OPEN LETTER TO DEMOCRATIC SENATOR HEIDI HEITKAMP WHO VOTED AGAINST BRINGING THE PAIN-CAPABLE UNBORN CHILD PROTECTION ACT TO THE FLOOR IN 2015

Dear Senator Heitkamp:

The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed and the Senate is now considering the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the bill that would spare unborn babies aged 20 weeks or more from the physical agonies of dismemberment and decapitation. 

In 2015, you voted against bringing such a measure to a vote by the Senate. We, your undersigned constituents and other concerned citizens, respectfully request that you tell us how you will vote on this legislation when it is brought to the Senate floor during this session.

S. 1922, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, is based on the scientific evidence that children in the womb are sensitive to pain no later than 20 weeks after fertilization. When their arms, legs, and head are torn from their bodies, they are, in fact, tortured.

As reported by the Associated Press in 2004, abortionist Dr. Timothy Johnson, when testifying in federal court about late-term abortion, was asked by the presiding judge if he ever considers the question of whether the babies he aborts feel pain during the procedure. “Does it ever cross your mind?” the judge asked. The abortionist simply said, “No.”  We would like to know whether this question ever crosses your mind, because you are about to have an opportunity to vote on it.

The late former abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who eventually became pro-life, wrote in his book The Hand of God about having performed the abortion procedure on his own child. He stated, “You ask if perhaps for a fleeting moment or so I experienced a flicker of regret, a microgram of remorse? No and no.” We would like to know if you, when you consider that tens of millions of children have never had the chance to laugh, play, or feel the warmth of the sun because of the legality of abortion – a policy you advocate -- ever experience any regret or remorse?

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated that the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act will be brought to the Senate floor this session. We would like to know whether you will vote to allow the bill to be considered on the Senate floor and, more importantly, whether you will vote to approve it.

The above questions are not difficult. Either you are willing to protect children from excruciatingly painful dismemberment in the womb at five, six, seven, eight, or nine months into pregnancy – or you are not. Frankly, if you can’t or won’t answer these simple questions, why are you even in public office?

We await your reply.