Fight for the Unborn Child Protection Act

This week, members of the the House will vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 36). The vote was previously set for Jan. 22, 2015, but a dispute regarding the language of the bill postponed the vote.

Now the language has been tweaked, and the House will again work to vote on the bill that would protect babies 20 weeks of gestation or older from having to go through a horrific, painful dismemberment abortion.

Just as Rome wasn't built in a day, abortion hasn't ended as soon as a majority of Americans hoped.

It was the same for abolishing slavery and ending segregation over the last many decades. Yet know we know that as the civil rights movement of the 20th century was about justice; the movement continues today for the safety of mothers and their babies. Abortion isn't a civil right; life is.

So abortion may not end all at once; so we must unify and keep moving forward. Every baby saved, every mother helped to choose life is a step in the right direction. Senseless infighting and friendly fire are our deadliest threats. The other side knows this. We must stop blaming and unify.

Remember, the 20th civil rights movement did not achieve all its goals at once. Victory was accomplished in countless steps and hundreds of peaceful demonstrations.

As one who marched, and was jailed and firebombed fighting for freedom and justice back then, I can assure you that we were not about to turn down any victory we could achieve just because it did not take us to the finish line all at once, right away. We had agape love, compassion, and faith that we would eventually get there if we just persisted.

And just as with civil rights, we of the 21st century civil rights movement will abolish abortion as long as we are persistent. So as we work together to save them, all we must also seek to save the babies and mothers we can right now.

Human rights are civil rights. And civil rights begin in the womb; from conception until natural death. I join my colleague, Father Frank Pavone, in urging Congress to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. As Father Frank very has aptly stated, “It would be immoral not to support this bill.”

I implore you to contact your representative and ask him/her to vote yes on H.R. 36.

Dr. Alveda C. King grew up in the civil rights movement led by her uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She is a pastoral associate and director of African-American outreach for Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries. Her family home in Birmingham, Ala., was bombed, as was her father’s church office in Louisville, Ky. Alveda herself was jailed during the open housing movement. Read more reports from Dr. Alveda C. King — Click Here Now.