WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) voted to support the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, legislation he co-sponsored that would protect infants born alive following attempted abortions by requiring that they be transported to a hospital and provided the same level of care as any other child born at the same gestational age.
 
“Ensuring that newborn babies receive medical care no matter the circumstances should not be a divisive issue, and it is unconscionable that health care professionals might not try and save a life if the situation calls for it,” said Senator Tillis. “I am disappointed that Senate Democrats could not put extreme abortion politics aside in the name of basic humanity and pass this legislation, but I will continue to fight for life and protections for babies who survive abortions.”

BACKGROUND:

• Health care practitioners must exercise the same degree of skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of an infant who is born-alive after an attempted abortion as would be offered to any other child born at the same gestational age.
• After those efforts, the health care practitioners must ensure that the child be transported and admitted to a hospital.
• Health care practitioners and hospital employees must report violations to law enforcement.
• If a health care practitioner intentionally performs an overt act that kills a born-alive infant who survives an abortion, it is punishable like any other act of murder under federal law. Other violations of the Act are punishable through fines or up to five years imprisonment.
• The mother of the abortion survivor is granted a civil cause of action and exemption from prosecution if the abortionist kills or neglects her born-alive child.

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