While it seemed an odd question at the time a few weeks ago, with every passing day, it becomes clearer why this is an important matter. Because current law is no longer adequate in preserving the right to medical care for any infant who survives an abortion attempt, the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Act was introduced in Congress earlier this year.
This whole concept begs a few gut-wrenching questions:
Who would ever consider NOT rendering aid to an infant who happened to live past an abortion attempt? Why would we even have to consider the need for such a national law? Why is this issue so important now and what can we do about it?
The reason the Born Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act has become such an important issue is because states like New York have already enacted (and others are considering) radical new laws regarding abortion. These new laws eliminate any existing pro-life protections in state law and would allow abortion up to the moment of birth. As unthinkable as it sounds, late-term abortions can fail and do result in live births.
Unbelievably, some, including the Governor of Virginia, have stated that the decision to provide medical care to such a survivor would be left up to the mother and her doctor. Picture it – a baby has survived an abortion attempt, is probably wounded, cold and in need of care – some would have the cold-hearted nerve to decline that needed care. Rather than being an ethically guided decision it is reduced to a matter of convenience.
The inhumane logic is that since the baby was to have died in the abortion anyway, the fact that it survived is irrelevant and unless the mother wants to help, the child can be allowed to perish.
The Born Alive Survivor Protection Act would mandate all appropriate medical care for any infant born alive after a botched abortion. It just makes sense. In rather typical fashion however, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat leadership of the US House of Representatives have blocked consideration of the Born Live Survivors Protection Act over thirty times this year.
Because the bill has been blocked from consideration, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), have implemented a seldom-used mechanism called a discharge petition to bring the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives at long last.
A Discharge Petition is really quite simple – as soon as a majority of members of the US House of Representatives (218 members) sign the petition, the matter must be brought to the floor for a vote. The discharge petition for the Born Alive bill was filed on April 2nd and currently has 199 signors meaning — it needs only 19 more to force a vote on the floor.
So where does your member stand? If you scroll down in this message, you will find a list of every single member of Congress – in front of their name is either a Red X or a Green Checkmark. The list is sorted by state so you can easily find your Representative*. If they have a Green Checkmark – they have signed the petition and are, thankfully, standing against infanticide.
If, however your member has a Red X, they have not taken a stand against infanticide and they need to hear from you. Please take a moment now to send your Representative a message – ask them to sign the discharge petition. We have made it easy through our Action Center and you can send your message in just a few seconds.
Thank you for being on top of this issue – we need your help! Please take action now!
For life,
Robert Noland
Communications Manager
* If you do not know who your Representative is, you can enter your address in our action center and find out – then come back here to see where they stand on infanticide.
