WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) praised the passage of The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 26) sponsored by Rep. Ann Wagner.
The bill passed in a vote of 220 to 210.
Democrats attempted to hijack this common-sense vote to push their agenda of abortion without limit until birth. Rep Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) offered the motion to recommit following debate over The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The motion to recommit would have amended The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to include the radical “Women’s Health Protection Act”. The motion failed by a vote of 212-219. The so-called Women’s Health Protection Act would nullify all state and federal laws designed to protect unborn children and their mothers.
“The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is reasonable legislation that would protect a baby born alive following an abortion,” said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee. “We thank House pro-life leaders Speaker McCarthy, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Rep. Kat Cammack for their leadership on this issue and Rep. Ann Wagner for sponsoring this bill.”
In the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, several states are moving not only to fully legalize abortion up to the moment of birth but also going to great lengths to insulate abortion providers from even the most basic scrutiny. Against this backdrop, there is renewed urgency to pass The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act requires that, when a baby is born alive following an abortion, health care practitioners must exercise the same degree of professional skill and care that would be offered to any other child born alive at the same gestational age. It also requires that, following appropriate care, health care workers must transport the living child immediately to a hospital.
Current federal law does not sufficiently protect a child born following an abortion.
In addition, the bill applies the existing penalties of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1111 (the federal murder statute) to anyone who performs “an overt act that kills a child born alive.” Further, the bill provides a civil cause of action to women who are harmed by violations of the act.
Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.