On Wednesday, the Republicans in the House of Representatives passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act by a vote of 220 to 210. Almost every Democrat opposed the bill. In short, if a baby survives an abortion, he or she must be given medical care. That does not sound particularly extreme, but, of course, D.C. Democrats were appalled and took to Twitter to vent their spleens. Via Fox News:
Read my full statement on House Republicans' Anti-Choice Resolution here: https://t.co/7IBOp2wkEG
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 11, 2023
House Republicans passed an extreme bill today that will further jeopardize the right to reproductive health care in our country.
This is yet another attempt by Republican legislators to control women's bodies.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) January 12, 2023
We will always defend a woman’s freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) January 12, 2023
Our Caucus dressed in white today to show our collective resistance to the extreme MAGA Republicans' anti-abortion agenda.
We will always stand up for reproductive freedom & access to abortion care. pic.twitter.com/zVx0kDIsYj
— Democratic Women's Caucus (@DemWomenCaucus) January 11, 2023
Chuck Schumer opined, “The MAGA Republican-controlled House is putting on display their extreme views on women’s health with legislation that does not even have the support of the American people.”
They do love their MAGA tantrums, don’t they?
According to Newsweek, the pro-abortion lobby is up in arms as well. Mini Timmaraju, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, commented, “Once again, Democrats are fighting for our reproductive freedom and the 8 in 10 Americans who support the legal right to abortion, while Republicans are doubling down on their anti-choice extremist values.”
Jacqueline Ayers, the senior vice president of policy, organizing, and campaigns at Planned Parenthood called the bill a “nothing [sic] contrived scare tactic” adding, “This bill is deliberately misleading and offensive to pregnant people and the doctors and nurses who provide their care. It is yet another attempt by anti-abortion politicians to spread misinformation as a means to their warped political end: to ban safe and legal abortion.”
“Pregnant people,” also known as women.
Below is a summary of the bill. See if you can figure out what has them so upset. I can’t.
This bill establishes requirements for the degree of care a health care practitioner must provide in the case of a child born alive following an abortion or attempted abortion.
Specifically, a health care practitioner who is present must (1) exercise the same degree of care as would reasonably be provided to any other child born alive at the same gestational age, and (2) ensure the child is immediately admitted to a hospital. Additionally, a health care practitioner or other employee who has knowledge of a failure to comply with the degree-of-care requirements must immediately report such failure to law enforcement.
A health care practitioner who fails to provide the required degree of care, or a health care practitioner or other employee who fails to report such failure, is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.
An individual who intentionally kills or attempts to kill a child born alive is subject to prosecution for murder.
The bill bars the criminal prosecution of a mother of a child born alive under this bill and allows her to bring a civil action against a health care practitioner or other employee for violations.
So the baby lives following a failed abortion attempt, and the mother will not be prosecuted. We are not talking about a “fetus,” “zygote,” or “clump of cells.” This is a child who crossed the finish line. It is the equivalent of touching home base in a game of tag. The child is “safe.” I’m having a hard time seeing the problem here. Or is it just that the abortion was not completed? Are the Dems faulting the doctors for saving the child or the child for having the gall and temerity not to die? Or is it simply that the Left has become so pro-death at this point that all the fences have been removed and it is all downhill from here? I suppose there’s no need to saunter down that slippery slope when you can sprint.
Of course, the vote by the House was symbolic since the Dems in the Senate will never pass it, and every state in the Union already has such a law on its books. But it is an interesting piece of statecraft. In passing the bill, the Republicans in Congress have forced the Democrats to admit that they are not satisfied with abortions alone. They cannot hide behind “reproductive rights” on this one. They have to own up to the fact that they are so indoctrinated at this point that they are advocating not just killing the unborn but also babies that have been born. One might be tempted to ask them if they can hear themselves, but (and I fear I am not exaggerating here) I think they are just too far gone.
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