‘Chilling’: Senate Democrats Defeat Measure Protecting Babies Who Survive Abortion

Senate Democrats on Thursday defeated an amendment that would have allowed for criminal and civil penalties for doctors who fail to provide health care for a baby who survives an abortion.

Needing 60 votes to be placed in the budget resolution, the amendment by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) received 52 votes. A total of 48 senators – all Democrats – opposed the amendment.

The amendment would have required that doctors give a baby who survives an abortion the same health care as any other baby that age. Specifically, the amendment would have allowed for the “creation of criminal and civil penalties” for “providers who fail to exercise the same degree of care for babies who survive an abortion or attempted abortion as would be provided to another child born at the same gestational age.”