46 Senators Introduce New Bill to Stop Infanticide, Protect Babies Who Survive Abortions

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jan 29, 2021   |   7:23PM   |   Washington, DC

In the wake of growing reports proving that babies do survive abortions, a group of U.S. Senators re-introduced legislation Thursday to protect babies who survive abortions from infanticide.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, and 45 other senators, would require health care workers to provide the same degree of care to a baby who survives an abortion that would be given to any other baby born at the same gestational age. It also requires that the baby immediately be transported to a hospital.

“This bill is really simple: it makes sure newborn babies who survive attempted abortions get the same care any other baby would,” Sasse said. “A decent society can’t turn its back on these babies because compassion, truth, and love still matter.”

Sasse has been trying to get the bill passed since 2015, but Democrat leaders repeatedly have blocked its passage.

“A week ago, President Biden stood on the Capitol steps and said ‘with unity we can do great things. Important things. We can right wrongs.’ Well, here’s a chance to do just that,” he challenged Democrats.

Babies do survive abortions, though no one is sure exactly how many. Most states do not keep track of the number of babies who survive abortions, but a few do.

Between 2016 and 2018, three states reported 40 babies were born alive after abortions. According to the state health data, 11 babies were born alive in Minnesota, 10 in Arizona and 19 in Florida. Texas reported six babies were born alive in botched abortions in 2019. In Michigan, state health reports from 2008 through 2013 indicate that 11 babies were born alive during abortions.

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Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, praised lawmakers for their continued efforts to protect these babies from infanticide.

“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,” Tobias said. “Appallingly, pro-abortion extremists in the House and Senate are willing to let die babies who are born alive following an abortion.”

She said the legislation is needed because current federal law does not sufficiently protect a baby born following an abortion.

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, the House Whip, and Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Missouri, also introduced an identical bill in the U.S. House this week.

“The Born-Alive Abortions Survivors Protection Act is reasonable legislation that would protect a baby born alive following an abortion,” Tobias said. “We thank Senator Sasse, Whip Scalise, and Representative Wagner for reintroducing this critical life-saving legislation.”

Co-sponsors of the legislation in the U.S. Senate include Sens. Barrasso (R-WY), Blackburn (R-TN), Blunt (R-MO), Boozman (R-AR), Braun (R-IN), Burr (R-NC), Cassidy (R-LA), Cornyn (R-TX), Cotton (R-AR), Cramer (R-ND), Crapo (R-ID), Cruz (R-TX), Daines (R-MT), Ernst (R-IA), Fischer (R-NE), Graham (R-SC), Grassley (R-IA), Hagerty (R-TN), Hawley (R-MO), Hoeven (R-ND), Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Inhofe (R-OK), Johnson (R-WI), Kennedy (R-LA), Lankford (R-OK), Lee (R-UT), Lummis (R-WY), Marshall (R-KS), McConnell (R-KY), Moran (R-KS), Paul (R-KY), Portman (R-OH), Risch (R-ID), Rounds (R-SD), Romney (R-UT), Rubio (R-FL), Scott (R-FL), Scott (R-SC), Shelby (R-AL), Sullivan (R-AK), Thune (R-SD), Tillis (R-NC), Toomey (R-PA), Wicker (R-MS) and Young (R-IN).

Reports from other countries prove that babies survive abortions, too, and legal protections for them are needed. In Canada, the Canadian Institute of Health Information recorded 766 late-term, live-birth abortions over a five-year period in 2018. And in Australia, the country’s health minister admitted that 27 babies survived abortions in the state of Western Australia between 1999 and 2016. A report out of Ireland in the fall also suggests babies are surviving abortions and being left to die there.

National polling shows Americans — including people who are “pro-choice” on abortion — oppose abortions up to birth and infanticide.