Long before I joined Human Coalition as Senior Director of Development, I was promoting pro-life policies in Harrisburg. With the help of my daughter Chloe, who was born with Down Syndrome, I had embarked on a mission to be a loud voice for children like Chloe by advocating for Pennsylvania’s Down Syndrome Prenatal Education Act.

Otherwise known as Chloe’s Law, this legislation “requires health care providers to make a woman who receives the prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome – a common genetic disorder that comes with mild to moderate developmental delays – aware that they can receive a full range of factual and supportive information through the Pennsylvania Department of Health.”

But my mission to advocate for pro-life policies did not stop there.

Last month, I took what I learned from helping pass Chloe’s Law back to Harrisburg. There I met with several legislators to ask them to support Senate Bill 3. I also gave policymakers and their staff information about the priceless lifesaving work being done at Human Coalition to defend and protect our most vulnerable citizens.

This bill would make it illegal to cause “the death of an unborn child by means of dismembering the unborn child and extracting the unborn child one piece at a time from the uterus through the use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments.”

Having met one-on-one with several key members of the Pennsylvania State Senate, I educated them about the brutal practice of mid- to late-term abortion. I also provided pro-life talking points to help them defend this bill on the Senate floor.

For example, I made certain that the senators know that an estimated 1,550 babies are killed every year through dismemberment abortions in Pennsylvania. I also presented poll numbers showing that 61% of Pennsylvanians support banning dismemberment abortions, and 64% of Pennsylvanian women oppose this barbaric practice.

Senate Bill 3 would also push back the legal abortion limit from 24 weeks to 20 weeks, which “reflects the viability of a premature baby born at earlier and earlier stages and protects a preborn child who science has proved can feel pain.”

I am pleased to tell you that Senate Bill 3 passed 32 to 18, a clear and indisputable margin of victory!

Governor Tom Wolf has promised to veto the bill, but that won’t deter me from continuing to educate lawmakers about the brutal practice of dismemberment abortions and the pain felt by preborn children during this procedure.

In the meantime, our team at Human Coalition will not be deterred by this legislative delay. Human Coalition – Pittsburgh will continue to minister to abortion-determined women and help them choose life for their children. We will continue to provide a Continuum of Care for those who choose life, so they will receive all the resources needed to be great parents. And we will pray and give until abortion is both unthinkable and unavailable in our country.