House passes bill to penalize some abortion providers

The House passed legislation Thursday that could subject some doctors to criminal penalties if they perform abortions, the first attempt by Republicans to restrict reproductive rights since the party secured its trio of governments under President Trump.

The 217-204 vote fell almost entirely along party lines, except for one anti-abortion Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, who voted with Republicans in favor of the bill . Another, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, voted present.

It was the second time in two years that the Republican-led House passed the law. But the measure seemed doomed to failure in the Senate, where Democrats blocked a version on Wednesday.

The bill would require that infants born alive after an attempted abortion receive the same legal protection and degree of care as any newborn, and it threatens medical providers with a penalty of up to to five years in prison for failing to resuscitate babies born alive during an abortion.

Federal law already requires that a baby who survives an attempted abortion receive emergency medical care, and live births during an abortion are rare. But the legislation would create new penalties for medical providers involved in such procedures, which could also apply to those who treat women suffering from serious complications late in pregnancy and who find themselves in distressing situations in which their children do not have no chance of survival.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives said Thursday they have no plans to propose additional anti-abortion legislation. But they said action on the bill was an important opportunity for them to portray Democrats as radical on reproductive rights, an issue that has proven politically toxic for Republican candidates in every election cycle since the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

“It’s extreme,” Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, the fourth-ranking Republican, said in an interview. “What we’re going to do is continue to highlight how extreme the Democrats are. It’s really: “Do you believe in the murder of a child, or not?” »

While there, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Democrat of California, said that “last time I checked, infanticide is already illegal in all 50 states.” She called the bill “the first step in the Republicans’ radical agenda.”

And Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Democrat of Florida, said the bill was “another attempt to control a woman’s body, to trap the government between couples and their doctors when they face incredibly difficult decisions.”

Action on the bill took place the same week as the annual March for Life on Washington, and was part of an ongoing Republican effort to appeal to its conservative, anti-abortion rights base.