Capitol Connection Episode 133

Congress Unanimously Passes Bill Protecting Animals, Won’t Pass Bills Protecting Preborn Babies

Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate followed the U.S. House of Representatives in unanimously passing legislation to make animal cruelty a federal felony.

The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act makes it a federal offense to knowingly crush, burn, drown, suffocate, impale or sexually exploit animals. This is great news, but also points to a larger question: why can we not extend the same basic compassion and protection to the most vulnerable members of our own species?

Earlier this year, the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which simply requires immediate medical care be given to babies that survive abortion and are born alive, failed to pass in the U.S. Senate when it faced a filibuster and has been blocked from even receiving a vote by Democrat leadership in the U.S. House.

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would prohibit abortion after 20 weeks – when a unborn child can feel pain – also remains stalled in Congress.

As science and technology have improved, we are able to see what we inherently know – that a baby is a life worth protecting at all stages of development. Yet, the same pro-choice legislators who voted “Yes” to pass legislation criminalizing animal cruelty on the Federal level have been unwilling to even allow a vote on legislation protecting human babies in the womb who can feel pain or who survive an abortion and are born alive.

This indicates our society is continuing down a dangerous path where human life is devalued. The life of a human child, inside or outside the womb, shouldn’t be deemed less worthy of protection from our government than an animal. I’m all for protecting animals, but we do need to protect people, too.

Learn more about building and sustaining a culture of life and other pro-life and family updates on this week’s Capitol Connection Podcast.

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Nate Grasz

Nate Grasz

Policy Director
Nate is the Policy Director at Nebraska Family Alliance and host of the Capitol Report program.