Focus on the Family Supports New Senate Bill to Protect Babies Born Alive During an Abortion

Pro-life Senators James Lankford and John Thune introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate to protect babies born alive during an attempted abortion. Focus on the Family President Jim Daly offered his support for the measure and called the legislation “a matter of common-sense decency.”

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, S. 204, requires that healthcare workers provide medical care to infants that survive an abortion attempt.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar version of the bill, H.R. 26, also titled the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, on January 11, 2023. That measure was approved by a vote of 220 to 210 in the House.

Focus on the Family is among a coalition of pro-life organizations that lent support to the senate bill, including Family Policy Alliance, Family Research Council, Heritage Action, Americans United for Life, The National Right to Life Committee, March for Life, Susan B. Anthony Pro-life America, Students for Life Action, Faith and Freedom Coalition, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Pro-Life Activities and many others. 

In a press release, Senator Lankford said, “Protecting life should not be a partisan issue; it should be an American issue and a human rights issue.”

The bill’s language clarifies that a baby born during an abortion is a legal person under the laws of the United States and is entitled to protection. 

It also clearly states that an infant born alive after an abortion becomes a patient and has the same claim to the protection of the law as other newborns.

The measure requires “professional skill, care, and diligence” be exercised to “preserve the life and health of the child.” It also requires that the infant be immediately transported and admitted to a hospital.

President of Focus on the Family, Jim Daly, said, “The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act promises to ensure the most basic and fundamental of all human rights. No doctor should ever be allowed to turn their back on a helpless child.” 

Daly continued, “I applaud Senator Lankford, Senator Thune, and their pro-life Senate colleagues for codifying what should be a matter of common-sense decency, but which is now a basic human right that risks being held hostage by radical leftists committed to the legalization of even infanticide.”

Pro-life friends, you can help save babies who survive abortion by contacting your senators and urge them to support S. 204, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. You can either call their Senate offices directly through the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121, or you can use the Senate website directory found here. 

Thank you for being a voice for babies who survive abortion and cannot speak for themselves!

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