Virginia Delegate Kathy Tran (D-County of Fairfax–Part) introduced abortion legislation that would put Virginia on the map with one of the most permissive abortion policies in the nation. 

Click here to watch our executive director, Kristen Day, discuss pro-life Democrats with Governor Mike Huckabee.

“Unwanted” babies should receive the same health care as “wanted” babies

Democrats For Life of America (DFLA) urges the United States Senate to reconsider the Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act with modified language to provide counseling and information about adoption.

“It was a sad day yesterday when the party of health care for all voted against providing health care to babies who are unwanted,” said Kristen Day, the executive director of Democrats For Life of America. “It was clear that a majority of Democratic senators failed to read the bill’s actual text and relied on the factually challenged abortion lobby’s talking points. We are grateful to Senators Casey, Jones, and Manchin for upholding the values of the Democratic Party and voting yes.”

The proposed legislation would extend the right to health care to babies who survive an abortion attempt. Additionally, it would extend civil remedies to a woman who was “wronged” because the doctor delivered a living baby instead of a dead one. A majority of Democratic senators argued that the bill infringed on a woman’s right to abortion and that the abortion decision should be left between a woman and her doctor.

“Democrats were confused about the bill’s actual text, which clarified that the right to health care should not exclude an “unwanted baby” who survives an abortion attempt,” said Day. “The bill did not mention Roe v. Wade, or abortion regulation, or interfere with a woman’s right to abortion.”

Under the proposed legislation, abortion doctors would be required to “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health-care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”  

“Medical miracles happen, and babies like Melissa Ohden, Gianna Jessen, and Claire Culwell beat the odds and lived following an abortion attempt,” Day said. They were the lucky ones. Many babies born alive did not receive the same standard of care as we would provide to every other person.”

Democrats For Life of America encourages the Senate to modify the current version to provide more than civil remedies to the woman wronged by the abortion attempt. DFLA encourages Democrats to work with Senator Ben Sasse to add language to provide both counseling and adoption options for the woman so that her baby will have an opportunity to be placed within a loving home.

“We strongly urge Congress to continue to keep this issue in the light, to strengthen it and try again,” said Day. “Abortion doctors have become more proficient about executing the child in the womb, but there are cases of babies surviving. Those who say they believe in health care for all need to mean it.”

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STATEMENT OF KRISTEN DAY,

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF DEMOCRATS FOR LIFE OF AMERICA

It is time for REASON on the abortion issue: Democrats For Life of America urges the U.S. Congress to have an up or down vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act.

We recognize that a yea or nay vote is a political move by Republicans to show how extreme Democrats have become on this issue – but this time they have a point.   

With the recent New York law, and with several other states proposing to eliminate all health and safety regulation of the abortion industry, a full, open, and honest debate on whether we as a nation should protect infants who are born alive following an abortion is suddenly vitally important.

We need to look no further than the faces of the 2019 March of Dimes Walk for Babies, which include Juliana McBride, born at 25 weeks into her mom’s pregnancy and weighing one pound and 11 ounces, and brothers Luke and Jake born at 24 weeks into their mom’s pregnancy, for validation of the humanity of tiny pre-term babies. Scores of these toddlers grin at the camera from the March of Dimes website and YouTube – some born as early as 20 weeks. 

Since Roe v. Wade, science has shown us life in the womb, and our understanding of fetal development has grown exponentially. And yet, our U.S. policy allowing abortion through nine months puts us in line with only seven other developed nations, including North Korea and China.

Like those who deny climate change, those who deny the humanity of a six-month-old child in the womb have lost their reason.  We urge the United States Congress to show reason. 

While the Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Act vote is a political move to show the extremism of the position of the Democratic Party and the control that the abortion lobby has over the party, the vote is an essential first step to acknowledge the humanity of every innocent child caught in the crossfire of a political war.

We urge all members of Congress to look at the bill on its face and not through a political lens. If they do that, there is no other moral, ethical, or humane way to vote -- and that is yes.