After the Alabama State Senate passed a pro-life bill directly challenging Roe v. Wade (1970), the Supreme Court decision striking down state abortion laws, Democrats running for president in 2020 rushed to condemn it, uttering blatantly false statements. Some criticized the bill, which cites the increasing scientific awareness of human life in the womb, as “ignoring science.”
“The Alabama legislature is ignoring science, criminalizing abortion, and punishing women,” South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg tweeted. “Instead, the government’s role should be to make sure all women have access to comprehensive affordable care, and that includes safe and legal abortion.”
The Alabama legislature is ignoring science, criminalizing abortion, and punishing women.
Instead, the government's role should be to make sure all women have access to comprehensive affordable care, and that includes safe and legal abortion.https://t.co/pU0rKy0fED
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) May 15, 2019
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) condemned what she called “outrageous news coming out of Alabama. This law would effectively ban abortions in the state and criminalize doctors for doing their jobs – providing health care to women.”
Outrageous news coming out of Alabama. This law would effectively ban abortions in the state and criminalize doctors for doing their jobs – providing health care to women. https://t.co/90utkxn7J2
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 15, 2019
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) declared that the “Alabama Senate just stripped women of health care rights by voting to make abortion procedures a felony. I will fight in solidarity with women to make sure rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade will not be threatened by those who have no business making laws about their bodies.”
The Alabama Senate just stripped women of health care rights by voting to make abortion procedures a felony. I will fight in solidarity with women to make sure rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade will not be threatened by those who have no business making laws about their bodies. https://t.co/hS1a2lNEc0
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) May 15, 2019
Former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) declared that H.B. 314 “will cost Alabama women their lives, and threatens the reproductive rights of women across the country. We must fight back, and our next president must act to enshrine Roe v. Wade into law.”
#HB314 will cost Alabama women their lives, and threatens the reproductive rights of women across the country. We must fight back, and our next president must act to enshrine Roe v. Wade into law. https://t.co/WzkOdnTEZF
— John Hickenlooper (@Hickenlooper) May 15, 2019
Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed four pro-life bills “that clearly violate Roe v Wade and they should be declared unconstitutional. Roe v Wade is settled law and should not be overturned. This choice should remain between a woman and her doctor.”
Republicans in AL, FL, GA, and OH are ushering in laws that clearly violate Roe v Wade and they should be declared unconstitutional. Roe v Wade is settled law and should not be overturned. This choice should remain between a woman and her doctor.
— Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) May 15, 2019
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) framed the issue as a war on women. “Right now, the conversation about what women can do with our own bodies is being driven by too many male politicians,” she said. “It should be led by the actual experts: women and doctors. So I’m going to hear from the people most directly affected by abortion bans like Georgia’s.”
Right now, the conversation about what women can do with our own bodies is being driven by too many male politicians. It should be led by the actual experts: women and doctors. So I'm going to hear from the people most directly affected by abortion bans like Georgia's.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) May 15, 2019
She described the bills as “an all-out assault on women’s constitutional rights, explicitly aimed at overturning Roe v. Wade. We need to loudly proclaim that reproductive rights are nonnegotiable, and join together to defend them at every level—in Washington, in the courts, and in the states.”
We're facing an all-out assault on women’s constitutional rights, explicitly aimed at overturning Roe v. Wade. We need to loudly proclaim that reproductive rights are nonnegotiable, and join together to defend them at every level—in Washington, in the courts, and in the states.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) May 15, 2019
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declared that “abortion is a constitutional right.” He added, “The attack on women’s rights is happening in Alabama, Georgia and across the country, and we must fight it everywhere. I am proud that my state is fighting back—and I encourage all states to do the same to protect a woman’s right to choose.”
The attack on women’s rights is happening in Alabama, Georgia and across the country, and we must fight it everywhere. I am proud that my state is fighting back—and I encourage all states to do the same to protect a woman’s right to choose. https://t.co/QnkMgDMz4j
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 15, 2019
“This ban is dangerous and exceptionally cruel—and the bill’s authors want to use it to overturn Roe v. Wade. I’ve lived in that America and let me tell you: We are not going back—not now, not ever. We will fight this. And we will win,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) tweeted.
