WASHINGTON, D.C., February 4, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, blocked the unanimous passage of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act today, a bill which would have required doctors to provide medical care to babies born alive during failed abortions.
This was a unanimous consent vote, a mechanism under which the bill passes the U.S. Senate if no senator objects and individual senators’ positions are not recorded.
Murray objected to the motion, claiming there are already laws against infanticide.
“This is a gross misinterpretation of the actual language of the bill that is being asked to be considered and, therefore, I object,” said Murray.
After Murray objected to the bill, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-IA, lamented on the Senate floor that this body “can no longer unanimously condemn murder.”
“There is nothing great, there is nothing moral, or even humane about the discussion that we have before us today,” said Ernst. “Over the past week, we have witnessed the absolutely ugly truth about the far-reaching grasp of the abortion industry and its increasingly radicalized political agenda. Politicians have not only defended aborting a child while a woman is in labor, but have gone so far as to support the termination of a child after his or her birth. A child. A baby. Rationality, decency, and basic human compassion have fallen by the wayside.”
Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY, called the Act “legislation that ought to be the very definition of something that receives unanimous consent in this body.”
“It’s harrowing that this legislation is even necessary,” said McConnell. “It was even more disturbing when last week, a Democrat Governor was unable to simply state that of course – of course – these newborn babies have human rights that must be respected.”
It’s now up to McConnell to decide whether to force a roll call vote on the anti-infanticide bill at a later date.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-NE, brought the measure to the floor after “morally repugnant” comments Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat and pediatric neurologist, made last week about infanticide. Sasse suggested after Murray’s objection that he will fight to force a roll call vote on the bill.
Video went viral last week from a subcommittee hearing in which Democrat Del. Kathy Tran takes questions about her bill to repeal regulations on late-term abortions. Republican Del. Todd Gilbert asked how late in the third trimester a physician could perform an abortion and whether that includes when the mother “has physical signs that she is about to give birth.”
“I don’t think we have a limit in the bill […] my bill would allow that, yes,” Tran answered.
Northam then defended Tran’s bill, saying in a radio interview: “So in this particular example, if the mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen: 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 desire, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
He later claimed he was only referring to cases such as a “nonviable pregnancy” or “severe fetal abnormalities.”
Sen. Steve Daines, R-MT, the chair of the new Senate Pro-Life Caucus, read Northam’s comments aloud on the Senate floor today.
“The word ‘evil’ comes to mind,” he said of Northam’s comments. “These comments the governor made pull back the curtain on an extreme and dangerous abortion agenda that shows callous disregard for human life. What the Virginia governor is defending and what these ghoulish abortion-up-to birth laws enable is the free reign of brutal killers like Kermit Gosnell. Babies who survive the violence of an attempted abortion must not be subject to further violence and neglect.”
[Editor’s Note: This was written by Claire Chretien and Martin M. Barillas and originally published at LifeSiteNews.]
[Editor’s Note: Title changed by P&P.]
