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Senate Republicans on Wednesday failed to invoke the shutdown of a bill that would have legislated care for “born alive” babies during abortion attempts, with the motion largely serving as Democrats to signal a no vote of a bill that was framed as anti-children.
Republicans sought to kill the “Born Alive Survivors Protection Act,” a bill that requires health care professionals to provide the “same degree of professional skill, care and diligence” to to a child “born alive” during an attempted abortion, as they would during a normal birth.
Health professionals who break the law face fines and up to five years in prison, or both. House Republicansthey passed their version of the billwhen they regained control in 2023. Democrats have routinely criticized “born alive” bills as redundant, since killing a baby born alive after an attempted abortion is already illegal.
Although Republicans won control of the Senate, their 53-47 majority does not give them enough votes for the three-fifths majority (60 votes) needed for closure.
Wednesday’s shutdown motion failed on a 52-47 vote.
The bill is timed to coincide with Friday’s “March for Life,” which will bring together anti-abortion activists from around the country and their allies in Washington. Wednesday also marks the 52nd anniversary of Roe v Wade, which was overturned in 2022.
“We should all be able to agree that a baby born alive after an attempted abortion should be protected, and yet I hope that later today my Democratic colleagues will vote against this legislation.” , said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (SD).
“They will vote against protecting a living, breathing newborn baby simply because that child was born alive after an attempted abortion.”
A baby born alive after an abortion is extremely rare. Between 2003 and 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 143 cases of a baby being born alive after an attempted termination.
Areportof the Minnesota Department of Health found that of the 10,177 abortions performed in the state in 2017, three were reported to have resulted in a live-born baby, none of whom survived.
“The Republican bill called Born Alive is as pernicious as they come,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.).
“It attacks women’s health care using false narratives and fear-mongering and adds more legal risk for doctors to something that is already illegal. Much of the anti-choice agenda is driven by the hard right , frankly, by people who have little or no understanding of what women go through when they’re pregnant,” she added.
