{"id":503282,"date":"2021-05-13T07:51:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T11:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=503282"},"modified":"2021-05-13T07:51:02","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T11:51:02","slug":"becerra-repeatedly-denies-partial-birth-abortion-ban-exists-during-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/becerra-repeatedly-denies-partial-birth-abortion-ban-exists-during-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Becerra Repeatedly Denies \u2018Partial-Birth Abortion\u2019 Ban Exists During Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbecerra-repeatedly-denies-partial-birth-abortion-ban-exists-during-hearing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=503282&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-89448956.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>During a congressional hearing Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra\u00a0refused multiple times to acknowledge that current federal law outlaws partial-birth abortions, at one point claiming that no such law exists, using semantics as his rationale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you agree that partial-birth abortion is illegal?\u201d\u00a0Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) <a href=\"https:\/\/energycommerce.house.gov\/committee-activity\/hearings\/hearing-on-the-fiscal-year-2022-hhs-budget\">asked<\/a> Becerra during a hearing of the House Energy &#038; Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health to discuss the 2022 HHS budget.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no medical term like \u2018partial-birth abortion,\u2019 and so I would probably have to ask you what you mean by that to describe what is allowed by the law,\u201d Becerra responded. \u201cBut Roe v. Wade is very clear, it\u2019s settled precedent, and a woman has a right to make decisions about her reproductive health, and we will make sure that we enforce the law and protect those rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no law that deals specifically with the term \u2018partial-birth abortion,&#8217;\u201d the HHS secretary added.<\/p>\n<p>In 2003, President George W. Bush signed the\u00a0Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/108th-congress\/senate-bill\/3?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22partial+birth+abortion%22%5D%7D&#038;r=1&#038;s=6\">law<\/a>, which prohibits <span class=\"chapeau\">abortions in which the abortionist \u201c<\/span>deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a head-first presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the body of the mother, or, in the case of breech presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother\u201d and kills the partially-delivered living fetus. The Supreme Court upheld the ban on the late-term abortion procedure in 2007.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"13.778425655977\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepGusBilirakis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RepGusBilirakis<\/a>: Will you uphold the law banning Partial-Birth Abortions?<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecBecerra?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SecBecerra<\/a>: There is no such law\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Stop lying.<\/p>\n<p>The law passed &#038; Supreme Court upheld it.<\/p>\n<p>This law bans killing a child when it is already partially born.<\/p>\n<p>You voted AGAINST this law.<\/p>\n<p>Shame on you. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vESTylewGS\">pic.twitter.com\/vESTylewGS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Susan B. Anthony List (@SBAList) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SBAList\/status\/1392518419279499270?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 12, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Later in the hearing, Rep. John Joyce (R-PA), who is a physician practicing dermatology, again pressed Becerra on the issue of\u00a0partial-birth abortion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt didn\u2019t seem clear that you understood what my colleague Mr. Bilirakis meant by the term \u2018partial-birth abortion,&#8217;\u201d Joyce began.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSection 1531 of Title 18 U.S. Code is literally titled, \u2018Partial Birth Abortions Prohibited.\u2019 That statute very clearly defines this inhumane procedure,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cSo now with that clarification, could you please recognize that that does exist in statute, and I would ask you, do you agree that this law is correct?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Becerra responded that while \u201cthe term partial-birth abortion may be recognized in politics and by politicians,\u201d it is \u201cnot a medically recognized term.\u201d However, \u201cdilation and extraction,\u201d the procedure used in surgical abortions, is recognized in the medical community, Becerra said.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com\/intact+dilation+and+extraction\">medical term<\/a> for the procedure that \u201cpartial-birth abortion\u201d commonly refers to is \u201cintact dilation and extraction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Becerra also claimed that the dilation and extraction procedure used in late-stage abortions is employed \u201cto protect the health and life of that woman.\u201d However, some late-term abortions are performed for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guttmacher.org\/evidence-you-can-use\/later-abortion\">other reasons<\/a>, including serious fetal diagnoses, the mother\u2019s mental health, and disruptive life events.<\/p>\n<p>Joyce pressed Becerra several more times on whether he recognized that partial-birth abortion is prohibited under current federal law and whether he would enforce it, and Becerra assured that he \u201cwill do everything I can to make sure we comply with precedent and the law when it comes to protecting a woman\u2019s right to her reproductive health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know that this is a very sensitive issue for a lot of folks, but I think most medical practitioners will tell you they understand what a dilation and extraction procedure is. I doubt that most of them could give you a medical definition of what partial-birth abortion is,\u201d Becerra said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a physician myself, Mr. Secretary, I think I clearly understand what a partial-birth abortion is,\u201d Joyce responded.<\/p>\n<p>Pro-life groups criticized Becerra\u2019s remarks on Wednesday, noting that the secretary himself\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/clerk.house.gov\/Votes\/2003530\">voted against<\/a> the partial-birth abortion ban in 2003 when he was\u00a0a freshman congressman from California.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow the top health official in America, Becerra outright denies the existence of a law banning partial-birth abortion since 2003,\u201d said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, adding that Becerra\u2019s testimony on the matter is\u00a0\u201cstandard for the most radical pro-abortion administration in history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During a congressional hearing Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra\u00a0refused multiple times to acknowledge that current federal law outlaws partial-birth abortions, at one point claiming that no such &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2278013,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-89448956.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Becerra Repeatedly Denies \u2018Partial-Birth Abortion\u2019 Ban Exists During Hearing","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-503282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-89448956.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Becerra Repeatedly Denies \u2018Partial-Birth Abortion\u2019 Ban Exists During Hearing","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2278013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}