WASHINGTON – Democrats in the U.S. Senate blocked a bill Wednesday that would impose penalties on medical professionals who failed to provide medical care to infants born after an attempted abortion and a fatal fetal diagnosis.
Republicans said the issue should lend itself to common ground between the two political parties, citing a “loophole” in federal law that could potentially allow health care providers to let an infant die rather than provide medical intervention.
The 52-47 procedural vote needed the support of at least 60 senators to push through the chamber’s legislative filibuster rules, but no Democrats voted to advance the bill to final passage. Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Hagerty did not cast a vote.
The vote marked the first time this year that Republicans, who now control both the House and Senate, brought an abortion bill up for debate. The vote came on the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision, which established a constitutional right to abortion in 1973 but was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022.
Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford, who sponsored this eight-page invoicesaid the debate over the legislation was “not just an academic matter” but one with real-world implications.
“It rarely happens, but the question is: what do we do in such situations? How do we track this? “How do we get involved in this?” he said.
When an abortion results in a living child, Lankford says, “the current practice is that everyone backs down and allows the child to die on the table by exposure, because it’s against American law in every single state to give birth to a child.” to take one’s life.” But if everyone just stands back and watches the child die, that’s fine.”
Lankford cited the story of Melissa Ohden, a woman he says lived after an abortion attempt because a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit noticed her crying and inhaling a pile of medical waste before taking her in for medical care brought to the emergency room. Ohden is the founder and CEO of the Abortion Survivors Network.
“Years later, she learned that her adoptive mother had adopted her because her birth mother literally didn’t know she still existed. Her birth mother was never told that the abortion, quote, didn’t work,” he said.
“Killing a baby is illegal in every state.”
Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said during a speech Tuesday that the bill was a “sham” and a “disgrace” before noting that “killing a baby is illegal in every single state.”
“In fact, we passed a law in 2002 that made this clear. I would know because I was here. “It passed unanimously,” Murray said. “Doctors already have a legal obligation to provide appropriate medical care to every infant born in this country.”
The legislation, she said, would have “created a new government mandate that would override the best judgment of grieving families who find out their fetus has a fatal condition.”
“And it would create new, medically unnecessary barriers for doctors and patients at a time when doctors’ hands are already tied when it comes to providing basic reproductive health care,” Murray said.
New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said during a news conference Wednesday before the vote that she was not concerned about Republicans taking advantage of the dissenting vote Endangered incumbents are up for re-election in 2026.
“I have now run in seven statewide races in New Hampshire and in every single one of those races I have been attacked by Republicans for my support of women being able to make their own decisions,” Shaheen said.
“It’s not a decision that I should make as a senator, that the court should make, that the men in the Senate should make,” she added. “It is a decision for women and their families. And for those who don’t understand, you are on the wrong side of morality in this regard.”
Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff and Michigan Senator Gary Peters are the two most vulnerable Democrats up for election in 2026. Both represent states that President Donald Trump won in the November presidential election.
Details of Senate legislation
Lankford’s bill would have required medical providers to “protect the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and diligent physician would provide to any other child born alive of the same gestational age.”
The bill adds that anyone who “intentionally commits or attempts to commit an overt act that kills a child” should be charged with “intentional homicide or attempted homicide of a human being.”
It is already illegal to kill children or adults under both federal and state law.
The House of Representatives should vote on it its own version of the bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri and co-sponsored by 130 Republican lawmakerslater this week. But without the support of Senate Democrats, the bill will not reach Trump’s desk.
Wagner’s House bill appeared to be very similar to the Senate’s version, although the two were not marked as “related bills” in the Congressional database on Wednesday.
The house passed a version of the bill two years ago predominantly following a party line 220-210 voteswith one Democrat voting for the measure and one voting “present.”
The bill did not come to a vote in the Senate, which was controlled by Democrats at the time.
Congress approved one of the same name Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002more than two decades ago, with broad bipartisan support.
Groups weigh in
Dr. Stella M. Dantas, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, wrote in a statement sent to States Newsroom that “the offensively named legislation does not reflect the reality of abortion later in pregnancy, harms families who receive devastating diagnoses, and “It limits their ability to choose the path of medical care that is right for them.”
“This legislation is not based on evidence,” Dantas wrote. “The impact is crushing on families seeking access to reproductive care in devastating circumstances and limits the way physicians can provide care.”
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists writes about a website about the differences between abortion and perinatal palliative care, that “the idea that abortions are performed after the delivery of a fetus is misinformation and that “no such procedure exists.”
Perinatal palliative care, according to ACOG, “includes a coordinated care strategy focused on maximizing the quality of life and comfort for newborns who experience life-limiting conditions in early infancy.”
“In perinatal palliative care, the main goal of obstetricians and gynecologists is to relieve the suffering of the newborn and respect the values of the patients involved – namely the parents of the newborn,” the website says. “Ultimately, parents decide, in consultation with their doctor, which course of perinatal palliative care they will pursue.”
Eighteen medical organizations – including ACOG, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the American Academy of Nursing and the American Academy of Pediatrics – sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday, urging lawmakers not to pass the bill.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, released a written statement saying that the 2024 election showed that Americans “have unequivocally rejected the extreme pro-abortion agenda.”
“We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the baby fighting for its life, whether in the hospital or in an abortion center, whether the little one is considered ‘wanted’ or not,” Dannenfelser wrote. “These children should not be thrown away like trash. With a new administration in Washington and new majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives, there has never been a better or more urgent time to protect the lives of every newborn equally.”
A SBA website On the legislation, it notes that while the 2002 law was “a step in the right direction,” it did not provide for “enforcement mechanisms.”
“Federal laws and 31 states do not adequately protect the lives of babies born alive after botched abortions (state and federal laws are not necessarily redundant either),” the website says.
Anna Bernstein, senior federal policy advisor at the Guttmacher Institute, wrote in a statement to States Newsroom that the bill “misrepresents the reality of care later in pregnancy and seeks to criminalize and intimidate health care providers, even though existing laws already provide appropriate medical care.” Ensure supply is provided.”
“By perpetuating disinformation and stigma, this bill undermines reproductive autonomy and paves the way for political interference in deeply personal and painful decisions, especially for families facing tragic situations such as fatal fetal diagnoses,” Bernstein wrote.
The Guttmacher Institute, she wrote, “strongly opposes this bill because it ignores the complexities of people’s lives, attempts to criminalize providers, and perpetuates misinformation about abortion care.”
Last updated on January 22, 2025 at 5:23 p.m
