4 States On The Move

Over the past year, SBA List members from across the country have given incredible momentum to legislation that protects unborn children beginning at 20 weeks, or halfway through pregnancy. Scientific evidence shows that these babies can feel pain, and studies show that late abortions are incredibly dangerous for a women’s physical and mental health.

Your relentless grassroots lobbying, your prayers, and your financial support toward this cause are truly making a difference as momentum for this law continues to build nationwide.

In fact, right now, FOUR states are debating 20 week abortion limits. Here’s the rundown:

• South Carolina: State Rep. Wendy Nanney – a member of the SBA List’s National Pro-Life Women’s Caucus Leadership Team – has introduced the South Carolina Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (HB 4233).  The bill is making its way through committee and we’re urging all representatives to cosponsor this critical measure. Your SBA List will be doing everything we can to support Rep. Nanney in her efforts to protect the unborn in South Carolina.

• Mississippi: Thanks to the incredible efforts of our allies, the House has already passed a 20 week abortion limit, and are working to get it through the Senate. We are working with allies in Mississippi to get this bill to the Governor’s desk.

• Florida: State Senator Anitere Flores, another member of our National Pro-Life Women’s Caucus Leadership Team, is preparing to lead the charge to end late abortions in the Sunshine State when the session begins in just a few short weeks. We look forward to working with her and our friends at Florida Right to Life in getting this bill to the Governor.

• West Virginia: After pro-abortion Democrats stopped the 20-week bill from moving directly to the floor, local media reported the Democratic caucus had an all out brawl amongst themselves. Now, pro-life Democrats in West Virginia are moving forward with their own legislation. This legislation could come to the House floor as early as this week. We are working with our friends in the state to push this through all the way to the Governor’s desk, but it won’t be easy.

Meanwhile, the federal version of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is up to 40 Senate cosponsors. Sadly, not a single Senate Democrat has signed on to co-sponsor the bill – but there is still time.

Please take a moment to either thank your Senators or demand that they co-sponsor the federal legislation by using the SBA List Action Center.

After you’ve taken action, make sure to read the Politico story below detailing the growing momentum behind our efforts to pass this historic legislation nationwide

None of this would be possible without your continued support!

For Life,

Emily Buchanan
Executive Vice President, Susan B. Anthony List

Push continues for 20-week abortion bansBy PAIGE WINFIELD CUNNINGHAM | 2/14/14

New attempts to ban abortion after 20 weeks are gaining traction in the South, where Republican-led Legislatures have repeatedly adopted restrictions in recent years.

Such bans, which supporters often call “fetal pain” laws, are already advancing in South Carolina and Mississippi. And a bill to prohibit abortion at a pregnancy’s midpoint is about to be introduced in Florida. It’s a repeat effort from a 2011 package of regulations in Tallahassee, and proponents say the measure has an improved chance of passage.

The movement reflects the increasingly unsettled abortion landscape, which has left abortion-rights supporters scrambling hard as stricter regulations, funding prohibitions and other limits have been pushed at the federal, state and local level. The issues are also in flux in the courts, with challenges ranging from fetal pain laws to abortion clinic buffer zones.

The latest proposals, particularly in South Carolina and Florida, have attracted greater attention because of the national political spotlight they could draw. Anti-abortion groups like the Susan B. Anthony List view 20-week bans as a way to put Democratic candidates on the defensive in gubernatorial and congressional races.

“There is great potential to get where we need to pass this bill in those two states, and they’re very politically important states in terms of moving the ball forward,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

Just this week, one of the most prominent abortion-rights lawmakers said that she would support a 20-week ban with exceptions if a woman’s health were threatened or if fetal abnormalities were present. Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, a Democrat now running for governor, told The Dallas Morning News that the Legislature shouldn’t get “too deep in the weeds” of describing when the decision is “appropriate.”

Beyond the deep-red South, the prospects of legislative action are mixed. Twenty-week bans could be debated in both South Dakota and Wisconsin, but a West Virginia proposal was voted down Tuesday by that state’s Democratic-led House of Delegates.

Polls have shown that a slim majority of Americans support 20-week bans, which are based on the hotly debated argument that a fetus can feel pain by the 20th week of pregnancy. Thirteen states already have such laws on the books, although four have been blocked in court or through an attorney general’s order. All but two of the laws have been passed since 2010.

The South Carolina bill has passed in subcommittee and is expected to be considered by a full committee next week, said its sponsor, Rep. Wendy Nanney. Yet opponents there are as organized as supporters: The state’s Planned Parenthood chapter brought in so many people to testify against the legislation during the subcommittee hearing that lawmakers had to schedule a second session.

Continue reading at Politico.

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