A U.S. House Democrat just misused a commonly-quoted Bible verse about life in the womb to defend killing babies in abortions.
On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Michigan, mentioned her Christian faith in connection with her pro-abortion stance during a House debate about the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The legislation, which passed later Wednesday afternoon, would protect newborns who survive abortions from infanticide.
“As a pro-choice Christian who chose life, this issue is so personal to me,” Scholten said, bringing up how she suffered a difficult pregnancy and lost an unborn baby to miscarriage.
However, the Michigan Democrat said she believes women should have a “sacred and personal” choice to abort their unborn child if they want to. And she claimed the Bible supports her position.
“I’m guided by passages like Jeremiah 1:5, which states, ‘I knew you before I formed you and placed you in your mother’s womb,’” Scholten said. “It doesn’t say the government’s womb or the speaker’s womb, it says the mother’s womb. I believe life is precious, but I reject the idea that if I embrace the sanctity of life, I also must be forced to invite the federal government in to regulate it.”
She ignored how the verse affirms the value of babies in the womb, and went on to argue that the government should not protect babies from abortion because doing so would intrude on a “sacred” family decision.
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“My faith informs my actions but it doesn’t dictate the policy of an entire nation,” Scholten said, adding, “We must protect families from unnecessary government intrusion into the most sacred and personal decisions of our lives and our children’s lives.”
Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI): “As a pro-choice Christian who chose life, this issue is personal to me… When I read scripture, I turn to Jeremiah 1:5 which states ‘I knew you before I formed you and placed you in your mother’s womb.’ It doesn’t say the government’s womb.” pic.twitter.com/IH6Z2KhT4f
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 11, 2023
The bill that she opposed does not ban abortions. It makes sure that babies who survive abortions receive proper medical care. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of babies survive abortions every year in the United States, but protections for these infants are limited.
The Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would require that babies who survive abortions receive the same medical attention that would be given to any other baby born at the same gestational age. The bill also would punish doctors who allow newborns to die or intentionally kill them after a failed abortion.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House approved the pro-life bill in a 220-210 vote. Only one Democrat voted in favor of the legislation.
LifeNews recently examined abortion data from seven states between 2020 and 2022 and found reports of 34 babies who were born alive in botched abortions. The numbers almost certainly are much higher; most states do not keep track of abortion survivors.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as the personal testimonies of nurses and abortion survivors themselves, also provide evidence that babies survive abortions. According to the CDC, at least 143 babies were born alive after botched abortions between 2003 and 2014 in the U.S., though there likely are many more.
