The Senate is set to vote Monday on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, sponsored by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE). As the title implies, the legislation provides legal protection to babies who survive attempted abortions and mandates that they receive immediate medical care. Forty-nine senators — all Republicans — have co-sponsored the Sasse bill.

It is a travesty that such legislation is even necessary. But we can thank Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) for kick starting this national discussion. 

As you recall, Northam shocked the country a few weeks ago when he callously suggested that a baby could be delivered then “resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired,” followed by “a discussion … between the physicians and the mother” about whether the baby should be terminated.

In the wake of Northam’s remarks endorsing infanticide, Sen. Sasse called for a snap vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. But one left-wing Democrat objected and blocked the vote. Senate Majority Leader McConnell vowed that the Senate would vote on the bill and he’s keeping that promise Monday.

Senator Sasse also warned his colleagues:

“Every member of the Senate is going to have to answer. They can stand with babies or they can defend infanticide with Governor Northam — those are the choices. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act should be the easiest vote any senator takes.”

Just to be absolutely clear, my friends, this is a life and death issue. This is not a hypothetical debate about when life begins, although we know the answer to that. 

There are people alive today who have survived late-term abortions. They have powerful stories to tell. They are living testimonies to the sanctity of life, which deserves protection at every stage of development.

And kudos to our friends at Focus on the Family! 

Focus has arranged for a doctor to perform a 4D ultrasound in Times Square on Saturday, May 4th. The event, known as “Alive From New York,” will draw attention to the humanity of the unborn child and to the extremism of the pro-abortion law recently signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

I am also pleased to report that the Trump/Pence Administration yesterday issued a finalized rule cutting off federal Title X funding to clinics that perform abortions or refer for abortions. The new rule could cost Planned Parenthood $50 million a year. Of course, the rule will be challenged in the courts, but a similar Reagan-era rule was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Enough Hate

The Jussie Smollett case has drawn a lot of attention to the concept of hate crimes. The actor claimed he’d been the victim of an assault because he is black and gay and anti-Trump.

Of course, as we know from Thursday’s incredible press conference, the Chicago Police Department has determined that Smollett’s story was just that — a made up story. His alleged hate crime was a complete hoax. In reality, the only hate crime was the one Smollett perpetrated on the people of Chicago and against conservatives across America.

Left-wing politicians and pundits were so eager to believe Smollett’s story because, as Evan Thomas famously put it, the narrative was right even if the facts were wrong. It reinforced the left’s belief about the portion of the country that Hillary Clinton wrote off as “deplorable and irredeemable." 

Meanwhile, real crimes committed out of hatred for conservatives are often ignored.

Every week brings another example of a White House staffer or conservative media personality being accosted or assaulted for their political views. And as the Covington Catholic School boys found out last month, there’s no more certain way to provoke an attack than to don a red MAGA hat in public. 

Earlier this week, a conservative activist was assaulted while recruiting students for a conservative club at the University of California-Berkeley. Seemingly unaware of the concept of irony, the attacker accused the conservative victim of promoting violence as he punched him in the face.

That fits the definition of a hate crime. But I doubt it’ll be prosecuted as one, if it’s prosecuted at all.

When conservatives defended the idea of free markets in health care, they were accused of being racists. When conservatives defend the idea of securing the border, the left immediately resorts to charges of white supremacy and xenophobia. When conservatives say immigrants should learn English, the left says that’s bigotry. 

(Meanwhile, we have a dysfunctional immigration system that is literally importing more hate into the country.)

But the labeling of normal conservative ideas as hate is a "hate crime” itself. 

The left so hates conservative ideas that it wants to completely shut down the debate and silence the opposition. So it resorts to the most inflammatory rhetoric and charges possible, obviously not out of any desire for genuine debate or understanding, but just plain old hate.

Here’s another example to keep in mind.

Two years ago, James Hodgkinson, a crazed Bernie Sanders supporter, shot up a baseball field full of Republican congressmen in an attempted mass assassination. He was a fan of a Facebook group called “Terminate The Republican Party.” After the shooting, police found a “hit list” of Republican congressmen in his pocket. 

The shooting, which nearly claimed the life of Rep. Steve Scalise, was clearly a hate crime. Yet the FBI declared that it could find no evidence of political bias.

That asinine conclusion tells you everything you need to know about the biased Obama/Comey FBI that has been leading the Trump/Russia, Hillary/email investigations.

The result of all of this is that more and more Americans feel there are two systems of justice. Violate a liberal’s safe space, and you’ll get charged with a hate crime. But physically assault a conservative, and the left, including the liberal legal system, will look the other way.

The sad reality is that there is already too much hate in society today. We don’t need to be making it up or inventing hate where none exists.