Discharge Petition Filed:
Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Members of the House to Sign

WASHINGTON —Today, Representative Kat Cammack (R-Fl.) was joined by Representative Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House Whip, and Representative Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) in filing a discharge petition to attempt to bring the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to the House floor for a vote.

House members began lining up to sign the petition Wednesday afternoon.

President Biden and his abortion allies in his administration and Congress have demonstrated that there is not even one pro-life measure they could support—even refusing to require rendering medical care to a baby born alive.

“The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is reasonable legislation that would protect a baby born alive following an abortion,” said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee. “We thank Whip Scalise, Representative Wagner and Representative Cammack for their leadership on this critical life-saving legislation.”

In the years since the passage of the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act in 2002, it has become increasingly evident that some abortion providers do not regard babies born alive as persons and do not provide them with the types of care provided to infants born spontaneously.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act requires that, when a baby is born alive following an abortion, health care practitioners must exercise the same degree of professional skill and care that would be offered to any other child born alive at the same gestational age. It also requires that, following appropriate care, health care workers must transport the living child immediately to a hospital.

Both the CDC and numbers from the Guttmacher Institute have shown the prevalence of abortion late in pregnancy, with the CDC reporting that on average 1.2% of all abortions are performed after 21 weeks gestation—over 10,000 abortions a year. Of those, the CDC estimates that between 2003 and 2014, at least 143 babies died after being born alive during abortions.

The number is likely far higher due to the fact that the CDC relies on state health departments, which vary in their thoroughness. Additionally, California, the nation's most populous state, along with Maryland and New Hampshire, have not reported any abortion figures to the CDC since 1998. Only nine states independently report cases of infants born alive.

Between 2017 and 2020, four states (Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Minnesota) reported 83 babies were born alive during attempted abortions.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has repeatedly refused to allow the legislation to go to the floor for a vote.

“There is no such thing as a ‘post-birth abortion.’ This bill isn’t about interfering with a so-called right to abortion. It is about stopping infanticide,” said Tobias. “Appallingly, pro-abortion extremists in the House and Senate are willing to let die babies who are born alive following an abortion.”

“Current federal law does not sufficiently protect a child born following an abortion, and Congress must act now to pass H.R. 619 and protect these vulnerable babies,” Jennifer Popik, J.D., director of Federal Legislation for National Right to Life.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

###