HYDE-SMITH VOTES FOR BORN-ALIVE ABORTION SURVIVORS PROTECTION ACT
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) on Monday voted for a bill she cosponsored to strengthen an existing law by requiring health care practitioners to provide appropriate care to newborns who survive abortion procedures.
Hyde-Smith supported a motion to begin debate on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (S.311). Introduced by Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), the measure would require healthcare practitioners to provide professional skill, care, and diligence to protect a baby born alive during an abortion.
“It is a sad set of circumstances that this legislation is even needed. Any new born baby should have the right of care and protection,” Hyde-Smith said. “Babies are recognized as persons under federal law and it’s time for federal law to criminalize the denial of care to babies who survive an abortion “
The Sasse legislation is an expansion of the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, which made it a crime to injure or kill a baby born alive during an abortion. S.311 is focused on requiring the delivery of proper medical care to an infant born alive following an abortion procedure. It would also authorize criminal consequences on health care providers who violate the law.
“I’m 100 percent for this bill, which is about giving children who survive an abortion the care given to every child born through a successful pregnancy,” Hyde-Smith said. “About half the states have laws mandating physicians to provide medical care to a born alive abortion survivor. But as we’ve seen in some states, existing protections for born alive infants are at serious risk.”
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is one of several pro-life measures cosponsored by Hyde-Smith in the 116th Congress.
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