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By Dan Cody
Digital Media Reporter
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On Wednesday, Senate Democrats blocked a bill that proponents said would ensure that newborns surviving abortions received medical care and critics said would add legal risks for doctors.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act failed with a 52-47 vote, falling short of the 60-vote threshold needed to pass.
What Did the Born-Alive Act Propose?
The legislation stipulated that health care practitioners must provide the same level of medical attention and treatment to infants born alive during or after an attempted abortion as they would to any other newborn.
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The bill said, "Any infant born alive after an abortion or within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the same claim to the protection of the law that would arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within its care."
Why Did Senate Democrats Block the Abortion Bill?
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer characterized the bill as a partisan attack on reproductive rights, medical professionals and American women.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Schumer said, "The bill we're voting on today, the Republicans' so-called Born Alive bill, is as pernicious as they come. It attacks women's health care using false narratives and outright fearmongering, and it adds more legal risk for doctors on something that is already illegal."
Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois and the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, echoed Schumer's remarks in a statement released on Wednesday.
He said: "The bill would have created a new standard of care for physicians providing reproductive health care that is not based in medicine, fact, or science. In fact, it is already law that any child born in America—regardless of the circumstances surrounding that birth—is afforded equal protections. The goal of this bill is to target and intimidate reproductive health care providers and make it harder for women to access vital health care."
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The Future of Abortion Legislation After the Block
The failure of the Born-Alive Act underscores the deep partisan divide on the issue of abortion in the United States.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune maintained that the bill should not be controversial, saying on the Senate floor, "We should all be able to agree that a baby born alive after an attempted abortion must be protected, and yet I fully expect that later today, my Democrat colleagues will vote 'no' on this legislation."
What Happens Next
The block signals the likelihood of continued legislative battles over abortion rights at both the state and federal levels.
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