August 11, 2020
Another Congressman last week joined the effort to protect babies born during botched abortions. In February 2019, Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO-2) introduced H.R. 962, the Born Alive Infant Survivors Protection Act. If passed, H.R. 962, would require physicians to provide medical care for babies who survive attempted abortions.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act was also introduced in the Senate as S.311 by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE). The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is crucial legislation for the pro-life movement because it would protect millions of babies from legal infanticide.
H.R. 962 has been in the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security since March 2019. However, in April 2019, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA-01) led a discharge petition to move H.R. 962 out of the subcommittee and back to the House Floor. If a majority of Representatives sign this petition, the Born Alive Infant Survivors Protection Act could go for a vote on the House floor.
Last week, Rep. Chris Jacobs (R-NY-27) signed the discharge petition, bringing the total number of signatures to 205. For the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to be considered, the discharge petition needs 218 signatures. Only thirteen more representatives need to sign onto this petition to allow the House to vote to ban infanticide in the United States.
Infanticide should not be a partisan issue. In one hospital wing, a child born prematurely is being treated because her parents want her to live, while in the next hospital wing, a child is left to die because his parents “chose” not to keep him.
For those who argue that late-term abortion and infanticide don’t take place, consider this from National Review: “According to estimates from the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute, about 1.3 percent of annual abortions in the U.S. occur after 20 weeks, which does sound rare – until you consider that the Guttmacher also estimates about 926,000 annual abortions, meaning that about 12,000 take place after viability. As Ramesh Ponnuru often points out, that means there are more post-viability abortions each year thank gun homicides, according to the most recent FBI estimates.”
Over the course of the 116th Congress, members of the United States House of Representatives have been fighting for a vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act since it was introduced. In May 2019, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX-21) stood on the House floor and demanded a vote on the Born Alive Infant Survivors Protection Act. House Democrats have refused to vote on this bill nearly fifty times.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act currently has 192 co-sponsors in the House and fifty co-sponsors in the Senate. We are so grateful for our representatives and senators who stand for innocent children who survive abortions and deserve medical treatment. It is necessary that we petition members of the House of Representatives to sign onto the discharge petition to push the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to the House floor and require doctors to reject infanticide and treat babies who survive abortion.