The U.S. Senate is expected to vote this month on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a bill that would ensure babies born after failed abortions receive life-saving care.
The bill requires that in cases of children born alive after attempted abortions, health care practitioners present must “exercise the same degree of care as would reasonably be provided to any other child born alive at the same gestational age” and “ensure the child is immediately admitted to a hospital.” If these measures are ignored, employees and health care workers aware of such disregard must report it to authorities.
The bill was introduced by Senate Republicans John Thune of South Dakota and James Lankford of Oklahoma. It passed the House on Jan. 11, 2023 with a 220-210 vote but stalled in the Senate because of Democrat opposition.
Now with a GOP Senate majority, the act is expected to face a vote before this year’s March for Life which is scheduled for Jan. 24.
Thune criticized the Democrat stance on the issue.
“As thousands of pro-life Americans come to Washington for the 52nd Annual March for Life, we’ll take up the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” Thune said on the Senate floor on Jan. 8. “This straightforward bill simply states that a baby born alive after an attempted abortion is entitled to the same protection and medical care that any other newborn baby is entitled to. This vote will ask Democrats to answer whether a living baby born after an attempted abortion should be provided with medical care or be left to die. It shouldn’t be a hard question.”
Abortionists are not federally required to report on what is done after a child survives abortion. They are also not required to record the number of such cases. According to the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, only eight states—Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas—publicly report the number of babies born alive during abortions or respond to requests asking for statistics on children born alive during abortions.
Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, pointed out the lack of accountability in an interview with The Washington Stand.
“Currently, 35 states have at least some protections for babies born alive after an abortion,” Szoch said. “Unfortunately, only 19 states require that the newborn be immediately transferred to a hospital, that a health care practitioner renders the same care to a child born alive after an abortion to any other child born alive at the same gestational age, and that any failure to comply be reported. All three of these are requirements in the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.”
Szoch says there are at least 277 documented cases of babies in the U.S. born alive during a failed abortion. Yet, due to the lack of reporting, Szoch believes the numbers are higher.
“We pray for the day when the circumstances of a baby’s birth do not determine the level of protection he or she receives from the government, and for the day when every person—those born and those unborn—is treated as an irreplaceable gift from God,” Szoch said.