This ban is dangerous and exceptionally cruel—and the bill’s authors want to use it to overturn Roe v. Wade. I've lived in that America and let me tell you: We are not going back—not now, not ever. We will fight this. And we will win. https://t.co/WNlr7Ys73q
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 15, 2019
Former Rep. Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke (D-Texas) condemned H.B. 314 as “not only unconstitutional – it’s a radical attack on women across Alabama and America. We won’t back down when it comes to fully protecting Roe v. Wade, fighting dangerous efforts to roll back reproductive health care and defending a woman’s right to access an abortion.”
HB 314 is not only unconstitutional – it's a radical attack on women across Alabama and America. We won't back down when it comes to fully protecting Roe v. Wade, fighting dangerous efforts to roll back reproductive health care and defending a woman’s right to access an abortion.
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) May 15, 2019
In each of these cases, these Democrats defended Roe v. Wade, a decision that is increasingly outdated, especially on the science of human life in the womb. Roe ruled that abortion should be legal in every state up to the point of viability outside the womb. Later Supreme Court decisions made this even more radical.
James Gill, born in May 1987, was born at 21 weeks of pregnancy and survived. Thanks to advances in medical science, the age of viability has been pushed further and further back. Fetal surgeries have saved the lives of unborn babies. In fact, artificial wombs may enable women to give up their babies without killing them, letting them grow in a bag and be adopted.
Furthermore, the wide accessibility of ultrasound machines has made the humanity of unborn babies more concrete.
If these Democrats had read the actual text of H.B. 314, they might hesitate before slamming it as an attack on women or a rejection of science.
The law cites the Declaration of Independence, which presents the natural law claim that “all men are created equal.” The bill argues, “the self-evident truth found in natural law, that all human beings are equal from creation, was at least one of the bases for the anti-slavery movement, the women’s suffrage movement, the Nuremberg war crimes trials, and the American civil rights movement. If those movements had not been able to appeal to the truth of universal human equality, they could not have been successful.”
The bill faults abortion advocates for speaking “to women’s rights” but ignoring “the unborn child, while medical science has increasingly recognized the humanity of the unborn child.”
“Recent medical advances prove a baby’s heart starts to beat around six weeks. At about eight weeks, the heartbeat can be heard through an ultrasound examination,” the bill explains. “Ultrasound imaging shows the developing child in utero. As early as six weeks after fertilization, fetal photography shows the clear development of a human being.”
Powerfully, the bill compares the death tolls of horrific evils throughout history to the death toll of abortion in the U.S. Between the Holocaust, Stalin’s gulags, the Chinese “Great Leap Forward,” the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and the Rwandan Genocide, horrific evils claimed the lives of between 14 and 15.5 million people.
“By comparison, more than 50 million babies have been aborted in the United States since the Roe decision in 1973, more than three times the number who were killed in German death camps, Chinese purges, Stalin’s gulags, Cambodian killing fields, and the Rwandan genocide combined,” the bill declares.
When seen in the eye of history as the systematic dehumanizing and killing of unborn babies, abortion is a heinous evil, with a death toll higher than some of the most horrific evils in human history.
These 2020 Democrats completely ignored the systematic dehumanization and killing of humans — who from the moment of conception have unique human DNA. They are ignoring science. They are dehumanizing people. They are demanding that death be an “option.”
Worse, these Democrats entirely ignore the psychological and spiritual damage that women suffer from abortion. This practice damages women’s health, even if it expands their options. Yet the women who choose this option are not necessarily free. Tragically, nearly 75 percent of the post-abortive women surveyed said their decision to abort was subject to pressure from others — parents, boyfriends, or husbands. More than 58 percent said they aborted their baby to make others happy.
Perhaps most damning to Democrats’ arguments, the sponsor of the Alabama legislation is a woman. Women have taken a leading role in the pro-life movement. Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director and employee of the year, has led hundreds of women to leave the abortion giant. The powerful film Unplanned tells her story.
It is also important to note that Roe v. Wade struck down the freedom of states to make their own laws on abortion. In a very real way, this decision limited freedom and restricted voters across the country. Opposing Roe v. Wade is not just a matter of pro-life activism but a call for states to regain their right to make abortion laws.
The weight of science, human rights, and even women’s health gravitate against abortion, not for it. These Democrats are sorely mistaken, and their advocacy for Roe v. Wade is inhumane, restrictive, and wrong-headed. Buttigieg deserves particular scorn for his ridiculous claim that H.B. 314 is “ignoring science.” The opposite is true.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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