WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — During a U.S. House of Representatives meeting this week, a Democrat argued against pro-life legislation using a passage from the Bible to defend herself.
Hillary Scholten, who is beginning her first term representing Michigan’s third congressional district, spoke out against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, or H.R. 26, which was passed by the House on Wednesday.
The legislation states that babies who survive botched abortions must be recognized as “a legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States and entitled to all the protections of such laws.” It also mandates that medical professionals treat these children as they would treat other newborns who did not survive attempted abortions.
“I rise today in support of parental and maternal rights and in opposition to H.R. 26,” Scholten began her comments. “I recently shared publicly about my own experience navigating a complex miscarriage and the loss of my daughter. As a pro-choice Christian who chose life, this issue is so personal to me.”
“My faith informs my actions, but it doesn’t dictate the policy of an entire nation,” she continued. “And further, when I read the Scripture, I turn to passages and I’m guided by passages like Jeremiah 1 verse 5, which states, ‘I knew you before I formed you and I placed you in your mother’s womb.’ It doesn’t say the government’s womb or the Speaker’s womb. It says the mother’s womb.”
“I believe life is precious, but I reject the idea that if I embrace the sanctity of life, I also must be forced to invite the federal government in to regulate it. We must protect families from unnecessary government intrusion into the most sacred and personal decisions of our lives and our children’s lives.”
The popular pro-abortion argument that a woman has a “right” to abortion because her body is involved ignores the reality that while the growing baby is inside his or her mother’s womb, the child remains a distinct and unrepeatable human life. Additionally, the bill that Scholten protested would not prohibit abortion. Rather, the legislation would require medical professionals to treat babies who survive botched abortions with the same dignity they show to newborns whose lives are not threatened in the womb, recognizing these children as human beings.
The bill also condemns the attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers that took place in the wake and aftermath of the Dobbs decision. Although passed in the Republican-led House, the proposals are not necessarily expected to pass in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.
A similar measure was introduced in Montana, but voters rejected the proposal to protect newborn abortion survivors in the 2022 midterm elections. Similarly, multiple states, including Michigan and Vermont, enshrined a constitutional “right” to abortion on demand up to birth in November.
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