House GOP hopes to pass anti-abortion bill as one of their first acts in the majority

House Republicans plan to resurrect a bill that would require doctors to provide care to infants who are born prematurely or survive an abortion — action that is already mandated by law. Politico reports that the GOP’s reintroduction of the bill, one of a number of measures championed by anti-abortion groups, is a result of pressure from those groups, even though the bill would be extremely unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate, let alone be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would impose fines and possible prison terms of up to five years on doctors who “intentionally perform” or attempt to perform “an overt act that kills a child born alive.” It also requires — in the rare event that an abortion results in a live birth — that doctors “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”

Republicans have unsuccessfully tried to pass a version of this legislation multiple times before, including in 2019, when it failed to pass in the GOP-controlled Senate. That year,Vox reported that laws already exist to protect babies “born alive,” and abortion procedures rarely lead to live births. The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2003, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush, defines being “born alive” as “the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother of that member, at any stage of development, who after such expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles.”

News website The Recount tweeted on Tuesday that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise had lied during a news conference on Tuesday morning about the supposed killing of infants after abortions, stating, “If a baby is born alive, outside the womb, in some states, they actually are allowing that baby to be killed and calling it abortion.”

In 2019, when Republicans were making the same argument, OB-GYN and writer Dr. Jen Gunter debunked the claim on her website:

Only 1.3% of abortions are performed at or after 21 weeks and most of these happen by 24 weeks. So right off the bat, 98.7% of abortions can’t possibly end in infanticide because they are performed before any chance of viability. There can never be a live birth no matter how much bad technique or malpractice is involved in the care.

 

Most states limit abortion to under 24 weeks. So it is clear there are very few places where the mythical “live birth” abortions could actually happen. Some states allow for abortions after 24 weeks when there are lethal fetal anomalies. Let’s be super clear here — lethal fetal anomalies can’t have a life.

“The live birth scenario is preposterous and, quite frankly, offensive to those patients who are living the tragedy,” Gunter wrote.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is one of three pieces of legislation on abortion that House Republicans plan to vote on in their first two weeks in the majority, Scalise said on Jan. 3. That two-week time frame has been pushed back after Republicans delayed House business for nearly a week as they quarreled over whether to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaker.

Other abortion bills House Republicans plan to vote on include a ban on the use of taxpayer funds for abortion — also mandated by a law that already exists — and a “sense of Congress” resolution that condemns “recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.” That resolution does not condemn acts of violence carried out against abortion providers, despite the numerous threats and acts of violence many have faced in recent years, according to the Department of Justice.

Republicans are prioritizing abortion as an issue despite polling showing that the GOP’s anti-abortion positions hurt the party’s candidates in the 2022 midterms. Republicans’ unpopular anti-abortion stances came to the forefront after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision affirming the constitutional right to an abortion in the United States.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.