Senators to watch on 20-week abortion ban
(Worthy News) – Abortion opponents are concerned that the controversy surrounding videos targeting Planned Parenthood might steal attention from a big, line-in-the-sand abortion vote they have been pushing for a long time.
If things go the way activists hope in the fall, senators will be forced to take a position on the broadest abortion ban for the chamber to take up since a 2003 law prohibiting partial-birth abortions. The measure would ban the procedure 20 weeks after conception, about midway through pregnancy.
No matter how the votes are parsed, there is virtually no way Republicans will gain the 60 backers they would need to pass the so-called “pain-capable” bill, which is based on the idea that a fetus can start feeling pain at about 20 weeks. They would have to win over six Democrats — an impossibly high goal — plus as many as three in their own party may defect. [ Source ]