The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 220-210; Democrats were the only “no” votes.
Shortly after the House of Representatives passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which requires doctors to care for babies born alive after a failed abortion, senior Democratic lawmakers took to Twitter to criticize Republicans who supported the “extreme” bill, Fox News reports.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), and Vice President Kamala Harris were among those who responded.
“Instead of joining Democrats in condemning all political violence, Republicans today chose to push their extreme anti-choice agenda,” Pelosi tweeted Wednesday.
She added, “Democrats believe everyone deserves the freedom to access reproductive health services–without fear of violence, intimidation or harassment.” It doesn’t matter that in the cases the bill refers to, the woman has already “accessed reproductive health services”–i.e. she has had an abortion, but the baby did not die in the process. How can the baby, who survived an abortion, “intimidate” or “harass” the mother?
Pelosi, who withdrew from the Democratic leadership after Republicans regained the majority in the 2022 midterm elections, repeated her remarks in a second tweet.
“Democrats will always defend reproductive freedoms against extreme Republicans who do not respect a woman’s right to choose the size and timing of her family,” she said. And, “These are serious, personal decisions to be made by women who are guided by their faith, their doctor and their family–not by politicians.” Again, in the cases the bill refers to, the baby has survived the abortion, it is outside of the mother’s body so the argument of “her body, her choice” no longer stands, and it is a living, breathing human being that needs and deserves medical care, and not to be left unattended in a room until it starves to death.