Fresh off his announcement that he will compete for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, Sen. Sam Brownback (R.-Kan.) met with pro-life bloggers participating in the Family Research Council's Blogs4Life Conference in Washington, DC.
Brownback addressed recent developments in the pro-life movement and rallied the troops before they headed out to the cold to March for Life on the National Mall.
"Roe v. Wade is going to be overturned...and it's going to be a great day for liberty and for freedom and for human dignity," he said. "It will give us back our moral voice around the world."
As Brownback observed, not only is the March for Life the most underreported event of the year, it often falls on the coldest day of the year. Yesterday Washington got its first snow of the season.
He said pro-lifers need to continue to fight the killing of the most innocent human life -- babies with Down syndrome, 80% of whom are aborted.
"One of the most beautiful gifts to society and we abort them," he said, pleading with women to give them life, even if they choose to give them up for adoption.
Referring to the Americans with Disabilities Act, Brownback lamented the fact that while people with disabilities are well-protected after birth, they aren't beforehand, asking: "Who draws the line? Why are they protected out of the womb but not in?"
He said that this "slaughter in the womb because of your genetic type" is "an uncomfortable truth."
Today Brownback and 25 of his colleagues in the Senate are introducing the Unborn Pain Awareness Act, what Brownback refers to as "a Roe-consistent bill."
The bill requires that mothers be informed of the "extreme" pain their unborn child will experience during and abortion and be offered anesthesia for the child. The bill was introduced in the House last year by Rep. Steve King but didn't make it into law.
He said not administering anesthetic to babies undergoing such a procedure is inhumane. In-womb surgeries are performed for other reasons all the time and an anesthesia is administered.
"We wouldn't do this to an animal and why are we doing this to a child in the situation?," he said.
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