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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate failed to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would prohibit abortion on unborn babies after five months post-fertilization, since there is incontrovertible scientific evidence that, at this age, babies can feel pain. Some scientists even believe that babies at this stage can feel pain more acutely than a full-term newborn baby since the baby has the highest number of pain receptors per square inch at this stage. The ability to moderate pain does not develop until 32-34 weeks.
Family Research Council’s president, Tony Perkins, issued the following statement regarding today’s vote:
“It is deeply troubling that we have Senators so ensnared in the deception of the abortion industry that they lack the ability to empathize with babies being literally torn apart, all the while feeling excruciating pain. Matters of life and death are worth debating, and it is telling that 42 Senators do not even want to debate this issue.
“Recently, America has been horrified by revelations of Planned Parenthood’s practice of harvesting unborn children for their organs. Larger, more developed unborn babies seem to be targeted for their organs and tissues. These unborn children are the very ones who can feel excruciating pain.
“We are grateful to Senator Lindsey Graham and the 53 other Senators who cast their vote to say that these issues are worth debating, and these children are worth protecting,” concluded Perkins.
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