U.S. Senator James Lankford, R-OK, reintroduced the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act on Thursday. The bill requires health care practitioners provide newborn infants who survive abortions with appropriate medical care.
In 2002, Congress passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act which granted legal protections to infants who survive abortions. The act “codified in law that a newborn, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, is to be legally recognized as a person from the moment of birth if he or she show any sign of life.”
However, that bill did not provide any measure to enforce the protection for these infants. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act “adds clear expectations of care, hospital transfer requirements, mandatory reporting, private rights of action for moms, and reasonable criminal penalties for health care professionals who violate the law.”
When babies survive attempted abortions – and yes, this does happen – they’re often given “comfort care.” The baby is “made comfortable” and left to die; no life-saving interventions are provided.
Consider abortion survivor Melissa Ohden’s story. She survived a failed saline infusion abortion in 1977.
In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in 2015, Ohden said,
To be clear, that’s infanticide – and it must be stopped.
According to the CDC, at least 143 babies were born alive and died after an attempted abortion between 2003 and 2014. This number is likely a very low estimate due to underreporting.
The Born-Alive bill is cosponsored by 43 other members of Senate, including Majority Leader John Thune, R-SD.
“No child should be denied medical care simply because they are ‘unwanted,’” Sen. Lankford said in a statement after introducing the bill. “Today, if an abortion procedure fails and a child is born alive, doctors can just ignore the crying baby on the table and watch them slowly die of neglect. That’s not an abortion, that’s infanticide.”
Newly elected Senator Jim Banks, R-IN, also issued a statement, saying,
Other versions of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act have been passed by the House of Representatives in recent years, only to stall in the Senate.
Pro-abortion radicals often try to spin the Born-Alive bills as an “attack” on abortion “rights.” But this isn’t close to true.
The act provides protections for newborn infants who are already born; it does nothing to restrict abortion access. That’s why everyone – pro-life and pro-abortion – should support the Born-Alive bill.
Focus on the Family has endorsed the legislation, alongside a long list of our allies, including March for Life Action, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Concerned Women for America LAC, National Right to Life, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Live Action, Americans United for Life, Family Research Council, Students for Life Action, Alliance Defending Freedom, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Heritage Action, Family Policy Alliance, Human Coalition, Liberty Council Action, and the Ethics and Public Policy Center, among others.
All newborn infants struggling for life deserve care, compassion and the best medical care healthcare practitioners can offer.
Please consider contacting your U.S. Senators and asking them to vote in favor of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. A vote on the bill is expected later this month.
Related articles and resources:
Fact Check: Some babies are executed after they’re born.
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