Two years ago, Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats blocked a vote on a bill to stop infanticide 77 times. With her continued refusal to allow a vote, Republicans plan to file a discharge petition demanding the bill be allowed a vote on the House floor.
A discharge petition is a petition any member of Congress can sign to allow legislation to move out of committee and to the House floor when the party controlling Congress refuses to allow a vote on it.
On Wednesday, April 14, House Republicans led by Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), and Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) will once again launch a petition to hold a vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 619). Sponsored by Rep. Wagner, the bill would ensure that babies born alive during failed abortions receive the same medical care as any other baby born prematurely at the same age.
House Republican Whip Steve Scalise said this should be the easiest bill for Congress to approve.
“This a bill that many wonder why is it even necessary that we need a law to say that if a baby is born alive outside of the womb we need to give it the full protections under law? Many people ask why is it that they aren’t already protected?” Scalise said.
“If a baby is born alive, it should have the full protections of anybody else. Yet as we see in states like New York and other states around the country they allow in those states the baby, even after it’s born alive, to be killed. To me that’s murder,” he added.
“I will be joining my colleague, Ann Wagner, the lead author of this bill, to start a discharge petition, an opportunity for every member of Congress to make their voices heard loud and clear that this bill ought to come to this floor for a full debate and ultimately for a vote. We ought to pass this law. There should be no doubt, shouldn’t be a partisan issue, shouldn’t be an issue that we have disagreement over, yet we do. For whatever reason the Speaker will not allow this bill to come up for a vote,” he added.
“We have tried time after time to move unanimous consent to bring this bill to the floor, and for months that motion has been denied. The most vulnerable among us should no longer be denied that protection under law. Mr. Speaker, this bill has to come up for a vote,” he continued. “We will start the process today to ensure that that full debate happens and ultimately that the vote happens to pass the Born Alive Act. I urge all my colleagues to sign on to this discharge petition.”
This legislation has been blocked repeatedly by pro-abortion Democrats in both the House and Senate. If a majority of representatives sign the discharge petition, it will force a vote by the full House.
The national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) praised the effort, saying:
“We thank Whip Steve Scalise, Congresswoman Ann Wagner, Congresswoman Kat Cammack, and all our Republican allies fighting tirelessly to end infanticide in America,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Infants who survive abortion attempts are extremely vulnerable to being killed or left to die without medical care. The overwhelming majority of Americans want to protect these defenseless babies – yet Democrats in Congress have repeatedly blocked life-saving legislation, while pushing to expand abortion on demand through birth. We’ve had enough of radical pro-abortion Democrats’ obstruction – this bill deserves a vote.”
A recent report by Tessa Longbons, a research associate at Charlotte Lozier Institute, SBA List’s research arm, shows that protections for babies who survive abortions are inconsistent across the United States, with fewer than half of states maintaining sufficient protections.
The blocking of a vote on a bill to stop infanticide come even as national polling shows Americans — including people who are “pro-choice” on abortion — oppose abortion up to birth and infanticide. And doctors indicate abortions are never needed to protect a woman’s health and women admit having abortions on healthy babies.
And a new poll finds a massive 17 percent shift in the pro-life direction after Democrats have pushed abortions up to birth and infanticide nationally.
H.R. 962, introduced by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), ensures that a baby born alive after a failed or attempted abortion receives the same medical care as any other newborn. It would also penalize doctors who allow such infants to die or who intentionally kill a newborn following a failed abortion.
Every single Democrat in the Senate who is running for president voted against a bill that would stop infanticide and provide medical care and treatment for babies who are born alive after botched abortions. That includes Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Amy Klobuchar.
While they all voted to support infanticide, President Trump spoke out against infanticide in two tweets saying that it’s nothing short of “executing” babies to let them die after failed abortions.
ACTION: Contact members of Congress and urge them to sign the Discharge Petition to bring the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to the House floor for a vote.
