Fact-Check: JD Vance’s Debate Claims on Botched Abortions, Catholic Nuns Are Correct

CLAIM: JD Vance claimed Walz signed a bill removing a requirement for doctors to provide life-saving care to babies who survive botched abortions. He also claimed that Kamala Harris supports suing Catholic nuns to violate their freedom of conscience.

VERDICT: TRUE. Walz signed a bill in 2023 that stripped the state’s requirement to “preserve the life and health” of an infant born alive in botched abortions and replaced it with a broader requirement for “care.”

Harris also supports the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would repeal protections for Catholic workers, and others, who reject participating in abortions for religious and conscience reasons.

Babies Born Alive

During the debate, Vance confronted Walz about the law and said:

You’re free to disagree with me on this and explain this to me, but as I read the Minnesota…statute that you signed into law, it says that a doctor who presides over an abortion where the baby survives, the doctor is under no obligation to provide life-saving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion. That is fundamentally barbaric. 

Walz denied Vance’s accusation, claiming: “It’s not the case. It’s not true. That’s not what the law says.”

However, in May of 2023, Walz signed SF 2995, which repealed a state statute requiring medical personnel to “preserve the life and health” of an infant born alive as the result of an abortion, and replaced it to say that they must provide “care.” The Minnesota House specifically states on its website that the the state’s “born alive” infant provision was modified to “clarify an infant who is born alive will require care consistent with good medical practice, not necessarily life-preserving efforts.” 

SF2995 also repealed a 2015 law that required the state to report whether abortions resulted in the live birth of a baby, what actions were taken to preserve the life of that baby, and whether the baby survived.

Before Walz signed away requiring life-saving care for infants born alive in abortions and stopped requiring the state to report such incidences, the Minnesota Department of Health reported at least eight cases of babies being born alive in botched abortions since 2019, when Walz officially became governor. The Daily Signal first reported on these eight cases, bringing national attention to the issue. 

Between Jan. 1, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2021, physicians performed five abortions that resulted in a baby’s live birth, the state report reads.

No measures were taken to preserve the life of an infant who had fetal anomalies, which resulted in “death shortly after delivery,” the report states. In two cases, “comfort care measures were provided as planned and the infant did not survive.” In two more cases, the babies were “previable.” No measures were taken to preserve their lives and the infants did not survive, the report continues. 

Between Jan. 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2019, the state reported three abortions that resulted in born-alive babies who ended up dying.

In one case, fetal anomalies were reported and the baby’s heart beat for two minutes before care of the baby was transferred to another doctor. Ultimately, no measures were taken to preserve the child’s life and the child did not survive, the report states. In another instance, “comfort care measures were provided as planned and the infant did not survive.” In the third case, the baby was previable. No measures were taken to preserve the baby’s life and the infant did not survive, the report details.

The state did not report any infants born alive in botched abortions in 2020 or 2022.

Before Walz repealed life-saving requirements and stopped requiring the state to report infants born alive in abortions, he made Minnesota the first in the nation to codify abortion via legislative action after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Minnesota is now one of nine states, including Washington, DC, that has no restrictions on abortion, meaning abortion would technically be legal in the final month of pregnancy.

Catholic Nuns Claim 

During the debate, Vance also asked Walz:

Do you want to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions against their will? Because Kamala Harris has supported suing Catholic nuns to violate their freedom of conscience. We can be a big and diverse country where we respect people’s freedom of conscience and make the country more pro-baby and pro-family.

Harris does appear to support suing nuns and other religious people who are against facilitating abortions because she supports the Women’s Health Protection Act. 

Harris has said that she would approve federal legislation restoring Roe v. Wade, which, as of right now, would be achieved through the 2023 version of the Women’s Health Protection Act. The legislation would undo state pro-life laws and allow abortion throughout pregnancy across the United States. 

The bill specifically carves out protections from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which prohibits the government from “substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion.” The legislation also contains a private right of action to sue.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops sounded the alarm about the carve-out in 2022 in a letter to lawmakers.

“Contrary to recent claims, WHPA plainly seeks to force religious health care professionals and religious hospitals to perform abortions against their beliefs,” the letter reads. “If it did not, there would be no reason for WHPA to specifically state that it overrides the longstanding, bipartisan Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) – something no bill passed by Congress has ever done.”