WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Monday killed a bill that would have protected babies who are born alive during abortions as the legislative body was unable to obtain enough votes to overcome a filibuster.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-NE, had filed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which required abortionists to obtain medical care for infants who are born alive during the procedure and to not simply allow the baby to die.
“Any health care practitioner present at the time the child is born alive shall exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child … and … ensure that the child born alive is immediately transported and admitted to a hospital,” the legislation reads in part.
Sasse was clear that the bill did nothing to end abortion, but only related to survivors of the practice.
“I urge my colleagues to picture a baby that’s already been born—that’s outside the womb gasping for air. That’s the only thing that today’s vote is actually about,” he said. “We’re talking about babies that have already been born. Nothing in this bill touches abortion access.”
“I want to ask each and every one of my colleagues whether or not we’re okay with infanticide. It is too blunt for many people in this body, but frankly, that is what we’re talking about here today,” Sasse stated. “Are we a country that protects babies that are live, born outside the womb after having survived a botched abortion?”
Democrats still opposed the measure as they asserted that it was unnecessary and addresses a non-existent problem, or that the bill had an ulterior motive to obstruct mothers from obtaining abortions.
“That is the actual intent of this bill, reducing access to safe abortion care would threaten the health of women in Hawaii,” Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, remarked, according to the National Review.
While the bill would have likely passed via a vote on the legislation itself—having 49 co-sponsors, a cloture motion to end the filibuster and allow the Act to be voted upon was unsuccessful. 60 votes were needed to end the filibuster, but the Senate fell short by 7 ayes.
44 Senators voted against cloture, including Sens. Cory Booker, D-NJ; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY; Kamala Harris, D-CA; Tim Kaine, D-VA; Elizabeth Warren, D-MA; Ron Wyden, D-OR; Dick Durbin, D-IL; Patrick Leahy, D-VT; Richard Blumenthal, D-CT and Bernie Sanders, I-VT.
The vote, in effect, thus killed the bill.
Commenting on the matter, Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, remarked that the vote “shows the bare teeth of the pro-abortion movement and the death grip it holds upon the modern Democratic Party.”
“44 United States senators voted against a bill banning infanticide. This is a chilling moment in American history,” he said.
“What happened … represents a lurch forward for the Culture of Death. Indeed, the Democratic Party has aligned itself with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America—it is beholden to the moral agenda of this pro-abortion organization bent on securing unfettered access to abortions for every woman no matter the circumstance, reason, or age of the child in the womb,” Mohler lamented.
“Christians should note this event closely and consider the ramifications gravely,” he urged. “The developments over the last few weeks and days show how far the Culture of Death advances by the hour in the United States of America. [Monday’s] vote in the Senate is just a sign of deadly developments to follow.”
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