WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Senate will vote to advance the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act introduced by Senators Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) to protect newborns that survive abortions by requiring healthcare practitioners to provide the proper degree of medical care to the child.
Senator Jim Banks (R-IN): “I’ve always fought to defend the unborn and will continue to do so in the Senate. It’s unconscionable that we even need such a law, but protecting the most vulnerable is essential. Now that Republicans have control of both chambers of Congress and the most pro-life President in my lifetime, we have the opportunity to see this important bill signed into law.”
Senator James Lankford (R-OK): “No child should be denied medical care simply because they are ‘unwanted.’ Today, if an abortion procedure fails and a child is born alive, doctors can just ignore the crying baby on the table and watch them slowly die of neglect. That’s not an abortion, that’s infanticide,”.
Click here for the full text of the bill.
In 2002, Congress passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which codified in law that a newborn, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, is to be legally recognized as a person from the moment of birth if he or she shows any sign of life. The 2002 law did not provide any measures to enforce the protection of these infants, which has allowed children to be left to die after a botched abortion. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act adds clear expectations of care, hospital transfer requirements, mandatory reporting, private rights of action for moms, and reasonable criminal penalties for healthcare professionals who violate the law.
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