🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Last Wednesday, House Republicans passed the Born Alive Act—a piece of legislation that would require physicians to care for infants who are born alive following an attempted abortion. The bill passed the House 220-210. The overwhelming majority of House Democrats, many of whom support abortion on demand, voted against it, even though abortion itself wasn't at issue. Their extreme reaction to the bill showcased just how out of step they still are with the majority of Americans' views on protecting the most vulnerable members of society.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would require that a health care professional who is present for a failed abortion perform life-saving "professional skill, care, and diligence," including by making sure the baby winds up at a hospital. This seems like a common-sense legal requirement to fulfill the Hippocratic Oath: "First do no harm." It likely won't go anywhere in the Senate, but Republicans' support for it relays a strong message about life; Democrats' response does the opposite.
The bill sparked bizarre, even ghoulish, reactions from multiple politicians.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) apparently thought it would be wrong to tell health care professionals to bring a baby who's just survived a botched abortion to the hospital. "The problem with this bill is that it endangers some infants [born alive] by stating that that infant must immediately be brought to the hospital," he said on the House floor.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) echoed Nadler's talking point. She said the bill "requires immediately taking a struggling baby to a hospital. That hospital could be hours away and could be detrimental to the life of that baby." So, following a botched abortion, the baby should be allowed to suffer and die because a hospital may be some distance away?
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Or.) said the bill was "extremist, dangerous and unnecessary."
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said the bill was "deliberately misleading and offensive to the women who face pregnancy complications and the doctors and nurses who provide their care."
Opinion polling on abortion varies, but has consistently found that, while half of Americans identify as pro-choice, many who favor abortion also support numerous restrictions. Most Americans do not support abortion up to birth or partial-birth abortion, for example. One survey found 79 percent of adults did not support late-term abortion, and "80 percent opposed day-before-birth abortion." Thus, it's hard to imagine most Americans would reject a bill that favors saving—or trying to save—the life of a baby who survived an abortion, in states where late-term abortions are still legal. It's hardly a pro-life measure, just a humane one.
Whether Democrats can acknowledge it or not, a culture of life is taking hold in the United States. Abortions were steadily declining before Dobbs, from nearly 1.6 million in 1990 to just 620,327 in 2020. This decline cannot be credited to Democrats, who have partnered with behemoth organizations that not only market abortion as the best choice for scared women, but encourage women to brag about their abortions. Even so, the number of abortion providers has declined too. With the Dobbs decision, empowering women to have abortions, especially late-term ones, should be as unpopular as it is uncommon. Surely bashing a bill that guarantees proper medical care for babies who survive the heinous act of an abortion is even more outlandish than applauding women for their abortions.
A bill that demands such care for the most vulnerable in society is a litmus test for how willing an incoming House of Representatives is to support life. One would think Democrats would fall in line with their constituents' views and be quietly supportive, or at the very least, not so vocally opposed to the bill. But that isn't how they reacted. It's disappointing to see after all that's happened on the abortion issue, including a dramatic decline in abortions in many states since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision last June, some Democrats still don't support a culture of life, even when the babies are born alive.
Nicole Russell is a mother of four who has worked in Republican politics. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, and the Washington Examiner. She is an opinion columnist at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
