Unborn babies may be aborted for any reason up to birth in Colorado, and there are no legal protections afforded to them if they survive the attempt at their life.
However, Democrat politicians control the state legislature, and they quickly rejected the bill. On Tuesday, the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted 6-3 against the Born Alive Child Physician Relationship Act in a party-line vote, the Washington Times reports.
House Bill 1068 would have required medical workers to provide basic medical care to babies who are born alive in abortions. Abortionists who violate the legislation could have faced felony charges and a $100,000 fine.
State Rep. Shane Sandridge, R-El Paso County, slammed Democrat lawmakers for allowing infanticide.
“If this bill dies today, that is saying it is okay — I hate to use the words — to finish off a baby after a failed abortion and the child is born,” he said prior to the committee vote.
Colorado House Republicans also issued a statement criticizing Democrats for rejecting the Born Alive Child Physician Relationship Act and a second bill to ban abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy.
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“Both of these bills had support from Coloradans across all political spectrums and neither received a fair hearing in the ‘Kill’ Committee,” they said. “We will always stand in defense of life. It is our duty to defend those who can’t defend themselves.”
Colorado is home to one of the few late-term abortion businesses in America. There, unborn babies may be aborted for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy.
Though Colorado does not keep statistics on abortion survivors, statistics from other state health departments and the Centers for Disease Control prove that babies do survive abortions every year in the United States.
At least 40 babies were born alive after botched abortions in just three states between 2016 and 2018. According to the state health data, 11 babies were born alive after botched abortions in Minnesota, 10 in Arizona and 19 in Florida.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as the personal testimonies of nurses and abortion survivors themselves, also provide evidence that babies survive abortions. According to the CDC, at least 143 babies were born alive after botched abortions between 2003 and 2014 in the U.S., though there likely are more. Research by the American Center for Law and Justice estimated the number is much higher, at least 362 between 2001 and 2010.
Despite the evidence, ACLU of Colorado attorney Lizzy Hinkley claimed that laws to protect infants who survive abortions “aren’t necessary,” according to the Washington Times.
“Fact check: Bills like #HB1068 (the so-called born alive bill) aren’t necessary. If such a thing was happening in CO – and it isn’t – our criminal laws have it covered. This is another attempt to demean & demonize abortion providers,” Hinkley wrote on Twitter.
Currently, about 18 states do not have laws to protect abortion survivors from infanticide. Some states never have passed laws to protect abortion survivors, while at least two others, New York and Illinois, repealed their laws requiring medical care for infants who survive abortions.
In 2019, Texas passed a law strengthening protections for infants who survive abortions. West Virginia is very close to passing a similar bill this winter.
Last year, the state legislatures in Montana, North Carolina and Wisconsin nearly passed bills to protect born-alive infants as well; however, their Democratic governors vetoed the legislation. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers argued that the legislation was “not a productive use of time.”
Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony about a federal Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a Republican-backed bill to require doctors to provide basic medical care to babies who survive abortions.
