"Heartbeat" or "Born Alive"—Which Pro-Life Bill Will be Voted on during This Year's March for Life?

Claire Chretien : Jan 15, 2018
LifeSiteNews.com

"It's time for us to be bold and confident and strong. We're a pro-life nation now," -Rep. Steve King

(Washington, DC)—[LifeSiteNews.com] Pro-life groups and members of Congress are divided over whether on the day of the March for Life, the U.S. House should vote on a bill that would ban nearly all abortions, or instead a bill to ban infanticide after botched abortions. (Photo: Balloons outside the Capitol/Claire Chretien/LifeSiteNews)

The Heartbeat Protection Act would make it illegal to abort babies whose heartbeats can be detected.

"It's the most protective incremental bill in existence," said one of its organizers, Janet Porter of Faith2Action.

The U.S. House is slated to vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would expand Bush-era anti-infanticide protections for babies born alive during botched abortions, on January 19 as hundreds of thousands of pro-life activists march through DC.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act has 87 cosponsors. The Heartbeat Protection Act has 169 cosponsors.

Fetal heartbeats begin at 21 days and can usually be measured around six weeks into pregnancy.

Under the Heartbeat Bill, babies with detectable heartbeats who are conceived in rape cannot be aborted. (Image: Preborn baby/via PhotoScience)

The pro-lifers behind the Heartbeat Bill argue that their bill should be voted on during the March for Life.

One Democrat, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-MN, is a cosponsor of the Heartbeat Bill.

Since the original Born-Alive Bill became law in 2002, undercover investigations have revealed abortionists let babies "expire" or don't give them life-saving care if they survive a late-term abortion.

Jill Stanek is a nurse who witnessed late-term babies born alive during abortion procedures and left to die. She now works as the Susan B. Anthony List's National Campaign Chair.

"Horrific crimes are taking place in abortion facilities around the country. Children born alive are denied medical care and left to die—cold, alone, abandoned and discarded like medical waste," she said. "From Kermit Gosnell's 'house of horrors,' to a DC abortionist admitting he would not intervene to save the baby, to a former Planned Parenthood medical director stating that the main consideration when determining whether to provide lifesaving care is who's watching, pleading ignorance is not an option. This is infanticide, plain and simple. Everyone should be able to agree on equal protection under the law for these children."

"We thank Leader McCarthy for bringing this bill to a vote," said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. "It makes an excellent companion to the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which passed last October and would end the cruel late-term abortions that are so likely to produce born-alive survivors. The House has been a dynamo generating pro-life legislation over the past year and momentum is clearly building. Senate colleagues must do their part and hold a vote."

Although SBA has been championing the Born-Alive and Pain-Capable Bills, "we support the Heartbeat legislation" its communications director Mallory Quigley told LifeSiteNews...

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