Born Alive Bill
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is a bill that states that doctors need to offer medical attention to any fetus that survives an abortion. If the doctors fail to comply, they will face fines and prison time.
Although on the surface it may seem like a step of “good faith” from the Republican Party to enhance health care for infants and mothers, on a deeper level, the “Born Alive” bill shows where Republicans stand on the topic of abortion. The central premise of the bill was taken from a long string of cases in the 1970s where a doctor was facing manslaughter charges on account of refusing to give a fetus, born alive after an abortion, medical attention. Medical practices today rarely ever lead to a fetus being born alive after the procedure. Furthermore, in a fact-checking article from Planned Parenthood, Senior Vice President Jacqueline Ayers states: “This bill is deliberately misleading and offensive to pregnant people and the doctors and nurses who provide their care. [...] Let’s be clear: Doctors are already required to provide appropriate medical care by law. This is not how medical care works. It’s wrong, irresponsible, and dangerous to suggest otherwise.” However, Wagner tried to promote a false idea that living fetuses are being denied medical care after abortion procedures as a scare tactic, in order to help the Republican argument that abortions kill innocent lives.
With their newfound power in the House, Republicans are trying to win over Americans by stigmatizing abortion and going against popular opinion. According to the Pew Research Center, 61% of American adults believe that abortion should be legal in some or all cases. Passing this bill in spite of the fact that it does not represent the beliefs of their constituents shows the extent that Republicans go to to restrict access to safe, legal abortions without actually trying to protect vulnerable populations. The bill passed in the Republican-majority house (220-210) and all 210 No’s came from Democrats. Democrat House Members recognize that this bill is Republicans’ way to ignore the majority of Americans’ cry for freedom to choose.
With this bill passed, very few things will change. As stated before, the practices of abortion that formerly led to live birth have been left behind due to the advancement of medical technology since the 70s. The whole bill was a Republican power trip, and they were trying to show after the humiliating 15 rounds of voting for a speaker that a Republican House can indeed take action and pass legislation. As this Born Alive Bill has shown, the Republican House can approve laws but not effective ones.
Sources:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/01/born-alive-abortion-house-republicans.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/politics/house-abortion-bill/index.htmlm
