Senate Democrats Unanimously Defeat Anti-Infanticide Bill — Would Require Doctors to Save Babies Born Alive During Abortion Procedures

 

Senate Democrats have blocked a bill requiring doctors to try and save children who are born alive during an attempted abortion procedure.

Republicans sought cloture on Wednesday for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a bill that would have mandated medical practitioners to provide the “same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence” for a child born alive during an attempted abortion as they would for any normal pregnancy.

Those who fail or refuse to do so would be liable for an unlimited fine or up to five years in prison.

However, Democrats refused to support the bill, meaning Republicans were unable to get their 60-vote majority required for cloture.

The bill, which already passed through the House of Representatives in 2023, lost by a margin of 52 to 47.

BREAKING:

Every single Democrat Senator has voted against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

The act would ensure essential medical care for babies that survive abortion attempts.

Absolutely ghoulish.

— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) January 22, 2025

Senator Bill Hagerty did not vote due to a personal circumstance, but said he would have voted in favor of the legislation.

“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,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is straightforward. It says a child born after surviving an abortion should receive life-saving medical care. It’s not an abstract concept—it’s a living, breathing child. This bill should be passed. pic.twitter.com/5kqanFotko

— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) January 22, 2025

“They will vote against protection for a living, breathing newborn baby simply because that child has been born alive after an attempted abortion.”

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described the bill as being 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’s already illegal,” Schumer said.

”So much of the hard right’s anti-choice agenda is pushed, frankly, by people who have little or no understanding of what women go through when they are pregnant.”

However, Republicans can take at least one positive away from the bill’s failure.

They now have it on the record that Democrats not only refuse to protect the life of the unborn, but also the lives of the born.