Senate Fails to Pass 20-Week Abortion Ban
- Updated Jan 30, 2018
The U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill on Monday that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks.
The bill, known as the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, fell short of passing by a vote of 51-46, although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had said, “There is no reason why this should be a partisan issue. I hope that my Democratic colleagues will not obstruct the Senate from taking up this bill.”
Although two Republicans, moderates Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), voted against the bill, three Democrats, Joe Manchin (D-WV), Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA), and Joe Donnelly (D-IN), voted for it. Nevertheless, the rest of the Senate Democrats opposed the bill.
The bill was based on scientific evidence that unborn babies at 20 weeks or more gestation are capable of feeling pain. Alexandra Desanctis at National Review argues that the senators who voted against the bill are evidence of the radical view so many legislators have adopted when it comes to abortion.
“This vote is yet another indication of how radical today’s Democratic party has become on abortion,” she writes.
President Trump also expressed his disappointment that the bill did not pass. It was “disappointing that despite support from a bipartisan majority of U.S. Senators, this bill was blocked from further consideration,” said Trump.
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Publication date: January 30, 2018
