Opinion

June 17, 2013 (FRC) – No matter how frustrating things are on Capitol Hill, we can all be grateful for one thing: Nancy Pelosi is no longer in charge. Regardless of the GOP's flaws, the former Speaker reminded pro-lifers how much worse the leadership could be. During a press conference last week, the House Minority Leader picked a fight with the men on the Judiciary Committee for passing Rep. Trent Franks's (R-Ariz.) bill onto the House floor. First, Pelosi accused them of sexism — “All the people who voted for the bill were men,” she insisted. (Only because there are no Republican women on the committee!) Then, she took aim at the legislation, Franks's Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, for somehow “disrespecting” the “health and safety of American women.”

That's interesting, since studies show that late-term abortions — which this measure bans — are actually more dangerous to mothers. Complications, like uterine perforations, are much more common in late-term abortions because the baby is so much bigger. Far from “disrespecting” women, this bill protects them! Families like Jennifer Morbelli's, who is still mourning the loss of the bright kindergarten teacher, wish a law like Franks's had been in place when their daughter was pregnant. Jennifer died in February of complications to a late-term abortion, and her parents, who say they “wake up every day in the valley of darkness and pain,” are shattered.

John McCormack of the Weekly Standard pushed Rep. Pelosi to explain. Responding to the topic that she raised, McCormack asked the former Speaker about the “moral difference” between late-term abortions and the gruesome newborn killings of Kermit Gosnell. With an air of complete disgust, she fired back, “You're probably enjoying that question a lot, I can see you savoring it. Let me just tell you this,” she said, seething, “What was done in Philadelphia was reprehensible and everybody condemned it. For them to decide to disrespect a judgment a woman makes about her reproductive health is reprehensible. Next question.”

Undeterred, McCormack pressed harder. “What's the moral difference? I just asked a simple question.” Angry, Pelosi responded, “This is not the issue. They are saying that there's no abortion. It would make it a federal law that there would be no abortion in our country. You're taking the extreme case.” Maybe Pelosi needs to pass this bill to find out what's in it, because H.R. 1797 does not, in any way, ban all abortions in America. Like most liberals, she misrepresented the legislation because she knows she can't win the debate on the merits. Strong majorities of Americans agree with the Judiciary Committee that abortion should be outlawed at the 20-week mark when babies can feel the excruciating pain.

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Obviously, the questioning hit a little too close to home for Pelosi, whose party desperately wants to distance itself from the future Gosnells their abortion culture is creating. When she couldn't lie her way out of the debate, Pelosi tried to dodge it by invoking faith and motherhood. “I've responded to you to the extent that I'm going to respond to you. Because I want to tell you something. As the mother of five children, my oldest child was 6 years old the day I brought my 5th child home from the hospital, as a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me.”

Sacred ground? Let's face it. The only ground “sacred” to Nancy Pelosi is the U.S. Supreme Court, where abortion-on-demand became the law of the land.

Fortunately for pro-lifers, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is, in fact, a practicing Catholic, and when he was asked why the House was “wasting time” on Franks's bill, he stood his ground. “Listen, jobs continues to be our number-one concern. And while we continue to be focused on it, there are other important issues that we have to deal with. And after the Kermit Gosnell case and the publicity that it received, I think the legislation is appropriate. And I hope those who have voted against such proposals in the past will change their minds.” It's never the wrong time to do what's right. 

Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council