In a state that went for Barack Obama twice, mind you. Life News reports:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker today signed into law a pro-life bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. States do not have the ability under Roe v. Wade to ban all abortions, so pro-life groups are using a 20-week ban as a test case to get the Supreme Court to roll back the Roe decision that allowed unlimited abortions even further.“At five months an unborn child can feel pain,” Walker said before signing the bill. “As a society we should be protecting that child.”
The timing of this law couldn’t be better for Walker. He's running for president and therefore its passage is bound to burnish his credentials as a social conservative and pro-life warrior, which will serve him well in Iowa. Although, as he would probably emphasize, signing such an historic statute into law transcends politics. As a Christian and pro-life advocate, Walker doubtless believes that banning painful, late-term abortions after 20 weeks gestation is morally right and justified. The public also happens to agree with him.
And yet, the passage of such a controversial law also underscores Walker’s growing skill and effectiveness as a chief executive. Wisconsin, after all, is one of only a handful of states in the nation to essentially ban the procedure:
Wisconsin becomes the 15th state to ban abortions at 20 weeks — which is just a couple weeks before unborn babies are viable and can survive outside the womb. Under the law, an abortion practitioner who kills an unborn baby in an abortion after 20 weeks faces three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
As the article notes, and as we’ve covered, the US House of Representatives passed a similar bill last spring — which, among other things, outlaws late-term abortion in all 50 states.
The measure will be taken up and debated by the US Senate later this year.
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