“No one, except people who will benefit financially, wants unregulated abortion through all nine months of pregnancy,” she told BP in written remarks. “To be clear, Biden is siding with big business and against women. He is helping prop up an industry that makes money from ending babies’ lives.”
The WHPA “would not protect women; it would allow providers to have unprecedented protections from government oversight, limitations and regulations and put the power in the hands of the people who stand to make a huge profit over deregulation,” Day said. “It is undemocratic and immoral.”
Day acknowledged Biden’s promise “should give pro-life Democrats in swing states a real challenge in voting. Do they want unregulated, unsafe abortion that is assured under a Democratic majority or do we want a chance for those mothers and babies by preserving the pro-life majority in the Senate?”
The House has passed the WHPA twice in this session of Congress, with Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas the lone Democrat to join Republicans in opposing the measure. The evenly divided Senate has already rejected the WHPA twice this year by refusing to bring the legislation to the floor for a vote. Senators voted against invoking cloture by 48-46 in February and 51-49 in May. The procedural move requires 60 votes to cut off debate so a vote on a bill can occur.
In addition to urging Congress to protect abortion rights in federal law, Biden has overseen a series of policy actions seeking to negate the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe.
He announced the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe that his administration would protect interstate travel for abortions and access to drugs that end the lives of preborn children. Since then, various federal departments have taken steps to promote access to abortion.
Messengers to this year’s Southern Baptist Convention in June passed a pro-life resolution – something they have done more than 20 times since 1980 – before the Supreme Court’s decision that urged the justices to overturn Roe and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey opinion that affirmed it. In addition to encouraging increased pro-life ministry, the resolution also called for state legislatures to approve laws “that uphold the dignity and value of every human life, including both vulnerable women and children.”
About half of the 50 states already have laws or are expected to enact laws that prohibit abortion either throughout pregnancy or at a certain stage of pregnancy, although courts have blocked the enforcement of some.
This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.
