Testimony on SB 395 — Legal Birth Definition Act
Written Testimony of Michigan Catholic Conference
29 April 2003
Senate Bill 395
Senate Judiciary Committee
Thank you Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. My name is Paul Long and I am the vice president for public policy at the Michigan Catholic Conference. The Michigan Catholic Conference is the public policy voice for the Catholic Church in this state. We thank you for the opportunity to offer our brief reflections on this important bill.
As you have heard us articulate during your legislative careers, the sanctity and dignity of human life is a cornerstone of Catholic moral reflection and social teaching and at the heart of the Church’s public policy agenda. Human dignity stands at the heart of every issue we speak to. This is especially true regarding Senate Bill 395. We are grateful to Senator McManus for sponsoring this bill.
In the thirty years since Roe v. Wade, the people of the United States have coexisted, always uneasily, with abortion on demand. As mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe, abortions are permitted at any time during pregnancy, for any reason.
Yet in the last several years, the abortion industry has shown itself capable of abusing even this widest of licenses. Public unease with abortion has always been at its most intense over late-term abortions, those in the second and third trimesters. With the late-term method known as partial-birth abortion, which destroys developed children in the very process of live birth, it was inevitable that the limits of public endurance would be reached and exceeded.
Twice before this Legislature has passed bills, subsequently signed into law that would prohibit the partial-birth abortion procedure. In both instances these laws were struck down in federal court after having been challenged by the abortion industry. The most recent of which, Public Act 107, was quite different than the first, quite different than bills that twice passed the United States Congress only to be vetoed by the 42nd President. The decision of the U.S. District Court to strike it down we believed then, and still do to this day was wrongly decided. We still believe that the attorney general should have appealed that decision. Unfortunately, it was not.
It will surprise no one that in our view, all abortions are a tragedy. All abortionsÑwhatever the sad circumstances and distraught feelings that lead many women to resort to them Ðare tragic for none of us has the right to directly attack an innocent human life.
Senate Bill 395 addresses the very real need to protect children after they have been partially born. Surely, no reasonable person could disagree, that the state has a compelling interest in protecting the life of a born person.
This bill is not about banning all abortions. It is not about defining when life begins. It is about defining birth and what the obligation of the state is once a child has been born.
We urge this committee to pass Senate Bill 395 and to advocate for its passage on the floor of the Senate.
