This is it—the week we’ve all been waiting for. After what feels like forever, Tayshia is replacing Clare as the Bachelorette. Not where you thought I was going?
Of course, tomorrow is finally the 2020 presidential election, though you’d be forgiven for thinking it was last month with all the hand wringing about doing Senate business “during election season” from the Democrats.
This year voters in two states will decide critical life-affirming policy on the ballot.
Louisiana, which ranked #1 on AUL’s 2020 Life List, has a robust history of passing bipartisan pro-life laws. The Love Life Amendment ensures that there is no “right to abortion” or to taxpayer funding for abortion in the state constitution. It defends against judicial overreach and is a direct response to six judges in Kansas discovering a right to abortion in the state constitution nearly 160 years after it was drafted. The purpose of the amendment is to keep lawmaking authority in its appropriate place, which is the legislative branch.
State Senator Katrina Jackson, a Democrat from Monroe, wrote, sponsored, and is leading efforts on the Love Life Amendment. She says:
“Our body of pro-life laws ensure that women are empowered with the truth about their pregnancy prior to an abortion, that minors seeking an abortion have parental consent, and that babies born alive following a botched abortion receive immediate medical care. Our law also makes sure that not a dollar of your state tax dollars fund abortion.”
Coloradoans will vote on Prop 115, which would limit late-term abortions after 22 weeks. Currently just seven US states, China, and North Korea hold the dubious distinction of permitting abortion throughout pregnancy. Colorado is known as a late-term abortion destination, and Dr. Hern in Boulder is open about the fact that two-thirds of late-term abortions performed at his clinic are elective. For the remainder that he considers “non-elective,” many are because of a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis. Colorado voters have the opportunity to realign with the plurality of states that limit abortions after 20-22 weeks, which is a timeframe historically based on the scientific evidence of when a fetus feels pain.
Dr. Tom Perille of Democrats for Life of Colorado wrote an exhaustive post on the subject, which is worth the read. Among his conclusions:
“A 22-week fetus in biologically indistinguishable from a baby born at 22 weeks. There is scientific evidence that a 22-week human fetus demonstrates all the fundamental characteristics of more developed humans, including the ability to perceive pain and perform sophisticated behaviors. The reasons women choose late abortion are similar to the reasons that women choose early abortion. Most late abortions are performed on normal human fetuses. For those tragic situations where a human fetus has a life-limiting prognosis because of a genetic or congenital fetal abnormality, perinatal hospice offers a compassionate, life-affirming alternative to late abortion. Late abortions are violent procedures that commonly involve the crushing and dismemberment of the human fetus. Late abortions pose a substantial morbidity and mortality risk to the pregnant woman, which is further exacerbated by the lack of regulatory oversight.”
This week, voters across the country will vote for life-affirming candidates, but in Louisiana and Colorado, they’ve got the opportunity to directly vote for life on the ballot.
See y’all Wednesday, where we’ll start unpacking the electoral results and what they might mean for the 2021 state legislative sessions, litigation, and more.
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