Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is setting the stage for the upper chamber of Congress to vote on two abortion bills: One bans late-term abortion, and the other punishes doctors who do not administer proper care to children who survive an abortion.
The first bill, proposed by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, prohibits all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy except in cases of rape, incest, and the endangerment of the life of the mother.
The second is proposed by Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, which mandates doctors “exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.”
Both bills require 60 votes in the chamber to pass a procedural hurdle, but, with Republicans only controlling 53 seats in the Senate, the future of the bill is uncertain. Democrats in the Senate shut down Sasse’s Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection bill last year in the Senate.
The president condemned abortion in his State of the Union address, calling for a ban on late-term abortions. Trump invited 2-year-old Ellie Schneider and her mother to his address, invoking the toddler’s testimony of being born at 22 weeks of gestation. He also called for Congress to devote $50 million to neonatal research.
“Whether we are Republican, Democrat, or independent, surely, we must all agree that every human life is a sacred gift from God,” the president said.
