In the wake of recent news about abortion survivors being left to die by medical staff, the House of Representatives of the United States Congress on Wednesday, January 11th passed a bill that mandates medical care to babies born alive after an abortion attempt. According to Fox News,
the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act … says that any infant born alive after an attempted abortion is a “legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States.”
The bill states that abortion survivors must be given health care like “any other child born alive.” This means admitting them as patients for hospital care, with the refusal to do so being punished on par with denying hospital care to any patient in need thereof.
Fox News reports that the vote by the House followed party lines, with 210 of the 212 Democrats voting against the bill and 219 Republicans voting for it. Only one Democrat supported the bill.
In response to the bill passing the House, former Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi compared the protection of abortion survivors to “political violence”:
Vice President Kamala Harris responded to the bill by referring to abortions as “reproductive health.” The vice president did not mention abortion survivors:
The “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” was first introduced to the House two years ago by Ann Wagner, a Republican from Missouri. It was referred by the Democrat House leadership at the time to the subcommittee on crime, terrorism, and homeland security, where the Democrat majority refused to adopt it.
After Wednesday’s vote, the House of Representatives will send the bill to the Senate, where Democrats hold 48 seats and Republicans 49. Three independent Senators caucus with the Democrats, giving them a 51-seat majority. Since Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris presides over the Senate and is eligible to vote, Democrats can lose one vote and still stop the bill.
