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June 19, 2001
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/A0016432.html
Congress Eyes Protecting Newborns
By Mark Cowan, correspondent
Congress
is once again considering a measure to protect babies that are born
alive — even if their birth isn't wanted.
The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, (H.R. 2175; S. 1050), was recently
re-introduced into both the House and Senate. The bill simply states that a
child is born alive, regardless of time or reason for delivery, if he or she
has a beating heart, breathes, and has voluntary muscle movement.
"I never imagined that we would have to actually introduce a piece of
legislation that protects babies that are born, but . . . given some of the
recent court decisions, (that's) where we are," said Pennsylvania
Republican
Sen. Rick Santorum, who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate.
Santorum is particularly concerned about last year's Supreme Court ruling
permitting partial-birth abortions.
"There's was certainly clear indication, particularly with a couple of the
dissents, that this was sort of the next step, which was to allow what is
clearly infanticide," Santorum said.
House co-sponsor Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, said infanticide is already a
reality.
"We literally have cases where babies are being born alive and some just
placed in the garbage, others found on a sink, others in a soiled utility
closet," Chabot said. "I mean, it's just horrible what's going on in
this
country."
He said the goal of pro-life lawmakers remains ending abortion, but until
that goal is reached, "let's at least protect those children (who) are
literally born alive and ought to be treated with basic human respect."
Currently, only 30 states have laws protecting the dignity of all babies.
During the last session of Congress, a similar measure protecting all
children born alive never made it to the floor for a vote.
TAKE ACTION: Contact your representative and senators and urge them to
support the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. The House version is H.R.
2175, and the Senate version is S. 1050. Call the Capitol switchboard at
202-224-3121, or see our Legislative
Action Center for more contact
information.
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