By MARK MAYNARD, Kentucky Today
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed his extreme disappointment in Senate Democrats failure to vote for the Born-Alive Abortion Babies Protection Act.
It failed by a 53-44 vote -seven votes shy of the 60 needed for passage - on Monday afternoon in the Senate.
Three Democrats joined Republicans to support the bill -- Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Doug Jones or Alabama. Three Republicans did not vote, apparently because of scheduling issues and plane flight delays -- including Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Tim Scott of South Carolina.
If passed, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, would have amended the federal criminal code to require any health care practitioner who is present when a child is born alive following an attempted abortion to exercise the same degree of care as is reasonably provided to any other child born alive at the same gestational age and ensure that such a child is immediately admitted to a hospital.
McConnell was dismayed over the vote, calling it a “sorry display.”
“Today, 94 percent of Senate Democrats could not even vote to protect babies after they’re born,” he said. “And the only explanations they could offer were bizarre euphemisms and vague references to issues that have no bearing once a child has already been born alive. So it was a sorry display. But I can say this - this fight is not over.
“Republicans will not let this stunning extremism from our Democratic colleagues be the last word on this subject.”
The bill, which exempted the mother involved in the birth from prosecution, also would have required practitioners to "ensure that the child born alive is immediately transported and admitted to a hospital." It prescribed a possible term of imprisonment of up to five years for violations, not including penalties for first-degree murder that could have applied.
President Trump tweeted late Monday that "This will be remembered as one of the most shocking votes in the history of Congress."
"Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children," Trump tweeted. "The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they don’t mind executing babies AFTER birth."
Opponents of the bill argued that it represented an unjustified attack on abortion rights, preventing doctors from exercising their best medical judgment and exposing them to possible lawsuits or prosecution.</span>
“We must call out today’s vote for what it is: a direct attack on women’s health and rights,” Leana Wen, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. “This legislation is based on lies and a misinformation campaign, aimed at shaming women and criminalizing doctors for a practice that doesn’t exist in medicine or reality.”
McConnell said the legislation was silent on the abortion issue.
“All it would have done was affirm the rights of these newborn babies,” he said. “But apparently, even that was a bridge too far. Not just for the far-left fringe — not anymore — but now, a bridge too far for the vast majority of our Democratic colleagues right here in the Senate.”
Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, urging U.S. Senators to vote for the bill earlier Monday.
“The fact that this bill is even necessary is chilling to consider,” said Moore. “That somehow there would even be a question among elected officials whether it should be legal to leave a crying child to die on the table is shameful. Protecting the lives of living babies must not be a partisan issue. Children have intrinsic value that is defined not by their power, nor by the whim of doctors, but by the image of God each one of them bears.”
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