Republican members of the 114th Congress met recently and immediately introduced legislation called the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to outlaw abortions occurring after 5 months, despite being opposed to the rulings offered in Roe v. Wade.
Citing their recent victory in the 2014 midterm elections as a mandate to push abortion reform, two Republican Senators Trent Franks and Marsha Blackburn, from Arizona and Tennessee, respectively, sponsored the bill which had been previously introduced but stalled by Democratic leaders. With a current majority, Republicans believe they will be able to force the bill through both houses of Congress this time.
The bill gained its name and also the key points of banning abortions after 5 months based on the tenuous idea that, after this amount of time, fetuses are conscious and able to feel pain. However, many doctors believe that fetuses cannot survive independently until at least 6 or 7 months; furthermore, the scientific community largely claims that fetuses cannot feel pain until after having been birthed, although many Republican largely ignore this information.
Pro-Life proponents believe the ban of abortions after this time period is a moderate compromise, which has slowly been gaining in popularity in several states. However, Pro-Choice advocates cite many concerns that women will have their ability to choose what happens to their body severely limited, as in scenarios where the pregnancy will most likely fail anyway. In these scenarios where the baby will ultimately suffer after the pregnancy anyway, Republicans offer little consolation or concern with how to deal with these issues.