Anti-abortion bill would eradicate abortion completely

INDIANAPOLIS (Christian Examiner) – An anti-abortion group and pro-life legislator in Indiana are preparing to introduce what they call the "strongest pro-life bill ever" – one that offers protection for the unborn child from the point of conception.

Hoosiers for Life and Rep. Curt Nisly [R-District 22] plan to push the bill to committee as soon as the 2017 session opens. They believe they have a chance to obtain a hearing because the bill uses current Indiana Code as its basis.

This can be the generation that stops abortion – that stops regulating murder and just stops murder. Constitutionally, morally, ethically, scientifically, medically, the argument is over. All that's missing is our courage as a people to do the right thing.

Indiana Code 16-34-2-1.1 requires doctors performing an abortion to first conduct an ultrasound, allow the mother to listen to the child's heartbeat, and explain to the mother that "human physical life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm," or from the point of conception.

To drive the point home, Hoosiers for Life has enlisted the aid of pro-life speaker Peter Heck. Heck, a radio host and pro-life advocate, appears in the group's new video, as does Nisly.

In the video, Nisly says it is time "to bring the Roe v. Wade era to its logical conclusion" and to begin to "treat unborn babies like other human beings." Nisly said his goal is to "deregulate abortion right out of existence in Indiana."

Heck claims the new bill could be successful because it uses the U.S. Supreme Court's own words about personhood. During the landmark Rowe case in 1973, Justice Potter Stewart said during oral arguments that if a fetus could be defined as human under the law, its Fourteenth Amendment protections would come into play and, therefore, nullify all other arguments – a fact admitted by Sarah Weddington, who argued the case for pro-abortion advocates.

Heck also said Roe v. Wade was built on "faulty scientific understanding of when life begins," and the decision is "predicated on the false idea that what is conceived is not human life."

"What if I told you all that was necessary to save these living babies is for the Indiana legislature to merely protect the life it already acknowledged has begun," Heck said, referencing Indiana's legal code.

Amy Schlichter, executive director of Hoosiers for Life, also appears in the video. She calls on legislators to support the bill and says all that is necessary for them to protect life is to enforce current law.

"The code is there, but Indiana has failed to use it to stop abortion," Schlichter said in the video. "Instead, they regulate it, which causes approximately 22 Hoosier babies to die every day."

Heck said the bill could be the hope of a generation that the killing will stop.

"This can be the generation that stops abortion – that stops regulating murder and just stops murder. Constitutionally, morally, ethically, scientifically, medically, the argument is over. All that's missing is our courage as a people to do the right thing," Heck said.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) has already responded to the video posted by Hoosiers for Life. In its response, the abortion provider said it would "step up the fight" in the 2017 legislative session to combat the new bill.

"Family planning is not a social issue, it is an economic issue that has a financial impact on the state of Indiana and the nation," Betty Cockrum, president and CEO of PPINK said in a statement. "Lawmakers who continue to bury their heads in the sand on these reproductive issues are hurting those they pledged to serve."

Cockrum said Planned Parenthood would mobilize an army of "reproductive justice supporters" to hold Indiana lawmakers accountable for their actions. She did not address any substantive position in the video.