Senate Democrats block bill protecting born-alive abortion survivors
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Caroline Molloy
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Senate Democrats blocked the advancement of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act Jan. 22, halting efforts by Republicans to pass legislation mandating medical care for infants born alive during attempted abortions.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would have mandated that health care providers administer the same level of care to infants born alive after an abortion as they would to any other child born at the same gestational age, CatholicVote reported. It was proposed Jan. 16 by Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Jim Banks (R-Ind.), and was co-sponsored by 39 other Republican senators.
The attempt to advance the anti-infanticide bill, which required a threshold of 60 votes to move forward, failed 52-47, The Hill reported. Although Republicans hold a majority in the Senate with 53 seats, they were unable to secure enough votes to overcome the Democratic opposition.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) had predicted a poor outcome regarding the vote.
“[Democratic senators] will vote against protection for a living, breathing newborn baby simply because that child has been born alive after an attempted abortion,” he said, according to The Hill.
“Democrats are afraid that by recognizing the humanity of the newly-born child they will inadvertently point to the humanity of the unborn child,” Thune said.
The bill also had provisions requiring health care workers to report any instances where proper care is not provided to born-alive infants to law enforcement.
“I do understand where they’re coming from,” Thune added. “After all, once you recognize the humanity of the newly-born baby, it gets a little harder to say that that child wasn’t human just a few moments ago, simply because he or she wasn’t yet born.”
The legislation would also have required abortion survivors to be transported to a hospital for further medical treatment.
Democrats criticized the bill as “unnecessary,” arguing that federal law already prohibits infanticide.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the bill “pernicious.”
