| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 1, 2019 |
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley [email protected] | 202-223-8073 |
Dannenfelser: “If Democrats are truly against infanticide, every single Democratic senator should vote for this bill”
Washington, D.C. – Today the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) urged the U.S. Senate to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, introduced by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE).
“If Democrats are truly against infanticide, every single Democratic senator should support this bill,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “The need to rise up against abortion extremism has never been more urgent. We urge the Senate to vote on this legislation, pass it unanimously, then send it to the House so that Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats can show they are against infanticide too. It’s time to get this bill swiftly to the President’s desk for his signature.”
SBA List’s National Campaign Chair Jill Stanek, a former nurse who witnessed late-term babies born alive during abortion procedures and left to die, added, “In abortion facilities around the country, children born alive have been denied medical care and left to die – cold, alone, abandoned and discarded like medical waste. Pleading ignorance is not an option especially in the wake of efforts in New York and Virginia to legalize infanticide. Everyone should be able to agree on equal protection under the law for these children.”
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act builds on the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, which clarified as a matter of federal law that “every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development” is a “person” for all federal law purposes. The 2002 law made explicit that this status applies irrespective of the manner in which the child was born alive, including via an attempted induced abortion. It was passed by unanimous consent in the Senate.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is designed to further clarify the duty of care owed to infants born alive during an attempted abortion. If born alive as a result of an abortion or attempted abortion, the child must be administered reasonable care and transported immediately to a hospital. Failure to provide this standard of reasonable care would lead to criminal prosecution of the abortionist, not the mother. In addition, the mother has a civil remedy of action against the abortionist should he fail to comply with the law.
President Trump has spoken out against the extreme pro-abortion bill put forward by Virginia Delegate Kathy Tran (D-42) and supported by Governor Ralph Northam. The bill in question, H.B. 2491, would permit abortion through the moment of birth, even when the mother shows signs of being in labor.
SBA List is a network of more than 700,000 pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.
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