Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Mike Bost today announced he will cosponsor the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 962), which requires appropriate medical care for children who survive abortion procedures. The bill also imposes strong criminal penalties for failure to provide such care—while also protecting women upon whom abortions have been performed from prosecution.

“As a father and grandfather, I know that the love that a family feels for their children doesn’t begin on the day the child is born,” said Bost. “It starts when they learn that their prayers have been answered and that a new life is being brought into this world. It breaks my heart that loopholes currently exist that allow babies who survive abortion and are born to simply die with no medical attention. This abhorrent practice must end. And it must end now.”

The ethics of killing infants after they have left the birth canal alive is not a matter of debate. The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 became law with support from Republicans and Democrats. That law made clear that infants who survive abortions should be recognized as persons, but it did not ensure that these babies are given appropriate medical care. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act ensures that a baby who survives an abortion will receive the same treatment as any child naturally born premature at the same age, without prescribing any particular form of treatment. 

H.R. 962:

• Requires health care practitioners who are present at the live birth exercise skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child—the same degree of care that would be offered to any other child born prematurely the same gestational age. After those efforts, the health care workers must transport and admit the child to a hospital.
• Requires health care practitioners and hospital employees to report violations to law enforcement authorities, reducing the number of born-alive abortions that go unreported.
• Penalizes the intentional killing of a born-alive child through fines or up to 5 years imprisonment.
• Gives the mother of the abortion survivor a civil cause of action and protection from prosecution, recognizing that women are the second victims of abortion and promoting the dignity of motherhood.

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