Supreme Court on Dobbs Abortion Case – Senator Daines Comments
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday concerning the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a challenge to Mississippi’s 15 week abortion ban which is an historic challenge to Roe v. Wade.
At a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday, Montana Senator Steve Daines spoke about how science and technology have changed since Roe v Wade was decided in 1973.
“Cindy and I are parents of four children,” began Senator Daines. “We're grandparents of two, and in fact, our daughter is expecting our third grandbaby on Friday. And when you are a grandfather or a parent of an expectant mom, there are these great apps you can find today that literally follow the minute by minute and week by week development of those little babies.”
Daines described how easy it is to keep track of a baby’s development, thanks to new technology.
“Just take your Smartphone out and plug in ‘one-five week baby’ and click on ‘images’,” he said. “You'll see what's going on at 15 weeks is which is at the heart of this Mississippi case, this 15 week abortion law. That's what a 15 week old baby looks like. We didn't have that kind of visibility 48 years ago and that's why it's so important that the law catch up with where the science is today and what we know about baby development.”
Daines said even if Roe v Wade was overturned, abortion would still be legal in the U.S.
“By the way, overturning Roe v Wade does not ban abortion nationwide. Rather, it'll return the powers back to the states. 80 percent of the American people oppose abortions after 12 weeks. In fact, the U.S. is an outlier as it relates to where our laws are today. In fact, just seven countries around the world still allow late term abortions. One of those is the United States. A couple of others are North Korea and China.”
Daines said the Supreme Court faces a turning point regarding life for the unborn.
“This is a pivotal point in our nation's history,” he said. “It's a chance as Senator James Lankford (R-Ok) said, to make something wrong, right. We must see the laws catch up to where science is today. Our Founding Fathers had it right in the Declaration of Independence when they said these certain unalienable rights endowed by our Creator and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but you cannot have liberty nor the pursuit of happiness without first having the most basic unalienable right, that is the right to life.”
Senator Daines is founder and chair of the Senate Pro Life Caucus.