By: U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D.

Topeka Capital Journal

July 8, 2022

Most every day during a 25-year career, I had the responsibility and honor of helping escort new life into the world. With every birth, I sat in awe and prayed in amazement at the sound of the baby’s first breath and cries of life.

While I was taught at a young age that life begins at conception, my experiences as an obstetrician drove this truth home. Each and every baby to me was a miracle from God, and I was just there to help chaperone that little miracle into the world.

But, what really drove the message home to me, was taking care of women with miscarriages, or ectopic pregnancies, as well as couples who could not conceive. Each of these women indeed taught me how sacred new life really is, and the grief they experienced, regardless of the gestational age, was something I’ll never forget. They taught me just how important life was, and it should never be taken for granted.

All this is why I celebrate and support the Supreme Court’s recent historic decision as it signals a new beginning for millions of unborn American children. Though I’m not a constitutional lawyer, I want to remind everyone that putting an end to Roe vs Wade simply places this emotion-filled issue into the hands of the citizens of this country and their elected state officials, as opposed to unelected members of the federal judiciary. Nothing more, nothing less.

In many states, this monumental ruling will trigger protections for the well-being of moms and guard the sanctity of life for their sons and daughters. Unfortunately, because of a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision, unelected judges ruled against two decades of life-saving laws that expressed through their elected state officials, the will of the people, thus putting our state on a path to become an unrestrained abortion destination, sadly allowing abortions at any time for any reason.

To put it simply, the Kansas Supreme Court paved the way for unlimited abortions.

This makes the upcoming vote on the Value Them Both Amendment that much more important. Since the U.S. Supreme Court sent the abortion question back to Kansas’ elected officials, the radical left has predictably stepped up its efforts to back the multibillion dollar abortion industry at the expense of both women and babies, leaving them to the whims of predatory abortionists.

I want to encourage everyone to vote “yes” on Aug. 2 for the Value Them Both Amendment to value the life, the health and the safety of the mom and the unborn babies.

Our “yes” votes on Aug. 2 will push back against the extreme radical abortion agenda. Without its passage, the people of Kansas have no voice, no say and no way to keep any common-sense limits on the abortion industry. My entire professional life has been dedicated to providing for the health and safety of moms and babies, and I’m not going to let them down now.

Finally, I want to call upon all fellow pro-life supporters, please help moms through difficult times. It’s not easy being a pregnant — oftentimes teenage as well as single — woman.  They’ll have significant extra social, nutritional, physical and emotional needs.

We all need to join together to be good neighbors and help support them in every way we can.

Roger Marshall is a U.S. senator from Kansas. He is an obstetrician.

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