Born Alive, Redux

Hearing Impaired

"Today, in a loud and chilling statement, every Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives but five voted against a measure that protects babies born alive after a failed abortion. Thankfully, Rep. Trent Franks's Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act passed the House anyway, with unanimous Republican support. The bill makes it a criminal offense for an abortionist to allow a born alive infant to die, whether by neglect or by actively killing the child.

Obviously, this should be common sense in a civilized society. This should be basic humanity. And yet even the President issued an unusually strong statement in advance of the vote, promising to veto this measure should it come to his desk. In response, Cathy McMorris Rodgers declared that it is entirely inexcusable that the President would actively work to prevent a bill that protects our youngest humans! "This," she said, "is a radical, extreme departure from what I know to be right." Rep. Virginia Foxx warned, "We are developing a callousness toward life in this country which is extraordinarily dangerous."

We heard such callousness in absurd opposing statements like that of Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) who stated that this bill "criminalizes the practice of medicine." To all decent Americans, medical practice most certainly does not include the killing of born alive infants, whether by omission or commission. Our thanks goes out to the five Democrats who broke with party ranks to guarantee protection to these children.

The House also passed Rep. Diane Black's Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015, a measure to strip funding from Cecile Richards's group for a year while congressional investigations are ongoing, with the support of only two Democrats and opposition of three Republicans.

Of course, the Left's objections to the pro-life measures before the House have nothing to do with the substance of the bills. Instead, they rehearse the same tired talking points that have no basis in reality. They refuse to admit that the bill actually reallocates funds to federally-qualified health centers around the country, which are not buried in scandal and under investigation for such horrific practices as partial birth abortion and profiting from the sale of babies' body parts."

Born Alive is a non-issue; it was "Killer" Tiller who developed the work-around. Tiller developed a cocktail of kill-chemicals which are injected in utero to the living fetus through the abdominal wall of the mother, killing the fetus. There is little chance that any fetus will be delivered alive, because it is deliberately murdered while still in the womb. The "beating heart" issue is that of a dead embryo whose heart can be made to beat anyway.

What should be outlawed, short of outlawing abortion itself, is the practice of murder in the uterus, including not just chemical cocktails to the heart, but also shredding, tearing and otherwise dismembering or harming the fetus. Then Born Alive might mean something, whereas under today's laws it does not.

Meantime, this would help:

Franks, Blackburn Introduce Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act