Be a hero

be a heroCalling men of faith

We’re at a watershed moment in history. A single piece of legislation, the Heartbeat Bill, has an opportunity to be a game-changer in our fight to save the lives of the pre-born.

Iowa has now moved into the spotlight with a proposed piece of legislation, affectionately called ‘The Heartbeat Bill,’ that ends human abortion at the moment a human heartbeat is detected.

The Heartbeat Bill will save 1515 lives a year

Adoption experts project this bill will save the lives of some 1515 Iowa babies a year, and that a glut of adoptive parents anxiously await a chance to adopt these babies.

Here’s why The Heartbeat Bill can be historic: there’s a good chance it will end up at the Supreme Court. Lower courts shot down similar bills in Arkansas and North Dakota.

The Iowa bill is different in a crucial respect: it does not require an invasive ultrasound. Rather, it simply requires a standard, non-invasive, ultrasound that an abortion clinic is going to perform anyway, a marked departure from the Arkansas and North Dakota bills.

Ultimately, Republicans will decide the fate of this bill. Democrats tend to oppose any regulation on human abortion. At the national level, they even opposed the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act with near unanimity.

Here in Iowa, the Heartbeat Bill passed the Senate with unanimous Republican support. In the House, some Republicans, all men, are wavering. On the other hand, Republican women are on board.

Stand up for the little guy, be a hero

We call on these men of faith to be a hero. We call on them to stand up for the little guy, the pre-born person in the womb.

Set politics aside and protect the innocent person. If you won’t protect them, then who will? Their lives, literally thousands of them over the years to come, are in your hands.

Objections

Let’s review some of the reasons some are wavering on whether or not to support The Heartbeat Bill.

The bill won’t pass judicial scrutiny. As mentioned above, this bill is different than the Arkansas bill and stands a much better chance of being upheld by the Court. We can be timid and wait until another day, year, or decade for this opportunity. Or we can be courageous, pass The Heartbeat Bill now and change history.

It will cost the Iowan taxpayers a ton of money to defend the bill in court. It won’t. Two groups, the Thomas More Center and the Liberty Council, have offered to take it pro bono.

Young women may commit suicide if they aren’t able to abort their child. A young women affiliated with Planned Parenthood testified that she would have killed herself if she hadn’t been able to secure an abortion. There’s no question that some women feel desperate when faced with an unplanned pregnancy. That’s why the pro life community has created an impressive safety net for these at-risk women before, during, and after the birth of their children.

Mental health considerations

Depriving women of abortion rights is deleterious to their mental health. Just the opposite. Abortion does tremendous harm to the mental health of post-abortive women, according to a comprehensive meta study of 163,831 post-abortive women. These women had 138% higher risk of mental health problems compared to women who gave birth, with a 155% increase in suicidal behavior. A vote against the Heartbeat Bill is a vote for more suicide among women.

Who will raise these unwanted babies? According to the “Adoption Option” Index, Iowa is the 4th most adoption-friendly state in the country. The National Council for Adoption says:

“This suggests that in these states women may have more extensive counseling, services, and facilities to orient pregnant women towards adoption-among other factors.”

On a national level, some 36 couples are on waiting lists to adopt every single available baby. It’s not an easy process to adopt a child, however, when you finally hold that baby in your arms, it seems worth the trouble. However, the adoption agencies first need to make sure that the prospective parents are fit to raise this unwanted baby. This is why it takes a while to get an adoption approved. What could help you is looking into a home study guide so that preparing your home for a child becomes a simpler process. If the legislation goes through, there will be so many more babies that need a home, and you could be a hero for them by providing one.

Personhood considerations

The fetus isn’t a person. If a pregnant woman is killed, the Iowa Code (707.8) considers the fetus a person. Why should a little human being be deprived of her Constitutional rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness simply because she is unwanted or inconvenient? The abortion rights perspective takes a capricious view of personhood. As the author of Roe V Wade, Justice Harry Blackmun, wrote:

“If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the [Fourteenth] Amendment.”

So which is it? The human being in the womb cannot be a non-person and a person at the same time. Denying the pre-born personhood status is an exercise in intellectual dishonesty and moral cowardice.

Recent elections indicate growing impatience with legislators who pass the buck and take the easy way out, especially on life and death issues.

This is a unique moment. This is an opportunity for good men of faith to stand in the gap for all those tiny, beating hearts in the womb.

Be a hero. Pull the lever for life.

[subscribe2]

Leave a Comment