[Thursday] morning, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) shed his candidate hat and took on another campaign: chief sponsor of the five-month abortion ban. It’s a role Senator Graham knows well, having introduced the same legislation last spring — under slightly different circumstances. This time around, the southern conservative has a GOP majority to give him what Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wouldn’t: a vote.

After a convincing 242-184 win in the House, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act sailed into the Senate with the country’s support firmly behind it! As many as 84% of people throw their support behind measures that stop abortion after the first three months of pregnancy — and that includes a majority of women!

Unfortunately, that 84% doesn’t include President Obama, who stubbornly opposes any common-sense limit on abortion. Apparently, the White House wants to keep America in the company of the seven nations in the world who allow abortion at any time and for any reason after five months. As far as human rights go, the fewer things the U.S. has in common with the evil regimes of North Korea and China the better. It’s time for us, as Americans, to leave this club of seven.

Earlier [yesterday], at Graham’s Capitol Hill news conference (scroll down for video), I thanked the senator and his colleagues for their commitment to bringing the U.S. in line — not just with the vast majority of nations who protect life, but with Americans’ views. Despite what the Left would have you believe, the science of pain is not up for debate. Medical experts have testified that unborn children can feel excruciating pain as early as four and a half months after fertilization. As Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand testified before Congress: ‘The human fetus possesses the ability to experience pain from 20 weeks gestation, if not earlier and the pain perceived by the fetus is possibly more intense than that perceived by term newborns or children.“

Why would medical textbooks and professionals decide that fetal anesthesia is needed for surgical procedures in the womb if it weren’t for the presence and experience of pain in these little patients? Still, Senate Democrats insist on living in denial on the facts and the popularity of the bill. "They can do whatever they want. We’re ready for them,” Minority Leader Reid told reporters flippantly. “I don’t think it’s the right thing to do, and I don’t think it helps them politically.” But as the leader of the party who lost control of Congress, I’m not sure Reid is in a position to offer political advice.

Meanwhile, President Obama has threatened to veto S. 1553 despite telling the Catholic Health Association earlier this week that he has “a shared belief that every human being, made in the image of God, deserves to live in dignity; that all children, no matter who they are or where they come from or how much money they were born into, ought to have the opportunity to achieve their God-given potential.” That opportunity begins with life. It’s time for the President to bring his policies in line with his political rhetoric and fight for the dignity of every child.

Berger’s Beef on Conscience Pays off!

The last state to protect marriage is also the first one to defend its state officials! In a gigantic victory for religious liberty, the North Carolina legislature put Governor Pat McCrory ® in his place, overriding his ridiculous veto of conscience protections for magistrates. With three votes to spare, the General Assembly kicked off [Thursday] morning’s business by making faith-based exemptions law for state officials with deeply-held religious beliefs on marriage.

Under S.B. 2, magistrates can excuse themselves from performing same-sex “marriages,” as long as they opt out of all marriages for six months. It was the best solution to a bad situation after judges struck down the state’s wildly popular marriage amendment. Now, thanks to the work of Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest ®, Senate sponsor Phil Berger ®, House Speaker Tim Moore, the North Carolina Family Policy Council, FRC friend and pastor Dr. Mark Harris, and our culture impact teams across North Carolina, the state finally stood up to the anti-faith bullies and gave legal cover to anyone with objections to same-sex “marriage.” Together, the coalition flooded members’ offices with support for the bill. And according to Pastor Harris, it made all the difference.

The bill’s fate was in doubt as recently as last week, when Assembly leaders were desperately trying to get more members on board. “Evidently,” Harris explained, “the calls made an impact, because some legislators who voted initially against it and/or were wavering on what to do with the veto, simply were not present for the vote. This, of course, adjusted the needed votes in favor since three-fifths of those present were needed to override.”

In the end, conservatives prevailed 69-41, foiling the governor and rebuking the Left’s attempts at political correctness. “Our members have worked together very well,” a happy Sen. Berger told reporters. “They have been able to kind of work out whatever differences there are, and present a uniform front. I think when you have an organization and a legislative body that functions that way, it has an ability to be very effective.” For the court’s victims, like North Carolina, laws like this protect the freedom to believe, “while also,” Moore explained, “ensuring that magistrates are available in all jurisdictions to perform lawful marriages.”

Absolutely nothing about the proposal is discriminatory. Couples can still wed — they just can’t strong-arm Christians to officiate. “We are a nation and state of laws,” McCrory had argued. He’s right — but that law includes the First Amendment, which SB 2 defends. Our biggest thanks and congratulations to Pastor Harris and our culture impact teams throughout the state for a job well done!

This Land Was Your Land…

When Iraqi Christians were driven out of cities like Mosul and Baghdad, they dreamed of returning home. Now, at least in Baghdad, most won’t have a home to come back to! In a stunning twist to the devastating stories of so many Iraqis, it seems ISIS has “illegally seized” about 70% of the capital’s Christian homes, according to a member of the city’s municipal council.

“These houses belonged to Christians who fled from Baghdad, seeking refuge from violent attacks targeting them and their homes. The title deed documents have been falsified and the new title deeds have been lodged with the real estate registry. Many properties had been given illegally to other Iraqi citizens.” One of the NGOs stationed in the area confirmed the reports, saying, “Most of the Christian who left Iraq for Europe had their homes stolen. Since then, their ownership was transferred, and the homes are now occupied by militia commanders and politicians in or close to power.”

Unfortunately, Iraqi Christians aren’t the only ones anxious to get home. So is American Christian Saeed Abedini. The U.S. citizen, who remains in the worst prison in Iran for his faith, has now been “viciously beaten” and attacked by his fellow prisoners, his wife Naghmeh reports. Calling it “heartbreaking,” Naghmeh again pleaded for help for her husband — just a week after testifying before Congress to ask for his release. “Saeed’s life is continuously threatened, not only because he is an American, but also because he is a convert from Islam to Christianity. It’s time to get Saeed home before it is too late.”

Despite the intense persecution, President Obama has yet to make good on his assurances to the Abedini family that he would do everything to free America’s own. Instead, Pastor Saeed’s plight — like that of so many Christians and religious minorities in the Middle East — continues to rank a distant second to the administration’s only cause: the international promotion of homosexuality.

As former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Paul Bremer warned, “A lot of words from [President Obama] aren’t going to change history’s judgment.” We can only hope that a lot of our prayers can change the Middle East’s judgment for Christians.

** To watch my part of today’s Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act news conference, click below.

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This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.