Washington Examiner: Kristan Hawkins and Lauren Boebert: How the Women’s Health Protection Act endangers women
Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins and Rep. Lauren Boebert's editorial was originally published in the Washington Examiner.
The predatory abortion industry is quaking right now because it realizes that Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Texas Heartbeat Act, and numerous abortion-related cases reaching the Supreme Court have put Roe v. Wade on legal life support, ironic as death is the business of abortion. Up to this point, the bullies of corporate abortion have used the courts as their "get out of regulation and accountability free" card, but that seems to be coming to an end.
To remedy this, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised she’d bring the so-called Women’s Health Protection Act (better labeled the Women’s Health Endangerment Act) to the House floor this week, prompting a vote on one of the most extreme and harmful pieces of federal legislation this session.
The deceptively titled bill sounds like it’s in the best interest of women, but it only serves the interests of corporate abortion by establishing a federal power grab to restrict state access to the democratic process as described in the Constitution. If it's passed, federal agents could limit the ability of legislators to act on the issue of abortion in line with the views of voters.
This abusive legislation has been sponsored by 48 senators and 212 representatives. That’s 260 federal legislators who continue to peddle the dangerous lie that women need abortion to be successful and abortion has no consequences.
Why is this pro-abortion legislation so dangerous? If passed, H.R. 3755 would obliterate almost every state-implemented restriction on abortion. Widely supported policies such as mandatory waiting periods and ultrasounds, counseling requirements, informed consent laws, late-term abortion limits, and even basic health and safety standards would be invalidated.
These laws are not “barriers to care.” They’re essential safeguards that allow women the time and information needed to make a more well-informed decision. Additionally, they protect women from dangerous abortionists, such as Kermit Gosnell, who have harmed and even killed women with their negligence and who would be allowed to operate without oversight or inspection.
The bill also includes a revealing change in strategy for abortion enthusiasts, who are now rejecting “safe, legal, and rare” in favor of “safe, legal, and effective,” prioritizing ending life through abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy for any reason and potentially funded by taxpayers. This is the narrative the abortion lobby has peddled for decades, resulting in the violent deaths of more than 62 million pre-born babies and countless families forever devastated.
Ignoring medical and psychological reality, the bill states that “governments must not impose restrictions on abortion which subject women and girls to physical or mental pain or suffering.” However, abortion is known to harm women physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Possible physical side effects of abortion include heavy or persistent bleeding, severe pain or cramping, organ damage, fertility issues, breast cancer, infection, sepsis, and even death. Many women also suffer from mental repercussions such as grief, regret, substance abuse, isolation, relationship issues, insomnia, nightmares, depression, and even suicide. Unfortunately, women are often ill-informed about the possible side effects because it may dissuade them from having an abortion.
The measure also states that it “seeks to address restrictions on reproductive health, including abortion, that perpetuate systems of oppression, lack of bodily autonomy, white supremacy, and anti-Black racism.” Abortion is the ultimate form of oppression. In fact, abortion kills more black people than any other cause of death and has reduced the black population by 35% . Under the Women’s Health Protection Act, eugenic practices such as discriminatory abortions based on involuntary characteristics including race, sex, or disability would be allowed in all 50 states.
No “medical” industry should be deregulated to the extreme extent that the Women’s Health Protection Act allows. Some abortion facilities are known to have aided sexual abusers, disregarded basic health and safety standards, and even utilized unqualified staff members to provide medical services. Abortionists have also been caught deceiving and forcing women into having abortions. This is not pro-science or pro-women.
To be clear, pregnancy is not a disease cured by abortion. Even the Supreme Court has acknowledged that abortion is “inherently different from other medical procedures, because no other procedure involves the purposeful termination of a potential life.”
Although the Women’s Health Protection Act claims abortion access is essential to women’s participation in “the social and economic life of the Nation,” we know that women do not need to kill their pre-born children to function equally within society. Multitasking women are capable of all that life has to offer, including pursuing educational goals and professional development alongside child-rearing.
The deceptively named Women’s Health Protection Act ignores women’s needs for opportunity, education, and access to advancement, selling us short by falsely asserting that all we need is more abortion. Women deserve better, and the next generation deserves our support and protection.