Missouri Republican Rep. Ann Wagner re-introduced a bill Wednesday that would protect babies born alive after abortion from infanticide.
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) asked for unanimous consent for the House to consider the bill.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would ensure any infant born alive following an abortion receives the same medical care and protection the law gives any newborn baby.
Republican Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana – who originally co-sponsored the legislation when it was introduced previously – will bring a resolution that provides for floor consideration of Wagner’s bill. The two Republicans would force a vote in the House after 30 legislative days if no action is taken.
“Innocent life must be defended and protected at every stage, and that includes babies born alive during an abortion,” said Scalise in a statement. “We must immediately extend legal protections to these vulnerable newborns and prosecute any doctor who would leave them to die.”
Scalise added he began the process of forcing a vote on the bill “especially after horrific actions taken in New York and Virginia to permit infanticide.”
“The silence from Congressional Democrats is deafening and shameful,” Scalise continued. “Every Member of Congress, regardless of party, needs to go on record against infanticide, and we must immediately take action to stop it. The American people deserve to know where their representatives stand on this critical issue.”
Wagner said she has been “horrified” to watch the extreme position of Democrats who “argue that babies who survive abortions should not be given the same level of medical care that all other newborn babies receive.”
“To my colleagues, this is the simplest vote you will ever take: either you support babies being killed after they are born or you don’t,” she asserted. “It is time to go on the record and make clear if you think babies born alive deserve medical care, or if you think they should be left to die.”
In his State of the Union address Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump called upon Congress to pass legislation that would ban late-term abortions past the fifth month of pregnancy.
“Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life,” the president said. “And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: all children — born and unborn — are made in the holy image of God.”
Trump contrasted the “beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child” with the “chilling displays” of New York legislators after Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill that denies “personhood” to unborn babies and makes abortion on demand a fundamental right.
“Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth,” the president said. “These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world.”
Similarly, Trump observed, “[W]e had the case of the Governor of Virginia where he stated he would execute a baby after birth.”
On Monday, Senate Democrats – led by Washington Sen. Patty Murray – blocked the Born-Alive bill.
Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse introduced the legislation in that chamber (S. 130). Sasse went to the floor of the Senate to ask his colleagues to pass the bill by unanimous consent, but Democrats objected.
Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser noted that in the last Congress, “This same legislation to protect babies born alive passed easily in the House. The difference now is that Democrats are in control.”
“Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats have a chance to reject infanticide where their colleagues in the Senate recently failed,” she added. “If they refuse to support this compassionate bill, they will be further exposed as the party of infanticide and any protestations to the contrary will ring hollow.”
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