Since Governor Rick Perry of Texas signed House Bill 2, the Texas Pro-Life Omnibus Bill, into law on 18 July 2013, Pro-Life ranks across the United States have been fired up to stand for Life. One of the provisions of HB2 bans abortions at 20 weeks, the point at which scientific consensus proves that preborn babies feel pain.
Most recently, Pro-Life citizens of Albuquerque, New Mexico submitted nearly 27,000 signatures, more than double the needed number in half the allotted time, to place a city ban on abortions after 20 weeks. The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance is on the November 19 ballot in Albuquerque; early voting has begun.
Ample scientific evidence supports prohibitions on abortions based on the knowledge that preborn children feel immense pain during an abortion procedure. Pro-Lifers across the nation refuse to be bullied by their cities, states, and federal government when it comes to protecting preborn Life.
As soon as the Pro-Life citizens filed the ordinance, city council members tried to thwart the will of the people by obtaining an injunction to halt the placing of the ordinance on the ballot. City council members and anti-Life activists claim the ban is unconstitutional, though several states have bans based on the premise of preborn pain. The recently enacted 20-week ban has remained unchallenged in Texas.
More than 54% of Albuquerque residents support the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance, and the city’s attempt to stop it is a direct violation of the citizen’s right to have the measure placed on the ballot.
New Mexico is one of a handful of states that still allows abortions to be committed past the age of viability – that is 28 weeks of pregnancy, or 7 months. If Albuquerque residents successfully pass the ordinance, the New Mexico city will be the first in the nation to ban abortions after 20 weeks.
Of the four late-term abortion centers in the United States, two are located in Albuquerque. Therefore, successful passage of the ordinance will reduce the number of late-term abortion centers in the country by half.
Proving abortion supporters are unsuccessful, Albuquerque citizens will decide whether to protect pain-capable preborn children on November 19 – just weeks after Texas’ HB2 took effect on October 29.
