Democrats and Infanticide
JAVON PRICE: On February 25th, our nation suffered a moral calamity with the failure to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, better known as the Born Alive Bill. Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) reintroduced his bill on the Senate floor—mainly in response to atrocious comments made by the vacuous governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam—with a simple premise: “to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.” The vote count elucidates the blatant hypocrisy of Democrats, as every single Republican senator—along three Democratic senators who were strong enough to rebuke their party in the name of common sense and morality—voted to protect the helpless from infanticide. The hypocrisy and moral emptiness of the Democratic senators who decried about “government intervention in the private lives of citizens” was on full display.
In order to understand why the failure of this bill is so impactful, there are a few key points that must be understood. Fundamentally, the bill legally guarantees the following: “the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.” Some may suggest that the bill includes some cryptic language the encroaches upon Roe v. Wade; however, I would implore you to read the bill itself. There is nothing in this piece of legislation that any American should consider deceitful or immoral. I am not alone in believing this either, as the Democratic senators who voted no essentially agree with my assessment. However, in Democrats’ minds, this bill’s attempt to codify the guaranteed safety and survival of newborn children is an example of gross federal overreach.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer declared that “the bill is solely meant to intimidate doctors and restrict patients’ access to care and has nothing, nothing, nothing to do with protecting children.” Senator Tammy Duckworth proclaimed that the proposed legislation was nothing more than a “political stunt.” Senator Patty Murray affirmed that the bill was “anti-doctor, anti-woman and anti-family.” Yet, if you read the language of this bill, you realize that these claims are bogus and unsubstantiated.
Allow me to address the idea that this bill is solely a “political stunt.” New York recently controversially passed a late-term abortion bill, and Virginia Governor Ralph Northam presented a rather egregious and still unclarified stance on late-term abortions only one month ago. In light of these actions, the Born Alive Bill serves as both a symbolic gesture and legally binding push towards the protection of the most vulnerable. Democrats may be uncomfortable openly discussing this issue, but that does not legitimize their rebuttal that the bill is a “stunt.”
Most importantly, suggesting that this bill is an example of government overreach meant to “intimidate” and “restrict” is absurd. Democrats have lunged even further to the left and are openly embracing socialism with proposed legislation on subjects such as the Green New Deal, universal basic income, and the expansion of Medicaid. All these programs would inherently extend the power of the federal government in our lives. Yet, Republicans, who seek to defend the rights and lives of newborn children, are somehow encroaching on the rights of others.
As Senator Tim Scott eloquently point it, “there is no side on this topic...This is common sense. This is human decency. This is not an issue of being pro-life, or pro-choice, this is being pro-child, which we all should be.”