Sen. Marshall in USA Today Op-Ed: Value Them Both Result Does Not End Our Work for Mothers, Babies

(Washington, D.C., August 4, 2022) – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. – an OBGYN who delivered more than 5,000 babies – penned an opinion piece for USA Today addressing the future of the pro-life movement in Kansas after the Value Them Both amendment was not adopted on August 2. Senator Marshall wrote in part,

“…I certainly respect the process and the voices of all Kansans, but this is not the last chapter of this book… Republicans and Democrats must work together and continue to work for more and earlier access to prenatal care and proper nutrition…Family planning opportunities needs to be expanded… While life-affirming medical clinics already outnumber abortion clinics, we can and will do more to help them…I will continue to support robust funding for community health centers and the county health departments like those I once volunteered at and oversaw. I have dedicated my entire professional life to providing for the health and safety of moms and babies and I’m not going to let them down now…”

You may click HERE or scroll below to read the op-ed in its entirety.

Kansas made a saddening choice on abortion. But our work for mothers and babies continues.

By Senator Roger Marshall, M.D.

August 4, 2022

USA Today

As an OB-GYN who delivered more than 5,000 babies over a 25-year career, I cannot begin to find words to express the sadness that I and many others are feeling after Kansas voters dealt an enormous blow Tuesday to efforts to protect the sanctity of life. 

I urged Kansans to vote “yes” on the Value Them Both Amendment to value the life, health and safety of moms and unborn babies. Amending the state constitution would have allowed Kansas elected officials to place commonsense limits on abortion. But the radical left predictably stepped up its efforts to back the abortion industry. Kansas voters rejected the amendment Tuesday.  

I want to thank everybody who worked so hard to support this amendment. Their work was important and unfortunately became dangerous – including when one Kansas teenager was shoved and punched in the face while knocking on doors on behalf of Students for Life. 

I hope this incident and the outcome of Tuesday’s vote do not hinder the community’s dedication to the sanctity of life, and to the fight to protect the lives of moms and unborn babies. 

I certainly respect the process and the voices of all Kansans, but this is not the last chapter of this book. We must not rest. There is much work to be done to support moms through those difficult times when they are contemplating abortion and decide instead for life.  

It’s not easy being pregnant, especially for teenagers and single women, who have significant extra social, nutritional, physical and emotional needs. Each of us needs us to be good neighbors, a voice of hope, and to reach out and give them all the help we can. 

Having started and supervised multiple family planning clinics, I can tell you that Republicans and Democrats must work together and continue to work for more and earlier access to prenatal care and proper nutrition, as well as child care and attending to all the social challenges a young single or married mom faces.  

Family planning opportunities need to be expanded, and mothers need greater access to services that will support them and their baby throughout and after pregnancy.  

While life-affirming medical clinics already outnumber abortion clinics, we can and will do more to help them. I look forward to bipartisan cooperation, to being part of the solution to maternity issues, all of which began prior to Tuesday’s vote in Kansas and the Supreme Court’s recent decision. 

Finally, I recognize family planning and access to contraception will be as important as ever. As I have in the past, I will continue to support robust funding for community health centers and the county health departments like those I once volunteered at and oversaw.  

I have dedicated my entire professional life to providing for the health and safety of moms and babies, and I’m not going to let them down now. I remain as dedicated as ever to doing everything in my power as a U.S. senator to protect life at all costs. 

Background:

Senator Marshall practiced medicine in Great Bend, KS for more than 25 years. As an OB/GYN, he delivered more than 5,000 babies, giving him a deep appreciation and passion for the sanctity of life and an intimate understanding of the healthcare system. During his time in medicine, Senator Marshall was more than a physician. For 25 years, he was a business owner who signed a paycheck every other week for a practice that grew from 5 people to eventually more than 300.

Last month, Senator Marshall served as Ranking Member for a U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) hearing on abortion laws following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and returning the issue of abortion to state governments.

Upon entering the U.S. Senate in January 2021, Senator Marshall’s first bill was the Protecting Life in Crisis Act. This legislation would prohibit any funds that are authorized or appropriated for the purposes of preventing, preparing for, or responding to the COVID–19 pandemic, domestically and internationally, from going toward abortions or abortion coverage. Additionally, Senator Marshall is an original cosponsor of the following pro-life bills:

• Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act: This bill requires that appropriate care be given to any child who survives an attempted abortion. The bill also allows federal murder charges to be brought against anyone who intentionally kills such a born-alive child.
• Prohibiting Federal Emergencies for Abortion Act: The bill would prohibit the declaration of a Federal emergency relating to abortion.
• Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act: This bill would exclude elective abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from the Title X family planning program.
• Life at Conception Act: This bill ensures that current right to life protections granted by the 14th Amendment are truly guaranteed to all human beings, including unborn children at all stages of development. The Constitution already guarantees the right to life in the 14th Amendment, this bill simply enforces the law and ensures those same protections are extended to the most vulnerable members of our society.
• Defund Planned Parenthood Act: This bill would ensure that federal tax dollars are not going to Planned Parenthood or any other organizations that perform abortions. Funds for these services would continue to be provided to entities that are eligible and not performing abortions, such as community health centers.
• No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act: This bill would codify the Hyde Amendment, prohibiting Federal funding for elective abortion, as a permanent, government-wide prohibition. It also would restrict Obamacare’s premium tax credits from being used for elective abortion coverage on the exchanges.
• Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act: This bill prohibits abortions after 20-weeks, a point at which research has shown unborn children feel pain.
• Down Syndrome Protection Act: This bill prohibits the performance of an abortion being sought due to the unborn child having Down syndrome.
• Protecting Life and Integrity in Research Act: This bill would prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from conducting or supporting any research involving human fetal tissue that is obtained pursuant to an induced abortion.
• Support and Value Expectant (SAVE) Moms and Babies Act: This bill would prevent labeling changes for already approved abortion drugs; prevent providers from dispensing these drugs remotely, by mail, or via telemedicine; and prevent the FDA from approving any new chemical abortion drugs.
• Women’s Public Health and Safety Act: This bill clarifies the authority of states to exclude providers of elective abortion like Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program. Planned Parenthood receives about half a billion dollars in tax-payer funding per year, most of which comes from Medicaid.
• Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA): Currently, only 11 states ban abortions that are sought on the basis of sex. PRENDA would combat the worrying trend of sex-selective abortion in America by making it a federal crime to abort a child based on his or her gender.
• Pregnant Women Health and Safety Act: This bill would require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 15 miles of their practices.  The bill also requires abortion centers to meet state-mandated requirements for ambulatory surgery centers.
• Parental Notification and Intervention Act: This bill prohibits a person or organization from performing, facilitating, or assisting in the performance of an abortion on an un-emancipated minor without first complying with parental notification requirements.
• Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Act: The bill would codify an expanded version of the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy, also known as the Mexico City Policy. Specifically, the bill would ensure that no funds be made available to foreign non-governmental organizations, multi-lateral nonprofits, and quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations that perform abortions, counsel for abortion, lobby for abortion policies or expanded access, or provide funding or resources for any entity, including domestic non-governmental organizations and non-profits, that perform abortions abroad.