New national debate on abortion has begun

OPINION:

The infamous holdings in Roe v. Wade and Casey have been reversed by the brilliant Dobbs decision written by Justice Samuel Alito — conveying to lawmakers at the federal, state and local levels the authority to regulate or prohibit abortion. 

Many elected representatives have embraced this fresh opportunity to protect and defend the weakest and most vulnerable from the violence of abortion.

Last week, the House passed a bill to protect children born alive during an abortion as well as a resolution to demand that terroristic acts against pregnancy care centers, churches and pro-life offices be investigated, and the perpetrators of this violence be prosecuted.

And in the coming weeks, the House will vote on the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.

A new national debate on abortion has begun as lawmakers on the state level act quickly to protect children in the womb.

In less than a year after Dobbs, several states have enacted or reinstated laws to protect unborn babies and their mothers from the violence of abortion when a heartbeat can be detected at around six weeks or when the child suffers excruciating pain from the abortion procedure at 15 weeks.

Tragically, others, like my own state of New Jersey, have enacted horrific laws that constitute an existential threat to unborn babies by permitting abortion until birth.

Twice last year, the House passed legislation to legalize abortion until birth, including nullifying even modest anti-abortion state laws like informed consent or parental notification. Every Democrat in the House except one voted for that bill, and President Biden made absolutely clear that he wants to sign it into law.

Last week, the Democrats tried again to get a vote on this extremist anti-life bill but were thwarted only because pro-life Republicans now control the House. 

Mr. Biden — the abortion president — is aggressively promoting abortion on demand at home and overseas through executive orders, pro-abortion access pressure disguised as diplomacy, and by giving billions of dollars to abortion organizations.

The prevailing pro-abortion culture of denial — a modern-day flat Earth society — denies, devalues and disrespects the unborn and trivializes the harm suffered by women.

The United States — and the world — must recognize the breathtaking miracle of the newly created life of an unborn child and that women deserve better than abortion.

We need to care for and love them both.

From Proverbs to the book of James, the faith-filled are admonished to ask the Lord for wisdom, so I strongly believe we need to ask God as never before for wisdom — what should our next steps be in this human rights struggle — and for the courage to act decisively.

Future generations will someday look back on us and wonder how and why a society that bragged about its commitment to human rights could have legally sanctioned and aggressively promoted child beheadings, dismemberment, chemical poisoning and forced expulsion from the womb through the use of abortion-inducing drugs.

The injustice of abortion need not be forever.

• Chris Smith, a Republican congressman from New Jersey, is serving his 22nd term.