From Politico this morning, in an article entitled, “GOP hopes it’s cracked the abortion code: Republicans unite around a push to ban the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy”:

… GOP leaders plan to vote on a federal 20-week abortion ban on Jan. 22. That’s the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade and falls on the same day as the March for Life….

In the House, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) opted to tie the upcoming vote to the March for Life event after meeting with leading anti-abortion groups and Republicans who have long been vocal opponents of abortion.

McCarthy met in November with a dozen conservative groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Susan B. Anthony List, and “reiterated his commitment to the pro-life movement and vowed to ensure that the House of Representatives would be in session and voting during the 2015 March for Life,” a GOP staffer said.

The Politico article notes, “60% of Americans support the 20-week ban, according to Quinnipiac, and Democrats are evenly divided on that specific proposal.”

So, battling a ban against abortion past 20 weeks is a loser for abortion proponents and Democrats. Even so, they’re absurdly trying, for instance, National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill , who said, according to Politico:

“If you say ‘viability,’ that’s the time where a fetus can live independently outside of the womb. That’s 24 to 26 weeks. But most people don’t know that. So when you just say, ‘Oh, do you want to ban abortion at 20 weeks?’ People go ‘Yeah, that’s really late!’ No, it’s not. And most people don’t know that it’s not late.”

First, the American Heart Association and American Academy of Pediatrics have established viability at either 23 weeks or 400 grams (14 ounces).  Politico could and should have corrected O’Neill’s obvious attempt to dehumanize 20-weekers.

Second, 5 months is “not late”? Does O’Neill really want to go there? Does she really want us to start talking about the advanced development of a 20-week-old preborn baby? I think not. Just goes to show the other side’s uphill path.

And the number of perfectly healthy babies aborted past 20 weeks amounts to over 18,000 annually, or 49 a day, counter to another of the other side’s claims that they are “rare.”

The pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists embarrasses itself by trying to claim, as quoted by Politico, that 20-week-old preborns do not feel pain, when even younger babies, 18-weekers, are now routinely anesthetized if undergoing surgery.

The abortion lobby is right about one thing. As Planned Parenthood indicated, a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks is a “clear attempt to challenge Roe v. Wade.”

It does this two ways.

First, H. R. 36 redraws the line after which abortions would be restricted. At present, the line is viability, according to Roe.

Second, H. R. 36 severely narrows the broad health exception defined in Roe’s companion case, Doe v. Bolton, which was:

… in the light of all factors - physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age - relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health.

This health exception has basically allowed abortion on demand throughout all 40 weeks of pregnancy since 1973. H. R. 36’s health exception as:

… substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including psychological or emotional conditions, of the pregnant woman.

by Kelli

Clever baby announcements are one of my favorite things to watch. I love the raw emotion and excitement captured in the moment of realization that a new life has come into being. This wife decided to surprise her husband by capturing his reaction to her news in a photo booth:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/0CfLWAnl898[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

by Carder

As a male embodied birth worker and intactivist, reproductive rights are at the forefront of my advocacy and beliefs…

I offer my services on a sliding scale. One of my core beliefs is to have access to a doula no matter what one’s financial status.

~ Doula Dude Erich Otten explaining his/her doula philosophy, Radical Doula, January 7

This week two Islamic terrorists massacred 12 people in France over offensive cartoons penned against Mohammed by cartoonists at a satirist newspaper.

This violent attack against free speech gripped the world, and of course, their American counterparts. Here are the top five six I thought most insightful. Be sure to vote for your favorite in the poll at the bottom of this post.

by Ruben L. Oppenheimer on Twitter…

 by Robert Ariail at Townhall.com…

 by Bob Gorrell at Townhall.com…

 a twofer by Glenn McCoy at Townhall.com…

 by Michael Ramirez at Townhall.com…

A great deal of blather has been expended on “the defense of our values.” This plays right into the fanatics’ hands, for they know we don’t have any….

Perhaps the most discouraging thing, in our inaptly captioned “war on terror,” is the response that can be elicited from the West’s real fools: those who say “this is not about Islam,” when even they know perfectly well it is about Islam and nothing else.

By now, the politically correct allow no captions at all. They are trapped because they have no positive values to defend, and thus no way to understand the people who intend to annihilate them…

Instead of positive, Christian values, which answer to the Muslim ones at every point (whether in agreement or disagreement), we now present a nothing. Our “freedom” is articulated in purely negative terms, as human “rights” to indulge any form of license, “so long as it doesn’t hurt anybody” in a narrowly immediate, material way….

Islam is a positive force. Its followers believe things, and many will fight for them. The fanatics may be twisted, but their cause that is not selfishly personal. They fully intend to conquer Europe – unfinished business from the Seventh Century – and their tactics and strategy are hardly counter-productive.

With each new strike they win more deference, and inspire more support among young Muslims. Each punch they land sounds the hollow in the decadent Western chest. We will not even acknowledge that we are at war, so complete is our surrender.

But the real battle, as they understand, is not Islam versus an empty licentiousness. That is too easily won. It is instead Christ versus Mohammad: the only battle in which they can be thrown onto the defensive; in which their own children can be turned against them.

~ David Warren, The Catholic Thing, January 9

[HT: Andrew Smith]

Priscilla Smith, a Yale Law professor and former attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, said…“they’re passing regulations that shut down abortion clinics.”…

The court battles are raging as fewer women than ever are seeking abortions since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalized the procedure. The abortion rate has reached its lowest point since then - and the new rules could help the numbers fall even faster.

~ Excerpt from Politico article, “Courts wrestle with wave of new state abortion laws,” January 8

BuzzFeed has listed the results of a poll question to parents on the worthiness of 21 popular baby items.

As an old school mom and new school grandma, I found the opinions fascinating.

Today’s parents and I basically agree on what on the market is eye-rolling and what is helpful – some tried and true, some new. We only parted company on wipes warmers. I feel bad using cold wipes! And on Boogie Wipes. I like them, too.

Read through the list and lend your thoughts! Here are a few…

I have a new poll question up:

In terms of religious views, I would prefer to marry a… “

This question occurred to me when reading tweets yesterday by RH Reality Check editor Jodi Jacobson, who claimed there is no difference between fanatical Muslims and Christian pro-lifers.

Jodi will likely find my question offensive and misogynist, but I really did wonder if she was so obtuse as to think there would be no difference in the treatment she would receive as a woman from a man who is a Christian and one who is a Muslim.

Conversely, do men really want slave wives?

Hence, the question.

Here were the results of my last poll regarding the death penalty, which had to to with executions gone awry. In Arizona it took two hours for Joseph Wood to die by lethal injection, and there have also been complaints about the executions of Dennis McGuire in Ohio and Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma. This didn’t bother the majority of you…

As always, make comments to either the previous or current poll here, not on the poll site.