GOP Speaker target of pro-life demonstration over late term abortion ban

Activists are organizing a pro-life demonstration at the offices of the GOP Speaker to call on him to reschedule a vote on a bill that would make abortions after 20 weeks illegal.

Organizers, Rev. Patrick Mahoney and Jill Stanek say they plan to hold a peaceful sit-in at the offices of Speaker John Boehner on March 25th and are calling for pro-lifers across the country to join them at the event they named, #FreeTheBan.

Rev. Mahoney is the Director of the Christian Defense Coalition in Washington, D.C. who recently led pro-lifers in prayer outside the offices of newly elected Senate Majority Leader, Senator Mitch McConnell to draw attention to the need for strong pro-life legislation.

Jill Stanek is a popular pro-life blogger and speaker who led an effort to confront North Carolina Republican, Renee Ellmers outside her offices, after she sabotaged the vote on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

The legislation would have outlawed abortions after 20 weeks when unborn babies can feel pain.

Ellmers, upset over the bill requirement that a woman report her rape to police before having the unborn child aborted, convinced Republican leadership to table the bill on the 42nd anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion.

She has since been dubbed the “GOP’s abortion barbie.”

On this month’s Life Talk TV show, Mark Crutcher, called Ellmers pro-choice even though she always claimed to be pro-life, “this is the kind of people that I’ve talked about before,” he told his viewers.

“They want the mantle of pro-life and they want the morality that comes along with it, but when push comes to shove they’re pro-aborts.”

“Ellmers’ argument is that the ban had an exception if you had been the victim of rape,” Crutcher explained, “but, in order to take advantage of that exception, you had to be willing to report it to the police. And she said that requiring women to report this to the police is a burden on these women. This is her excuse for not supporting this ban,” he said.

Stanek and Rev. Mahoney say that their protest is due to the fact that Republican House Leadership cancelled a vote on “The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.”

The two say that after Republican House leadership gave assurances that the vote would be rescheduled immediately, two months later with no vote in sight, the Speaker has broken his promise.

Mahoney and Stanek are calling the indefinite tabling of the vote not only a “betrayal of the pro-life movement but a betrayal of America’s children.”

“We are coming to Speaker Boehner’s office to be a voice for the innocent children who die every day in America from the violence of abortion,” Rev. Mahoney said.

“As we pray and peacefully risk arrest, we are saying that Republican leadership should cease all business in the House until this legislation has been rescheduled.”

Stanek said that the emotion she experienced holding a 21-week-old abortion survivor at Christ Hospital years ago has made this 20-week ban very personal.

“I hope Republican leadership does not think that with the passage of time pro-lifers will forget about the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This is why I am coming to Washington, D.C., from Illinois for the protest,” she said.

Stanek said that the pro-life community has been more than patient despite what she calls the “GOP’s betrayal” that two months have passed since the bill was pulled.

“We want the Pain Capable Act called for a vote, and for it not to be any more watered down than it already was. There should have been no rape/incest exception. But removing the reporting requirement would not only give late-term abortionists a big loophole, it would hurt pregnant rape victims as well as other potential victims of sexual perpetrators whose crime should be prosecuted,” Stanek pointed out.

Rev. Mahoney and Jill Stanek are encouraging pro-lifers to attend even if they do not plan to risk arrest.

The group has set up a Facebook page (here) for their event and are asking pro-lifers to contact the Speaker and to use social media with the hash tag #freetheban to draw attention to the ban.

According to their press release, the protest will take place Wednesday, March 25, at 11:00 A.M. at 1011 in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C. at the offices of Speaker Boehner.

“A simple question must be put to Republican leadership,” said Rev. Mahoney.

“Why should the pro-life community work passionately in 2016 to elect a Republican president and Congress if they will only turn around and ignore and neglect America’s children and violate the principles of human rights and justice for all,” the Reverend asked.