Throughout 2019, new pro-life policies and laws have been adopted in states across the country. However, the progress on the federal level has been a little bit more reserved. That may be about to change. Despite a divided Congress, pro-life legislators have introduced a new bill in both the House and the Senate, which is aimed at protecting life, holding the abortion industry accountable and protecting babies born alive in failed abortions.

Did you know that Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses are not required to report how many abortions it performs each year? That might seem farfetched, but it’s true. Despite the contentious nature of abortion policy in this country, there is no official requirement by the government that forces abortion clinics to report how many abortions were completed in a single year at any clinic.

All the data gathered by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) abortion surveillance report is voluntarily given by abortion clinics, with California, Maryland and New Hampshire usually abstaining from providing any information at all. Just to put those states into context, that’s about 20% of the abortions completed in the United States. Some of these states do occasionally report to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion think tank, but there is no way to verify the information. The reports that are submitted to the CDC are also sometimes missing key demographic information. As a result, most of the reporting is a guestimate rather than fact. A bill in the House wants to change that.

H.R. 3580, also known as the Ensuring Accurate and Complete Abortion Data Reporting Act of 2019, is a bill that would require states to annually report abortion totals to the CDC in order to receive Medicaid family planning funds. If this legislation passes, it would be a critical blow to the abortion industry. The ability to hide behind the lack of regulations regarding abortion reporting has given businesses like Planned Parenthood enormous leverage over its public image. It’s likely that the abortion industry will fight tooth and nail to protect it, but in the process Planned Parenthood will reveal its true colors because all this bill is asking for is the truth. Nothing more and nothing less.

In the Senate, another pro-life bill is making the rounds. Introduced by pro-life Senators, the Patient’s First Act would promote research into stem cells without the creation, use, destruction or discarding of human embryos. This would reverse a policy implemented by former President Barack Obama that allowed for federal funding of this type of research at the National Institute of Health.

If passed, this would be another great victory for pro-life supporters. Although embryos may be small, each is a potential human life that just needs time and an opportunity to grow and develop. It will also open up opportunities for researchers to explore how they can use adult stem cells, which have shown a remarkable effectiveness. The Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life research center, has recently released information and stories from real life patients about how adult stem cells have been successfully used to treat sickle cell anemia, post-stroke patients, cerebral palsy, lupus and other conditions. Embryonic stem cell use is unnecessary, when there are other, more ethical alternatives.

In addition to these two new bills, there is still another piece of legislation languishing in the House. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act has been up for unanimous vote 80 times by various House Republicans, but they have been unable to get the resolution to the floor. The Democratic leadership refuses to hear or support a measure that will ensure abortionists provide aid to babies born alive in failed abortion attempts and avoid infanticide.

When it comes to Congress, the struggle between life and abortion remains at the center of legislation and policy, and it doesn’t seem like that will change anytime soon. But hopefully, at least one of these measures will pass. As citizens, we need to know how many abortions are being performed, protect babies born alive after a failed abortion attempt and encourage physicians to use ethical alternatives to embryonic stem cell research. Life is precious, and our government should make every effort to protect it.