Guest Author - Candance Gordon

On July 23rd, pro-choice and pro-life leaders came together in a press conference to show support for the Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act. The act, sponsored Congressional Pro-Life Caucus member Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), was written with the goal of reducing the number of abortions in the U.S. by helping to prevent unwanted pregnancies and supporting pregnant women and their families.

The goal of the Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act is to decrease the number of abortions by addressing it’s root causes: unplanned pregnancies and the lack of support for pregnant women. The legislation tackles these issues by combining prevention programs, such as increased access to birth control for low-income women and comprehensive sex education courses with expanded health care benefits for pregnant women and children, a national adoption program and support for students who are either pregnant or already parents. Most of this will be done through grants and an increase in the adoption tax credit, which would also be refundable under the act.

Prominent leaders from both sides of the abortion debate were on hand at the press conference to show support for Congresspersons Ryan and DeLauro and the legislation, which took several years to negotiate. Among those leaders were representatives from NARAL Pro-Choice America; Dr. Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor at Northland Church and board member of the World Evangelical Alliance and the National Association of Evangelicals; megachurch pastor and one-time President-elect of the Christian Coalition Reverend Joel Hunter; Pro-life Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics for a free choice; Planned Parenthood Federation of America; and pro-life Reverend Jim Wallis of Sojourners.

Supporters of the bill plan to start promoting it in congress and the White House. If it passes, it will be an important first step of bringing both sides of the abortion debate together. It will be interesting to watch the progression of the bill through both places, especially since President Obama says he plans to keep abortion legal but would like to see the number of abortions in the U.S. decreased.

For now, we can just hurry up and wait and maybe cross our fingers that the bill passes.


To read more about this bill and Congresswoman DeLauro's thoughts on reducing the number of abortions through prevention, check out this article available on Amazon.com: