The words are hard to ignore.

A Virginia lawmaker this week introduced a bill that would loosen restrictions on access to late-term abortion. In a video clip defending the bill, she said: “My bill would allow that, yes.” Her answer was in response to the question: Would the bill allow a woman who had received approval for a late-term abortion to undergo the procedure as she’s dilating?

In other words, the child could be aborted (killed) as it is being born, as long as one doctor approves. Current Virginia law requires the approval of three doctors and requires that the birth would substantially and irredeemably harm the health of the mother.

The new bill would allow a third-term abortion for any medical reason, including harm to a woman’s mental health.

Virginia’s governor tried to clarify things and said this: “the infant would be kept comfortable. [And] the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue.”

The two were criticized for promoting infanticide, and it is hard to find fault with those critics.

Third-term abortions may be rare, but they do occur. If a single doctor can approve it based on the resulting harm to the mother’s mental health, they are likely to become more common.

The bill in Virginia comes on the heels of legislation in New York that drops most restrictions on abortions after 24 weeks, after the unborn child is viable. It requires that a decision be made based on “reasonable and good-faith judgment” that the abortion will protect the woman’s health.

The push for fewer restrictions on late-term abortions comes as medical science increasingly shows us that an unborn child is just that — a child who has yet to be born. It’s not merely a clump of cells. It’s a child, complete with all the things that make it human. Destroying that is destroying human life.

We are better than this. No matter political party, no matter ideology, as humans we should all agree that life is worth protecting. That we do not underscores the dangerous direction our country is heading in.

Email publisher Luke Horton at luke.horton@dailyleader.com