Senate to Vote on Bill to Protect Babies Born Alive After Abortion from Infanticide

Newborn Baby
Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images
Dr. Susan Berry

The Senate will vote Monday on Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse’s Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act – a bill that would protect babies born alive following failed abortions from infanticide.

Sasse announced the Senate roll call vote in a press release last week.

“I want to thank the Majority Leader for scheduling this vote so that every American can know where their Senator stands on the issue of infanticide,” Sasse, a Republican, said in a statement. “A lot of Senators spend a lot of time telling people how they fight for the little guy. Well, here’s the chance for them to prove it.”

The bill states:

(1) If an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, the infant is a legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States, and entitled to all the protections of such laws.

(2) Any infant born alive after an abortion or within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the same claim to the protection of the law that would arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within its care.

Nearly three weeks ago, Senate Democrats – led by Washington Sen. Patty Murray – blocked the Born-Alive bill. Sasse had introduced the legislation and went to the floor of the Senate to ask his colleagues to pass the bill by unanimous consent, but Democrats objected.

“Infanticide shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” Sasse wrote in an op-ed at USA Today. “Every single public servant should be able to say it’s wrong to leave newborn babies to die.”

Meanwhile, Murray touted her visit to Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she met “the dedicated staff and seeing firsthand how they use their resources to serve children and families throughout Northwest WA”:

When it comes to protecting infants “accidentally” born alive after abortion, the Washington senator nevertheless tweeted the Born-Alive Act is “*another* bill attacking women’s rights & health – which leading medical groups have said should never become law”:

As National Review noted, two of the “leading medical groups” cited by Murray that signed onto a letter opposing Sasse’s bill are Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation. The letter called the measure protecting infants from infanticide a “dangerous government intrusion into private health care decisions.”

National Review also reported that Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine – a Catholic – appears inclined to vote against the Born-Alive Act.

“This bill would establish new requirements for health care practitioners in the case of a fetus who survives an abortion,” Kaine reportedly wrote in a letter to constituents. “I support the right of women to make their own health and reproductive decisions. For that reason, I oppose efforts to weaken the basic holding of Roe v. Wade . . . [and oppose] restricting and criminalizing women’s reproductive decisions.”

In his op-ed, Sasse wrote the kind of thinking that equates infanticide with “women’s reproductive rights” is “radicalism.”

“[A]n extreme pro-abortion lobby is advocating for abortion anytime and for any reason  — even after the baby has left the womb,” he observed. “This kind of radicalism is wildly out of step with the American public, and President Donald Trump was right to highlight it in his recent State of the Union address. But even more important, it’s out of step with who we are as Americans.”

Sasse is determined that the vote on Monday will let all Americans know where their U.S. senators stand on infanticide.

“We’re going to have a vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and everyone is going to have to put their name by their vote,” Sasse said. “It’s cowardly for a politician to say they’ll fight for the little guy but only if the little guy isn’t an actual seven-pound baby who’s fighting for life. It shouldn’t be hard to protect newborn babies – let’s pass this legislation.”

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.