Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) announced Thursday evening that he is expediting consideration of his “Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” and calling for a vote Monday for the bill to pass under unanimous consent.
The move comes after some disturbing remarks were made by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam suggesting that doctors and parents could choose to allow an infant to die after birth.
“I’m going to ask all 100 senators to come to the floor and be against infanticide. This shouldn’t be complicated,” Sen. Sasse said in a speech on the Senate floor.
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.”
Sasse condemned Northam’s comments in his speech, pointing out that Northam was discussing the fate of an infant after birth.
“We’re talking about a little baby girl who’s been born and is on a table in a hospital or a medical facility and then a decision or a debate would be had about whether or not you could kill that little baby,” he emphasized.
“We’re talking about the most vulnerable among us, and we have a public official in America out there again and again defending a practice,” Sasse said. “This is infanticide that we’re talking about.”
Gov. Northam doubled down on his remarks Thursday, telling the press he doesn’t “have any regrets” about what he said or how he said it.
“Everyone in the Senate ought to be able to say unequivocally that killing that little baby is wrong,” Sasse said. “This doesn’t take any political courage. And, if you can’t say that, if there’s a member of this body that can’t say that, there may be lots of work you can do in the world but you shouldn’t be here. You should get the heck out of any calling in public life where you pretend to care about the most vulnerable among us.”
Sasse's bill would “prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.”
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