Abortion Bill Passes! – American Family Association of Indiana
Abortion Bill Moves Forward!
This afternoon, after several hours of heated debate, the Indiana House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 1 with a solid 62-38 vote.
This bill will close abortion clinics in Indiana and save thousands of babies’ lives. (Think about the historic nature of this.) A companion bill appropriates approximately $80 million to help women in crisis pregnancy situations.
This is a monumental day and a huge win for life in Indiana.
As I have said, the bill is far from perfect and will likely have to be revisited in January. Not all life leaders or activists will agree with my email tonight. Yet, the political process is messy, and I and others have shared our concerns with the bill along each step of the way. Still, it was important that something happen now.
The Senate has just filed a concurrence motion that could send this bill directly to the Governor.
I am optimistic that we are very close to seeing this bill signed into law next week.
There are so many people to thank for their courageous stands and work to save lives and respect the human right of the unborn. I cannot adequately cover all of them, but I want to mention a few who stood strong, even though they differed on the approach and tactics.
Senator Jim Tomes gave an amazing speech for life on the floor of the Senate refocusing the issue on children, followed by Senator Blake Doriot and Liz Brown.
Senator Mike Young, a longtime pro-life champion gave up his chairmanship of a committee in an effort to get a better bill. That is unheard of. He deserves our thanks and praise.
In the House, Representative Bob Morris filed eight outstanding amendments in an effort to make SB 1 better and he fought behind the scenes for those principles.
Rep. Matt Hostettler gave a powerful speech about the crime of rape and the need to punish those who commit it. (This is one thing lacking in SB 1.)
Rep. Matt Lehman also gave a powerful speech on the value of children to the state of Indiana.
Rep. Michael Davisson gave a very powerful and moving speech about fetal anomalies and how his father, a beloved state legislator who recently passed away, had never been predicted to live when he was born and went through numerous surgeries as a child. Had he been born today and not in 1957, he might well be among the aborted.
And there were so many more who deserve our thanks and appreciation.
Not all of these champions voted for SB 1 but they all wanted a pro-life bill.
I should mention too, someone many people have watched. Rep. John Jacobs had a much different tactical playbook, that many pro-life people disagree with. He opened a firestorm with a Hell-fire and brimstone speech or sermonette that created a lot of discussion over the role of faith in this matter. (I believe abortion is primarily a scientific and human rights argument, but faith overlaps with it too.)
In that regard, I will just close with this one item in this quick update.
There were a lot of legislators who talked of their faith but supported abortion. I don’t want to be snarky, but I think that deserves at least one comment. These legislators, some Republicans, and many Democrats claimed that God gave us free will and the right to choose (abortion).
Here’s what the Bible actually says in 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 – “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.”
Abortion is neither edifying nor is it seeking the well-being of the child. That’s all I’ll say for now, but this entire issue and process showed where legislators really stand in a lot of areas.
This is not over, but it is moving in the right direction and to finality for this special session.
I want to thank all those who stood for life and for you contacting your legislators and praying for their making the right decisions. Keep praying, and pray that the Governor signs SB1.
I will have more on this in my regular weekly email on Wednesday.
