From National Right to Life’s NRLC News
WASHINGTON — On Thursday, Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) reintroduced the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act in the U.S. Senate. Today, Representative Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House Whip, and Representative Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) reintroduced the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“The Born-Alive Abortions Survivors Protection Act is reasonable legislation that would protect a baby born alive following an abortion,” said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee. “We thank Senator Sasse, Whip Scalise, and Representative Wagner for reintroducing this critical life-saving legislation.”
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act requires that when a baby is born alive following an abortion, health care practitioners must exercise the same degree of professional skill and care that would be offered to any other child born alive at the same gestational age. It also requires that, following appropriate care, health care workers must transport the living child immediately to a hospital.
Current federal law does not sufficiently protect a child born following an abortion.
“There is no such thing as a ‘post-birth abortion.’ This bill isn’t about interfering with a so-called ‘right to abortion.’ It is about stopping infanticide,” said Tobias. “Appallingly, pro-abortion extremists in the House and Senate are willing to let die babies who are born alive following an abortion.”
In the 116th Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) refused to allow the legislation to go to the floor for a vote. In the last Congress, every House Republican and three House Democrats signed a discharge petition in an attempt to bring the legislation to a vote.
In 2019, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act was brought to the Senate Floor for a roll call vote. Even though the legislation received majority, bipartisan support, it failed to receive the 60 votes needed to break a Democratic filibuster.