Wyoming Gov Vetoes Bill for Medical Care for Babies Who Survive Abortions: Let Them Just “Pass Away”

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Mar 27, 2020   |   5:10PM   |   Cheyenne, Wyoming

In a surprising move, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed a bill to require basic medical care for newborn babies who survive abortions.

Gordon, a Republican who says he is pro-life, claimed the bill is unnecessary, KPVI News 6 reports.

“Laws already in place protect children from being denied life-saving care simply because they were born as a result of an abortion,” he said in his veto statement.

Senate File 97, sponsored by Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, requires abortionists to “take medically appropriate and reasonable steps to preserve the life and health of an infant born alive” from an abortion. Abortionists who fail to do so could be punished with up to 14 years in prison.

The pro-life legislation passed the state House and Senate with strong support.

However, Gordon argued that the bill would inadvertently cause harm.

“This bill would eliminate the opportunity for a child to pass away in the loving arms of parents,” he claimed. “Rather it would require that a child be removed from those loving parents and placed in a situation where the child might still pass away in the midst of stressful, painful, and futile efforts to resuscitate.”

Previously, Steinmetz refuted similar claims from Democrat lawmakers. She said her bill clarifies existing law to ensure babies are protected.

“I would like to see Wyoming be known as a place where we live up to our name, the Equality State, where everyone is equally protected under the law,” she told KGAB earlier this year.

Infanticide by actively killing a baby is illegal already, and pro-abortion Democrats often point to those laws to claim legislation like Steinmetz’s is not necessary. But her legislation is necessary to protect abortion survivors from dying from a lack of basic medical care. The penalties for abortionists who fail to provide that care also are important measures that hold the abortion industry accountable.

According to the Star-Tribune, some state lawmakers raised concerns that “the legislation strips the rights of parents and their doctors to spare suffering for children born with profound birth defects.” Others claimed it would be unfair to punish doctors who do not provide basic medical care to a baby who “has serious medical issues that would make the child incompatible for life,” the report states.

But these are dangerous arguments that smack of eugenics, and they are precisely why such legislation is needed. It should not matter if a newborn is healthy or sick; that baby deserves the same basic medical care as any other child. Sometimes, a baby has a fatal disorder and comfort care is all that is needed – care that allows their parents to hold them until they die. In other cases, a baby who survives an abortion will live and grow into a thriving adult if they receive basic medical care.

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.

Some states do not have laws to protect abortion survivors from infanticide, though the number is shrinking. This spring, lawmakers in Alabama also moved forward with legislation to protect newborns from infanticide. West Virginia also passed a law to protect babies from infanticide this winter.  However, New York and Illinois recently repealed their laws requiring medical care for infants who survive abortions.

Pro-life advocates lamented that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats have not been cooperative with similar federal legislation. In 2019, Pelosi blocked the federal Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act more than 80 times.

ACTION ALERT: Contact Gov. Mark Gordon to complain about his veto.

Also, contact state legislators and ask them to override the governor’s veto.