Virginia Democrats rejected a bill this month to protect newborn babies who survive abortions after Gov. Ralph Northam openly defended infanticide by neglect last year.
The Culpeper Star-Exponent reports the Born Alive Act expired in the Virginia House Courts of Justice Committee last week because Democrats did not take action within the legislative deadline.
The pro-life legislation would have required medical workers to provide basic medical care to infants who survive abortions. Those who did not could have been charged with a class 4 felony and faced up to 10 years in prison.
Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, who sponsored the legislation, emphasized how needed the legislation is after their state’s own governor, a pediatric physician, defended the practice of allowing newborns to die without medical are.
“The purpose of the Born Alive Act is to ensure that when a child is born under difficult circumstances, often times when they’re born as a result of a botched abortion, the medical care professionals in Virginia understand that we still expect them to do everything reasonable and within their power to save that child’s life,” Freitas said in a video posted Feb. 13 on Twitter.
He said Democrats, who control the state legislature, even “mocked” his attempts to protect babies from infanticide.
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“I understand it is embarrassing for the abortion industry to admit that there is such a thing as abortion survivors,” Freitas said. “Their embarrassment does not negate their existence.”
“You may get offended, but where is your offense on behalf of the child mentioned in this particular scenario? Do we not have an obligation to protect innocent human life, we would argue inside the womb, but don’t we all agree outside the womb?” he asked his fellow state lawmakers.
Freitas promised to continue to advocate for the pro-life legislation until it passes.
Pro-abortion Democrats argued that the bill is not necessary because infanticide already is illegal in Virginia, according to the report. But Freitas pointed to Northam’s comments in 2019 to explain why their current laws are not enough.
“Virginia Democrats claim that infanticide does not take place in Virginia. Yet last year Governor (and pediatric doctor) Ralph Northam went into horrific detail in describing how infanticide currently takes place in Virginia,” he said.
In January 2019, Northam defended a radical pro-abortion bill in the state legislature that would have legalized abortions for any reason up to birth – and then went on to defend infanticide by medical neglect.
Speaking about babies who survive third trimester abortions, Northam told a Virginia news station: “If a mother is in labor…the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and mother.”
Though babies’ survivals have been called “imaginary” and protections for them unnecessary, state health statistics indicates that 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.
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to consider a federal bill next week to protect infants who survive abortions from infanticide. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would require the same level of basic medical care to be given to babies who survive abortions as to any other baby born at the same gestational age.
