Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., this week reintroduced his Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a move that comes just days before the official start of the 37th annual March for Life.
“Everybody loves babies, and that love has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with just having a heart,” the Republican senator said in a statement.
It added, “This legislation is an opportunity for Congress to find consensus built on common sense, compassion, science, and a simple fact: every baby deserves a fighting chance at life. Providing care for newborns is more important than partisan political divides. Every baby has dignity – every baby deserves protection and love.”
Current federal law does not provide adequate protections for children who survive the abortion process, the senator argues.
The legislation that Sasse has reintroduced “requires that, when an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, health care practitioners must exercise the same degree of professional skill and care to protect the newborn as would be offered to any other child born alive at the same gestational age,” according to a statement provided by his office. “It also requires that the living child, after appropriate care has been given, be immediately transported and admitted to a hospital.”
Though the bill, which was originally introduced in 2017, provides for penalties for abortionists who knowingly fail to comply with the proposed legislation, it is careful to exempt mothers from prosecution.
“A woman who undergoes an abortion or attempted abortion may file a civil action for damages against an individual who violates this bill,” the bill reads. It also says that any “health care practitioner or other employee who has knowledge of a failure to comply with these requirements must immediately report such failure to an appropriate law enforcement agency” and, “An individual who violates the provisions of this bill is subject to a criminal fine, up to five years in prison, or both.”
Lastly, the bill states that an “individual who commits an overt act that kills a child born alive is subject to criminal prosecution for murder.”
When the bill was first introduced in 2017, it had 38 co-sponsors, including Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. One difference now is that some of the original co-sponsors are no longer in the Senate, including former Sens. Thad Cochran and Luther Strange. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is that there still isn’t a single Democratic lawmaker attached to the bill.
On Jan. 15, as the partial government shutdown continued apace, Sasse introduced S. 130, which seeks to “amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.”
As in 2017, the legislation has again been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
