthal mentioned.
Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, responded that “sometimes the court corrects prior errors.”
“That is what occurred with Dobbs. Dobbs corrected a prior error,” Mr. Lee mentioned. “It’s difficult to endure hearing people say they’re worried about the credibility of the court when sometimes those words are uttered by people who are themselves actively, willfully, deliberately attacking the credibility of the court.”
Mr. Cornyn made the purpose that federal laws has nearly no likelihood of passage, calling it “highly unlikely there will be a federal abortion standard.”
“It requires 60 votes in the U.S. Senate, and as you can see, this is a very divisive issue,” he mentioned.
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