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Jim Banks on Abortion
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Unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life
Jim has worked hard over the past five years in Indianapolis and been a part of important pro-life successes in the state legislature. Send Jim to Washington and he will:- support a human life amendment to the Constitution
- eliminate federal
funding for Planned Parenthood and any other organization that performs abortions in the U.S. or abroad
- support the ongoing prohibition of abortion services at military facilities
- require parental consent before a minor can receive services
at federally-funded family planning clinics
- prohibit research that involves killing human embryos
- completely ban all forms of human cloning
- oppose the use of federal funds to distribute abortion-causing drugs such as RU-486
- oppose any change to the pro-life plank of the Republican Platform which since 1984 has declared "The unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed."
Source: 2016 Indiana House campaign website JimBanks.us
, Nov 8, 2016
Ban abortions for sex selection or race selection.
Banks co-sponsored PRENDA: Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act
Congressional Summary: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011: Imposes criminal penalties on anyone who knowingly or knowingly attempts to:
- perform an abortion that is sought based on the sex, gender, color or race of the child, or the race of a parent;
- use the threat of force to intimidate any person for the purpose of coercing a sex-selection or race-selection abortion;
- solicit or accept funds for the performance of such an abortion; or
- transport a woman across a state line for the purpose of obtaining such an abortion.
Deems a violation of this Act to be prohibited discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Violators lose federal funding.) Sponsor's Letter (Rep. Trent Franks):PRENDA restricts sex-selection abortion and race-selection abortion, and the coercion of a woman to obtain either.
The woman seeking an abortion is exempted from prosecution, while abortion providers are held to account.
Opponents' Opinion (Erin Gloria Ryan on jezebel.com):Rep. Franks, a white man, has claimed that his desire to disallow "race-selective abortions" is based on his concern that the black community is having so many abortions. He doesn't say how, exactly, doctors are supposed to determine that a black woman seeking an abortion is doing so because her fetus would be black or whether she's just doing it because she doesn't want to be pregnant. Let's be honest here: this isn't really about saving girls and minorities; it's about eventually making abortion illegal. A sex-selection ban would present the Supreme Court with a dilemma: it dares the pro-abortion justices to embrace an abortion right to kill girls for being girls.
Source: H.R.3541 11-H3541 on Dec 1, 2011
Prohibit federal funding for abortion.
Banks co-sponsored No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act
TITLE I: Prohibiting Federally-Funded Abortions and Providing for Conscience Protections- Prohibits federal funds from being used for any health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion. (Currently, federal funds cannot be used for abortion services and plans receiving federal funds must keep federal funds segregated from any funds for abortion services.)
- Excludes from such prohibitions an abortion if: the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest; or the woman would be place in danger of death unless an abortion is performed.
TITLE II: Elimination of Certain Tax Benefits Relating to Abortion- Disqualifies, for purposes of the tax deduction for medical expenses, any amounts paid for an abortion.
- Excludes from the definition of "qualified health plan" after 2013, for purposes of the refundable tax credit for premium assistance for such plans, any plan that includes coverage for abortion.
Source: H.R.3 &S.906 11-HR0003 on May 5, 2011
Include pre-born human beings in 14th Amendment protection.
Banks co-sponsored H.R.816/S.2464
A bill to implement equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States for the right to life of each born and preborn human person.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, to implement equal protection for the right to life of each born and preborn human person, the Congress hereby declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child, a prohibition on in vitro fertilization, or a prohibition on use of birth control or another means of preventing fertilization.
In this Act, the terms `human person` and `human being` include each member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization or cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.
Source: Life at Conception Act 16-HR816 on Feb 9, 2015
Supports pro-life legislation.
Banks supports the PVS survey question on abortion
The Project Vote Smart Voter Guide inferred how candidates would respond to the question, 'Abortion: Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?'
Project Vote Smart notes, "in response to the increasing unwillingness of candidates to answer issue questions, Project Vote Smart has researched Congressional candidates' public records to determine candidates' likely responses on certain key issues. These issue positions, from the year 2016, are provided [for candidates who] refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2016 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests. Historically, candidates have failed to complete our test due to the advice they receive from their parties and advisors and out of fear of negative attack ads."
Source: Political Courage Test 16PVS_Q1 on Nov 8, 2016
Sponsored bill to protect infant survivors of abortion.
Banks co-sponsored Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
S.311/H.R.962: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act: Congress finds the following:
- If an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, the infant is a legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States, and entitled to all the protections of such laws.
- (2) Any infant born alive after an abortion or within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the same claim to the protection of the law that would arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within its care.
- In the case of an attempted abortion that results in a child born alive, any health care practitioner present at the time the child is born alive shall exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born
alive at the same gestational age.
Opposing argument from Rewire.com, "Born Alive Propaganda," by Calla Hales, 4/12/2019: From restrictive bans at various points of pregnancy to a proposed death penalty for seeking care, both federal and state legislators are taking aim at abortion rights. The goal? To make abortion illegal, criminalizing patients and providers in the process. One kind of bill making a recent resurgence is the "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act." These bills aim to further the false narrative that abortions regularly occur immediately before or, according to the president, at the time of birth. Intentional action to end the life of an infant is already illegal. This is covered by federal and state infanticide laws. These bills do nothing but vilify physicians who provide reproductive health care.
Legislative outcome Referred to Committee in House; Senate motion to proceed rejected, 56-41-3 (60 required).
Source: S.311/H.R.962 19-S0311 on Feb 5, 2019
Page last updated: May 28, 2022; copyright 1999-2022 Jesse Gordon and OnTheIssues.org