On February 24, the Senate will try once again to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. It is a commonsense piece of legislation that has struggled to find any sort of foothold in either Houses of Congress over the last year.

When this bill was first introduced last year in the Senate, it was in response to the comments made by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. In an ill-conceived radio interview after a radical pro-abortion bill failed in the Virginia legislature, the governor, himself a physician, blatantly discussed the practice of infanticide.

“If the mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Governor Northam said. “The infant (with severe disabilities in this instance) would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if this is what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physician and the mother.”

His comments shocked the nation, but it really shouldn’t. Sadly, this practice has likely been happening in abortion clinics across the country for years.

So, how does a baby survive an abortion procedure?

Abortions performed later in the second and third trimesters are multiday procedures, which can easily fail. Although this is a rather simplistic explanation, what happens is that the abortionist poisons the preborn baby with digitoxin, which is designed to kill the preborn in the womb. Then the abortionist inserts what are called laminaria, a medical seaweed that helps soften and dilate the cervix so that the woman can give birth to a (hopefully) dead baby. This “birth” could be in the medical office or sometimes even at home or a hotel room because the baby can come unexpectedly. According to some reports, the women occasionally give birth on the toilet, with the baby subsequently falling into the bowl. 

It is a vile procedure that is dangerous to the mother and, usually, lethal to the preborn.

When an abortion fails, most of the time the medical professionals offer what is called “comfort care,” where the doctor essentially keeps the baby “comfortable” until she or he dies. How often this happens remains unknown as no abortion clinic is required to report these numbers, which is why the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act is so needed.

Republicans members in the House are still advocating for members to sign a discharge petition which would force Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring up the Born-Alive bill for a vote. Hopefully, if this legislation passes in the Senate, it may help invigorate some House members to do the right thing and take a stand for life.

Abortion clinics are designed to take lives, not save them. Babies remain exceptionally vulnerable to being left to die without federal protections. Abortion activists may say this doesn’t happen, but they’re wrong. We need to do everything we can to save babies from abortionists who would rather let them die than offer aid.

Please contact your Senators through our Action Center and ask them to vote YES for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. These babies need your help.

Hear from survivors of abortion.