CINCINNATI, OH (April 16, 2015) – Reports that the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act may go forward in the US House with revisions gutting rape reporting requirements have spurred sharp rebuke from Bradley Mattes of Life Issues Institute, a Cincinnati-based international pro-life organization.
The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would ban abortion after 20 weeks except in extraordinary cases such as rape or incest. A similar bill had passed the House last year, and the same result was expected this year from a vote scheduled in January. Despite promises to support the bill, however, Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) led an unexpected revolt by GOP members who objected to the requirement that women seeking an abortion due to rape must have reported the assault to law enforcement. The new revisions reportedly require only that the woman tell a physician she had been raped.
“Removing the requirement that women report the rape to law enforcement renders the bill meaningless,” Mattes said. “According to reports about the revision, a woman need tell only her abortionist that she was raped. Reporting to law enforcement on a timely basis guarantees that her physical and mental health are protected, statements will be taken, times and dates noted, evidence collected and secured, and a conviction pursued. Claiming rape to an abortionist, who has a lucrative financial stake in the abortion, means nothing.
“Pro-life voters helped put Representative Ellmers over the top in her first election, which she barely won,” Mattes continued. “Her betrayal on a bill that has broad public support and her decision to in practical terms gut the legislation is unconscionable. The pro-life community will not forget.”
The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act originally had been slated for a vote in January to coincide with the pro-life March for Life, the annual remembrance of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 US Supreme Court decision that struck down state laws prohibiting abortion.
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