With a Republican-controlled Congress and White House, there is much potential for necessary change at the legislative level. Unfortunately, we’ve seen quite the opposite in recent months.

The long-promised Obamacare repeal never materialized but there is hope for other victories.

One such measure is the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This bill is essentially a late-term abortion ban that would criminalize abortions at 20 weeks and beyond. Such a bill would mark a massive victory for the pro-life cause and help cement President Trump’s sometimes questionable pro-life cred.

Life News reports:

On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) held a press conference with pro-life leaders and politicians to announce an Oct. 3 vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. Speakers at the Washington, D.C. event included Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser and the Pickering family.

Following the press conference, Marjorie Dannenfelser spoke with MRC Culture. While the House passed (and the Senate blocked) a previous version of the bill in 2015, she stressed that the Oct. 3 vote would be different.

She first pointed to election pressure. “This will be a big issue in the 2018 Senate elections,” she said, where constituents can hold politicians accountable.

Not only that, she added, but the bill boasts the support of the president.

A powerful, visual example of who and what this law would be protecting is the life of Micah Pickering. The young boy was born at 20 weeks and is now thriving, as made evident by his attendance at the press conference on Tuesday.

Members of Congress with Micah Pickering, born at 20 weeks and now a healthy young man! #ProLife #paincapable pic.twitter.com/iLlFrPoQQx

— Susan B. Anthony List (@SBAList) September 26, 2017

In September 2016, the Trump-Pence campaign sent this letter to pro-life leaders urging them to get on board with his Pro-Life Coalition, led by Marjorie Dannenfelser. In the letter, he made the following commitments to the movement.

Nominating pro-life justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Signing into law the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would end painful late-term abortions nationwide.

Defunding Planned Parenthood as long as they continue to perform abortions, and reallocating their funding to community health centers that provide comprehensive health care for women.

Making the Hyde Amendment permanent law to protect taxpayers from having to pay for abortions.

Following Tuesday’s press conference, Dannenfelser made clear that the president, whom she had conferred with the night before, considers the issue an imperative one and would sign a bill if presented to him.

If the 20-week abortion ban were signed into law, it would signify a dramatic shift in the right direction. However, we still have a long way to go toward fully protecting the vulnerable inhabitants in the womb. Already, sixteen states have Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act laws in place, as indicated by this 2017 fact sheet from the NRLC.

The subject itself highlights how callous many in society have become when discussing abortion, reproductive “rights”, and the individual, growing unborn lives.

To encourage others to consider or support further legal protection for the unborn, one is almost required to make the case that at 20 weeks, an unborn person is able to feel pain. Suddenly, some who may have been neutral on the issue are appalled that those selected by abortionists for death are capable of experiencing horrific physical torture as they are killed under the banner of “choice”. Only then does abortion somehow seem worse.

Though I appreciate the push for this bill and hope it does pass and then become law, it is a bittersweet crusade. If life is worthy of protection then it is always worthy of that, no matter whether sentience is full and complete or not. If I were to put a gun to the head of someone in deep sleep, then pull the trigger and end their life, it would be just as wrong as if they had been awake. Knowledge of the act and the experience of the physical agony does not make it more wrong.

The pro-life movement has always been grounded upon the fact that conception is the starting line for a new life. From that point on abortion is murder. Yes, it is that simple.

There are many hurdles to cross before further protection that gets closer to that moment of conception are in place, though. Those in the pro-life movement are more than aware of this truth.

In 2015, a similar bill passed the House. Unsurprisingly, the bill did not survive the Senate where spineless Republicans Mark Kirk and Susan Collins sided with Democrats and voted against it. A third Republican, Lisa Murkowski, did not vote, which effectively put her in the same category as the other two. Though Kirk is no longer in the Senate, I fully expect the two pro-abort harpies to be against this latest measure.

With midterms looming and few GOP legislative victories on the table, the outcome is uncertain.

The vote in the House is only a few days away. Don’t expect to see much coverage from the mainstream media on this measure, though. To them, it represents an assault on abortion “rights”. They prefer it quietly die on a Congressional floor. To those of us excited about the possibility, it signifies a continued effort on the part of pro-life legislators to do what they can to protect the voiceless unborn.