Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Monday that Democrats have no reason to block a move by Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., to call up legislation requiring that babies born alive during abortions receive medical care.
Sasse plans to bring up the measure under rules that would allow any senator to block consideration. His effort comes a week after the Virginia legislature defeated a third-trimester abortion bill.
“I hope that none of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle invent any reason to block this request later today,” McConnell said. “That would make quite a disturbing statement. If they do inexplicably block Sen. Sasse’s effort, I can assure them this will not be the last time we ensure that all newborns are afforded this fundamental legal protection.”
Republican lawmakers are eager to to get Democrats on the record when it comes to late-term abortion laws.
Last last week, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, attempted to defend a third-trimester abortion bill, framing it as a decision made by a mother and her doctor in cases where a baby is born with abnormalities. Northam, in a radio interview, suggested the mother and doctor could decide not to save the baby right up until birth.
His comments provoked an outcry from Republicans and earned a floor rebuke from McConnell, who is a co-sponsor of the Sasse legislation.
“It is harrowing that this legislation is even necessary,” McConnell said. “It is even more disturbing that when a Democratic governor was unable to simply state that of course these newborn babies have human rights that must be respected.”
Northam is now facing bipartisan calls to resign after a photo surfaced showing a pair of students in blackface and a KKK uniform on his medical school yearbook page.
