Sen. Lankford: Killing an Unborn Child by Abortion is ‘Not’ Moral
(CNS News) — Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) said it is immoral to kill an unborn child, which should be the center of the abortion debate, but, he added, currently “everyone seems to be talking about convenience of adults, ignoring the life of the child.”
At the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, CNS News asked Sen. Lankford, “The Women’s Health Protection Act would legalize abortion nationwide. Is killing an unborn child moral?”
“No, it’s not, actually,” said Lankford. “The most basic element that we should talk about is that’s a child. That’s what everyone seems to be talking about: convenience of adults, ignoring the life of the child there in the middle in this conversation about convenience of adults.”
Lankford’s comments come in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the issue of regulating abortion to the state legislatures.
On July 15, the Democrat-dominant House of Representatives passed (219-210) the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) of 2022, which seeks to prevent states from taking certain actions to restrict the provision of abortion. The bill was previously passed by the House last September, but it did not pass in the Senate, where a supermajority of 60 senators must agree to close debate on a bill before it can be voted on. The bill was reintroduced in the Senate in May.
If passed, the bill would stop states from restricting access to abortion pills and allow doctors to prescribe abortion services over the telephone. Abortion providers must also be allowed to “immediately provide abortion services when the provider determines a delay risks the patient’s health,” reads the legislation.
The WHPA also preempts state attempts to make abortion services more difficult to access. The text says that state governments would not be allowed to require that abortion providers obtain special credentials or force abortion facilities to provide any services “connected to an abortion” in addition to the abortion itself. Such a service could be, for instance, an ultrasound.
There are an array of restrictions on abortion access that have been put in place by state legislatures. For example, most states require abortions to be performed by a licensed physician. Almost half of states require a waiting period between receiving mandatory counseling and having the abortion, and 36 states require parental involvement when a minor is making a choice about abortion.
According to data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute, three states have a prohibition after six weeks of pregnancy, two states after 15 weeks, 10 after 22 weeks, and 18 states ban abortion after the point of fetal viability. Virginia bans abortion during the third trimester.
Seven states ban abortion from the moment of conception.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a pro-abortion senator, opposes the WHPA. In her press release from May 2022, she said, “The Women’s Health Protection Act goes well beyond the precedent established in Roe and Casey. It does not include the Hyde amendment, which prohibits taxpayer dollars from being spent on abortions — and has been the law almost as long as Roe.”
“It does not include conscience protections for healthcare providers that refuse to perform abortions based on religious beliefs,” said Murkowski. “It explicitly overrides the Religious Freedom Restoration Act for the first time. It also allows late-term abortions without any notable restrictions.”
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