Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and all other Senate Democrats blocked the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” from advancing in the chamber on Wednesday.
The measure would require health care practitioners to seek to save the life of a baby born during an attempted abortion, and ensure that the infant is hospitalized.
“I’ve always stood on the side of Roe and a woman’s right to make her own health care choices. It’s absurd to mandate criminalization because of those choices. Any bill that does so, including the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, is a NO from me,” Fetterman declared in a post on X.
JOHN FETTERMAN AND LINDSEY GRAHAM ADVOCATE FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., speaks to reporters as he goes to vote on the Laken Riley Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 9, 2025. (ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty Images)
In a 52-47 party-line vote, 52 Republicans voted to proceed, while 45 Democrats and the two independent senators aligned with the Senate Democratic Caucus voted to block the bill from moving toward a vote.
The text of the measure stipulates that healthcare providers present when a baby is born alive amid an attempted abortion must “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age” and then “ensure that the child born alive is immediately transported and admitted to a hospital.”
The measure explicitly precludes prosecution of the child’s mother.
“The mother of a child born alive described under subsection (a) may not be prosecuted for a violation of this section, an attempt to violate this section, a conspiracy to violate this section, or an offense under section 3 or 4 of this title based on such a violation,” the text of the legislation reads.
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Pro-lifers decried Fetterman’s position.
“You just voted against medical care for a crying infant, begging for help, struggling to survive after a failed abortion. You have believed the leftist lie that killing babies – in this case now a BORN baby struggling for his life – is ever acceptable. Pure evil,” Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action, declared in a tweet.
Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins placed the handshake emoji in between the words “Fetterman” and “Infanticide.”
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Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., speaks to reporters before a Senate luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 12, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
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Katie Glenn Daniel, director of legal affairs and policy counsel for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, wrote in response to Fetterman’s post, “My dude, it’s literally called the Born-ALIVE Abortion SURVIVORS Protection Act. A baby is born, breathing and squirming, and you voted to deny her the life-sustaining healthcare that she would be owed if she was born under any other circumstance.”
