Billy Long: I will stand for the innocent unborn

 The Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision was handed down in 1973. I was a senior in high school. For the life of me, I couldn't understand how anyone in their right mind could think it was alright and perfectly acceptable to kill an unborn child. I didn't understand it then and I don't today. 

I make no apologies for my pro-life position. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; these immortal words etched into our nation’s founding document, lay out three basic, God-given rights, which all men and women enjoy. No one disputes these rights, except when it comes to innocent babies in their mother's womb. 

Life begins at conception. This is not a belief or opinion, but a fact, supported by science. It is a well-known fact that at only six weeks after conception, a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Shortly thereafter, a fetus can feel pain. When you look at an ultrasound, you can clearly see the beginning of human life.

During my time in Congress, I have continually supported legislation that protects the right to life. Most recently, I supported efforts to bring to the floor a bill preserving this right. 

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would ban the killing of babies who survive botched abortions, giving them the same rights and protections that every child is entitled to after birth. I am proud not only to be an original cosponsor of this bill but also to be a signee of a discharge petition that would force this bill to be brought to the floor for a vote. 

Every time this common-sense legislation has come to the floor in either the House or Senate, Democrats have blocked it.

Not only do Democrats not want to protect babies that are born alive, but they also want the federal government to openly fund abortions. For the first time since its inception, the Hyde Amendment has been removed from the president’s budget request. 

If you are unfamiliar with the Hyde Amendment, it bans any federal funding of abortion, except for instances of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. 

Until very recently, the Hyde Amendment garnered bipartisan support, but not anymore. Throughout his entire political career until his most recent election cycle, President Biden supported the Hyde Amendment and intended to keep it the law of the land. 

To appease his radical base, then-candidate Biden reversed his position on the Hyde Amendment, compromising his morals by casting aside something he has supported for decades.

Luckily, not all Democrats agree on this point. A few holdouts remain, particularly West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who has repeatedly said he would not back ending the Hyde Amendment. Senator Manchin has not given in to the radical left, but President Biden and the majority of Democrats have. To save the Hyde Amendment, more Democrats must stand with Joe Manchin, and not Joe Biden.

You have my word that I will not stop fighting for the innocent unborn. Defending the defenseless I call it. We must pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and must preserve the Hyde amendment. The fact of the matter is that abortion is not health care as many of my Democratic colleagues would argue, it is murder, and the federal government should have no part in funding the mass murder of unborn children. Oh, and by the way, it's time to defund 'Planned Murder' too.