Dent Confuses Right and Wrong

Member Group : Jerry Shenk

On May 13, 2013, the US House of Representatives voted on a bill to ban abortions after the fifth month of pregnancy.

The vote was scheduled to coincide with the second anniversary of the conviction of Philadelphia late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell who ran a grisly, infamous abortion mill. Gosnell was convicted of murdering live-born children.

The bill would limit elective abortions after twenty weeks, a point more than halfway to term at which unborn babies can feel pain.

Rep. Charlie Dent voted AGAINST the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" — one of only four Republicans to do so. For possibly the first time since entering the House in January, Rep. Ryan Costello voted out of sync with Dent. Costello favored the bill, which passed by a vote of 242 to 180. Dent joined every Pennsylvania House Democrat but Robert Brady, who didn’t vote. Only four Democrats voted for the bill.

The vote was taken only days after a New York Times article revealed that, due to medical advances, more premature babies – even those born at twenty-two weeks – can survive outside the womb with fewer health problems.

It’s obscene that, today, the United States continues to be one of only seven countries to allow elective abortions at late stages in a pregnancy. In fact, the United States, China, North Korea and Canada are the only nations in the world that permit abortion for any reason after viability.

Dent’s vote had nothing to do with women’s "health."

Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President of Americans United for Life (AUL), emphasizes the danger of late-term abortion for both babies and their mothers: "Limiting abortion at five months of pregnancy, as an unborn child becomes able to live outside the womb and as the procedure becomes even more dangerous for women, is a common sense law long overdue"… "This type of legislation represents the mother-child strategy that AUL recommends because it deals directly with the ugly reality of abortion, which hurts both people exposed to an industry willing to harm people for profit."

AUL cites compelling research: After two months of pregnancy, each week, the chance of a woman dying from an abortion increases 38 percent; at five months of pregnancy, a woman is 35 times more likely to die from an abortion than during the first trimester; and after 21 weeks, a woman is at 91 times greater risk than in the first trimester.

Before the vote, the Wall Street Journal quoted Dent: "This is a lot of time and energy spent on a bill that really has no chance of becoming law."

The bill’s chances of becoming law isn’t the point. Some things are simply right to do. And the American people should know which of their representatives have learned and understand the fundamental difference between right and wrong.

Clearly, Mr. Dent needs a remedial course.