Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke on the Senate floor Monday in support of Sen. Ben Sasse’s (R-NE) bill that would protect infants born alive after an abortion attempt.
Sasse is expediting consideration of his “Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” and will call for a vote Monday evening for the bill to pass under unanimous consent.
“It ought to be the very definition of something that receives unanimous consent in this body,” McConnell said of the measure which he is cosponsoring.
“It would ensure that all baby girls and boys who are born alive, all of them, have their right to life respected and receive the medical care that they need,” he explained. “It builds on the Born Alive Infant Protection Act of 2002 which did indeed pass this body by unanimous consent and creates enforcement mechanisms if abortion providers fail to give these newborn babies the medical attention and care they so obviously deserve.”
McConnell went on to decry the left’s extreme abortion push, including Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s comments suggesting that an infant born alive could be left to die.
“It is harrowing that this legislation is even necessary,” McConnell said. “It is even more disturbing that when a Democratic governor was unable to simply state that of course these newborn babies have human rights that must be respected.”
.@Senatemajldr on #abortion: "It was even more disturbing when last week a Democrat governor was unable to clearly and simply state that of course – of course – these newborn babies have human rights that must be respected." pic.twitter.com/gCagu51oIB
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 4, 2019
He concluded by wondering why there would be any reason Democrats would oppose the measure, emphasizing that such a move would be “disturbing.”
“I hope that none of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle invent any reason to block this request later today,” he said. “That would make quite a disturbing statement. If they do inexplicably block Sen. Sasse’s effort, I can assure them this will not be the last time we try to ensure that all newborns are afforded this fundamental legal protection.
Gov. Northam commented on late term abortion on WTOP Wednesday when asked about a bill that would permit abortion up until birth.
“It’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that’s nonviable,” Northam said of third trimester abortions. “So in this particular example, if a mother’s 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 desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
Since these controversial remarks, Northam has also come under fire for a medical school yearbook photo featuring someone dressed in blackface and another person in a Ku Klux Kan hood. He has refused to resign despite many high profile calls for him to do so.
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