Senate Democrats Block GOP Efforts to Criminalize Some Abortion Providers

Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a Republican-drafted bill that could subject some doctors performing abortions to criminal penalties, thwarting the GOP’s first attempt to restrict reproductive rights since the party won its trio of votes. government.

Facing unanimous opposition from Democrats, the measure was blocked in the Senate by a vote of 52 to 47, short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster and move toward a final vote.

Its review, timed to coincide with the 52nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the same week as the annual March for Life in Washington, was part of an ongoing Republican effort to appeal to his conservative, anti-abortion rights base.

The bill would require that infants born alive after an attempted abortion be afforded the same protection under the law and the same degree of care as any newborn, and would threaten medical providers with a penalty of up to up 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.

The House passed the same bill last year and is expected to consider it again later this week.

Conservative groups have continued to make opposition to abortion rights a litmus test, even as outright abortion bans have alienated voters across the country over several election cycles. Republicans have regularly brought up what they call the “Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” when they control Congress, portraying it as something that should not be up for debate.