For Shame! Senate Democrats Block Passage of Bill to Stop Killing of Born-Alive Babies

Calvin Freiburger : Feb 26, 2019
LifeSiteNews.com

This action "will be remembered as one of the most shocking votes in the history of Congress." -President Donald J. Trump

(Washington, DC)—[Lifesitenews.com] The United States Senate voted 53-44 Monday evening in favor of legislation to guarantee medical care to babies who survive botched abortions, but failed to reach the 60 votes necessary for the bill to overcome the current filibuster rules and pass. (Photo: via Free Images)

Originally introduced in 2015 and proposed in the current session in response to comments by Virginia Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam defending the prospect of letting a disabled or "non-viable" infant die after a failed abortion attempt, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would require abortionists to provide medical care for such babies. Under the 2002 Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, babies who survive abortions are recognized as human beings with human rights, but how specifically to handle them isn't defined.

"Public officials, at all levels and in every party, should be able to condemn infanticide and come to the defense of the weakest members of our society," Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), who re-introduced the bill's Senate version, wrote Monday in a Fox News op-ed. "Recognizing the equality of every person shouldn't be a cheap campaign line. It is a core American promise. My colleagues know this. They have attested to it eloquently and powerfully in recent weeks. Now is the time to make good on those promises."

The final vote fell largely along party lines, though Democrat Sens. Doug Jones, Bob Casey, and Joe Manchin broke ranks to support it. One of the Senate's two pro-abortion Republicans, Susan Collins, also supported the bill, while the other, Lisa Murkowski, didn't vote. Sens. Kevin Cramer, R-ND, and Tim Scott, R-SC, also didn't vote.

Even though the vote more than cleared the Senate's Republican majority, GOP-backed Senate filibuster rules require most standalone legislation to first pass a 60-vote cloture threshold before a final simple-majority vote. It would have been possible, albeit time-consuming, to circumvent the filibuster by forcing the minority party to engage in a literal filibuster and enforce the "two-speech rule" limiting the number of times individual Democrats can speak. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has long been unwilling to repeal the filibuster, with little discussion among the GOP or pro-life groups of modifying or maneuvering around it... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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