She explained that “there can be no rights for women if we don’t allow them the right to life.”
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) argued that the bill is necessary to “give baby girls the same chance at life as baby boys.”
She said that it is “hypocrisy” to call oneself “pro-woman” while supporting the abortion of a girl based on her gender.
“Since when did America subscribe to the idea that males are worth more than females?” she asked.
The May 31 vote came amid the release of several videos showing Planned Parenthood workers helping women asking for an abortion because their children were girls rather than boys.
The videos were posted online by Live Action, a pro-life group that produces undercover films of abortion clinics violating laws and internal standards.
On May 29, the organization posted a video from an Austin, Tx. Planned Parenthood clinic in April. The video showed a counselor encouraging the possibility of a late term abortion after the female gender had been confirmed, while at the same time admitting that the baby’s “brain is already developed” and “pretty much everything’s already developed.”
Two days later, Live Action posted a similar video from a New York Planned Parenthood clinic, where a clinic worker condoned and helped to schedule a sex-selection abortion, saying that “here at Planned Parenthood, we believe that it’s not up to us to decide what is a good or a bad reason” to have an abortion.
As public awareness of the videos grew, pro-life leaders vowed to keep fighting.
“For most of us ‘it's a girl’ is cause for enormous joy, happiness, and celebration,” said Rep, Chris Smith (R-N.J.). “But in many countries, including our own, it can be a death sentence.”
Michelle La Rosa is deputy editor-in-chief of Catholic News Agency. She has worked for CNA since 2011. She studied political philosophy and journalism at the University of Dallas.