bill infants

Lawmakers Introduce Born Alive Infants Protection Act

By CAROL ZIMMERMANN
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON -- Legislation designed to give legal protection to newborns fully outside the womb, particularly those born alive through botched abortions, will be reintroduced in both the House and Senate, Congress members announced during a June 14 press conference.

The Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which passed in the House last year but was defeated in the Senate, would grant protection under federal law to a newborn described by the legislation as being ``completely expelled or extracted'' from the mother at any stage of development.

``It's incomprehensible that we have to stand here and introduce a bill like this,'' Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said during a press conference on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.

``What's even more amazing is that we have groups opposed to this,'' the Catholic senator added.

Santorum said the U.S. Supreme Court and the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both have ruled that no matter where the baby is positioned in the process of an abortion -- whether in utero or outside the womb -- the procedure is still considered a legal abortion.

Both Santorum and Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, referred to a case last year when the 3rd Circuit struck down New Jersey's ban on partial-birth abortion, saying that the child involved was not in the process of being born because ``a woman seeking an abortion is plainly not seeking to give birth.''

Chabot, who also is Catholic, said nurses testified before Congress last year about witnessing ``live-birth abortions'' or deaths of premature infants who were not given basic comfort or care.

``The confusion about the legal status of these innocent and fully delivered babies deserves our attention,'' Chabot said, adding that the legislation ``draws a bright line between the right to an abortion ... and infanticide.''

Chabot, like Santorum, recognized that the proposed legislation would not gain full support from members of Congress nor from organizations that support laws favoring abortions.

But Santorum said he would be interested to see who would oppose the legislation, saying that would be a ``test of the real agenda of that movement.''

``I'd like to see who steps forward,'' he added.

On a personal note, the senator said he knows what it is like to hold a baby that barely fits into one's hand because his own son, Gabriel Michael, was born prematurely four and a half years ago and died.

``This legislation recognizes the dignity of all of us,'' he said, noting that newborns do not ``deserve to be thrown in a trash can'' or left in a utility closet to die.

Other members of Congress present at the press conference were Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., a Methodist, and Reps. Melissa Hart, R-Pa., and Chris Smith, R-N.J., who are both Catholic.

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