(First Things) – There has been much righteous criticism of the forty-four Democratic senators who thwarted a bill that would have protected babies who survive abortion from death-by-neglect and infanticide.
In a nutshell, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would have required simply that all born babies—whether wanted or not—be treated equally, by requiring any healthcare practitioners present when a baby survives abortion to “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child” as they would “render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”
It would also have required abortionists to ensure that surviving babies be transported immediately to a hospital for care, and would have outlawed “an overt act” meant to kill “a child born alive,” i.e., infanticide.
That most senate Democrats—including six presidential candidates—thwarted the bill’s passage moves abortion advocacy beyond “choice” to establishing a concomitant right to a dead fetus or baby (as the case might be). The bill’s defeat also reflects a growing bigotry against the moral value of babies with disabilities, a stunning repudiation of the sanctity/equality of human life ethic. CONTINUE