Last Updated on January 24, 2025
Senate Democrats voted to block legislation that would require healthcare professionals to provide necessary medical care to any baby born alive following an attempted abortion from becoming law on Wednesday.
The bill, known as the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” was backed by Republicans, and would require hospitalization and care to preserve the lives of infants born alive if an abortion went wrong.
Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) defended his stance on the Born Alive Act on Wednesday, arguing that the legislation would impact women’s autonomy over their healthcare decisions. Despite being unable to explain how providing assistance to a newborn might impinge on women’s rights, Fetterman, a vocal supporter of abortion rights, remained steadfast in his position.
Expressing his support for Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose her healthcare options, Fetterman adamantly opposed any legislation that could lead to the criminalization of abortion decisions. In a social media post, he declared his strong opposition to bills such as the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act.
The Senate witnessed a division along party lines as the vote to move forward with the Born Alive Act resulted in a 52-47 split, with Senate Republicans, Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), and Senator Angus King (I-Maine) voting in favor. Conversely, 45 Senate Democrats, including Fetterman, along with two independent senators aligned with them, opposed the bill.
The proposed legislation stipulated that healthcare providers present at the birth of a baby during an attempted abortion must offer the same level of care and skill as they would for any other newborn. This includes ensuring the child is immediately transported to a hospital for further treatment. The bill explicitly stated that the mother of the baby would not face prosecution for the circumstances surrounding the birth.
Open discussion of infanticide went viral in 2019 when blackface/Klanhood governor of Virginia Ralph Northam took to the radiowaves to discuss killing a baby after it was born.
VA gov on abortion this morning:
“If a mother is in labor…the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians & mother” pic.twitter.com/cc15pVLjIQ
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) January 30, 2019
Without this bill any baby born alive following a botched abortion would essentially be left alone to die; likely on a cold medical tray. With no care afforded to the child, the infant would succumb to any trauma caused by the attempted abortion and suffer before gasping its final breath. The amount of time it would take for the child to slowly pass away could arguably vary between minutes, hours, or days. This, Fetterman and Senate democrats claim, is necessary to uphold women’s reproductive rights.
Lila Rose, president of the pro-life group Live Action, sharply criticized the vote, accusing Democrats of supporting what she called “pure evil.” “You just voted against medical care for a crying infant, begging for help, struggling to survive after a failed abortion,” Rose wrote on social media. “You have believed the leftist lie that killing babies—in this case, a born baby struggling for his life—is ever acceptable.”
Pro-life advocates, including Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, and Katie Glenn Daniel, director of legal affairs at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, also responded with scathing remarks. Hawkins posted a tweet pairing Fetterman’s name with the word “Infanticide,” while Daniel directly addressed Fetterman’s post, pointing out the contradiction in his stance. “My dude, it’s literally called the Born-ALIVE Abortion SURVIVORS Protection Act. A baby is born, breathing and squirming, and you voted to deny her the life-sustaining healthcare that she would be owed if she was born under any other circumstance,” Daniel wrote.
It has been said that the clearest revelation of a society’s soul is the way it treats its little ones. Senate democrats would do well to do some soul searching.
