Pro-Life Democrat Courageously Bucks His Party, Calls on Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jan 3, 2020   |   12:20PM   |   Washington, DC

It takes a lot of courage and integrity to stand up against the Democratic Party and one of its most powerful backers, the abortion lobby.

But Illinois Congressman Dan Lipinski consistently has done so. A target of the abortion lobby, Lipinski is one of the last faithful pro-life Democrats in Congress.

On Thursday, he and fellow Democrat Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota joined more than 200 Republican lawmakers in calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to consider overturning Roe v. Wade. They asked the high court to uphold a Louisiana abortion clinic regulation that protects women experiencing emergency complications. The case is June Medical Services v. Gee.

Though most Democrat leaders have grown increasingly pro-abortion, Lipinski faithfully defends the rights of babies in the womb. His signature on the amicus brief quickly drew flak from abortion activists, including his political challenger Marie Newman, Newsweek reports.

Activist and filmmaker Adam Best blasted Lipinski’s and Peterson’s decision to support the rights of unborn babies as “completely f—— unacceptable,” according to the report. He urged the Democratic Party to reject pro-lifers.

“There should be no room for anti-women’s rights radicals in the Democratic Party,” Best wrote on Twitter.

The Illinois branch of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion chain, also denounced the pro-life Democrat on Thursday, according to CBS Chicago. Earlier this year, the billion-dollar abortion chain endorsed his opponent.

Lipinski and Peterson joined 39 U.S. Senators and 166 U.S. House lawmakers in signing the amicus brief. The Louisiana case challenges the U.S. Supreme Court “undue burden” precedent, which has allowed unrestricted abortions for basically any reason up to birth. Roe v. Wade made America one of only seven countries in the world that allows elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

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The law in question requires abortion facilities to meet similar standards to other medical clinics by requiring that abortionists have hospital admitting privileges for patient emergencies. Abortion activists claim the law is an “undue burden” on women’s access to abortion.

The Supreme Court struck down a similar Texas law in 2016, arguing it burdened women’s access to abortion. However, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Louisiana law in 2018, saying it “does not impose a substantial burden on a large fraction of women.”

“Forty-six years after Roe was decided, it remains a radically unsettled precedent,” the pro-life lawmakers responded in their amicus brief. “Amici respectfully suggest that the court’s struggle—similar to dozens of other courts’ herculean struggles in this area—illustrates the unworkability of the ‘right to abortion’ found in Roe and the need for the Court to take up the issue of whether Roe and [Planned Parenthood v. Casey] should be reconsidered and, if appropriate, overruled.”

Lawmakers said the abortion facility at the center of the case, Hope Medical Group, is not prioritizing women’s safety.

“There is an inherent conflict of interest between abortion providers and their patients,” they wrote. “It is impossible for abortion clinics and doctors to share or represent the interests of their patients when they seek to eliminate the very regulations designed to protect their patients’ health and safety.”

In December, a Fifth Circuit Court ruling indicated the abortion facility may have covered up the sexual abuse of young girls and one of its abortionists may be performing abortions that lead to second-trimester babies being born alive.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case in March.