Monday marks Roe v. Wade’s 45th anniversary. Since that ignoble decision, more than 60 million precious, innocent babies have been intentionally killed by abortion in the United States.
The Declaration of Independence states that we are all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, chief among them the right to life. Scripture teaches us that every human being, no matter how old, is precious in the sight of God.
As a Christian, father of four, and grandfather of 10, I cannot fathom how some in our country so disrespect life. We know of babies who have survived abortion, only to be left to die of exposure or even tossed in the trash. What have we become as a nation?
Last week, my House Republican colleagues and I took action to outlaw the diabolical practice of killing babies who survive an abortion by passing the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. This includes provisions to apply federal murder laws to abortionists who kill a baby born alive.
Also this week, I requested a Government Accountability Office investigation into Planned Parenthood’s use of tax-exempt bonds to finance abortion clinics.
These state and local bonds are intended to support infrastructure that benefits the community, such as schools, hospitals, and bridges. Who in their right mind considers abortion clinics to be infrastructure?
Sadly, a loophole has allowed Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to receive millions of dollars’ worth of tax-exempt bonds, which saves them money while costing the federal government (and hardworking taxpayers) revenue that could be used for national defense, schools, or paying down our national debt.
The No Abortion Bonds Act (H.R. 4131), which I authored and introduced, will close this loophole and prohibit the use of tax-exempt, taxpayer-backed state and municipal bonds for abortion clinics. This bipartisan pro-life legislation has the support of National Right to Life, Family Policy Alliance, Americans United for Life, March for Life, Susan B. Anthony List, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and many more pro-family organizations. 100 members of Congress have co-sponsored my legislation.
While pro-life legislation is important, abortion is not a political issue. Rather, it is a moral issue. An issue that speaks to and reveals our collective conscience as a nation.
We must work, with devoted mission, to correct the tragedy of abortion and protect the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves.
Because this is a moral issue, we must also pray for those who stand in darkness on this grievous loss of life and who have been advocates of abortion.
Who would know God’s plan for the 60 million precious souls lost to abortion since Roe v. Wade? He may have given to some of them the cure for cancer, or Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s, or many other diseases.
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Let us pray that America bends toward justice for the unborn. Yet, however long this journey may be, we must be resolute and unwavering in our commitment. This is a battle for the very soul of what we stand for as a nation.
