Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAMMACK. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 26, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. This bill does exactly what the title says, which in this town is a novel concept.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, Ann Wagner, for her tireless efforts. I thank our majority leader, Steve Scalise, for his efforts on this issue. And, of course, I thank Chairman Jim Jordan of the Judiciary Committee for being such an advocate for the pro-life community.

Today, we are not talking about abortion. We are talking about children. We are talking about children who have been born and are fighting to survive despite an abortion attempt. In some cases when a woman receives a late-term abortion, the baby can be born alive following the procedure.

Federal law currently recognizes these babies as persons but fails to outline any requirements of care after the infant is born alive. H.R. 26 would rectify this by requiring healthcare practitioners to treat any child born alive after an abortion as they would any infant and requires that the infant be immediately treated with lifesaving care and transported to a hospital. I honestly do not understand what is so controversial about that.

Madam Speaker, this bill establishes criminal penalties for any healthcare practitioner or abortion clinic employee who fails to comply with the requirements established by this bill, because let's face it, no one can deny that a child who survives an abortion attempt, who is outside the womb, breathing, and struggling for life, despite all attempts to end it, doesn't deserve equal protection under the law. Under our law, murder is illegal. That shouldn't be a controversial position.

Eight babies in Florida alone, just last year, eight babies were reported to have been born alive during an abortion attempt. The stories are horrific. One that sticks out in particular was an NBC report in 2006. They told the story of a 23-week-old baby boy that was born alive at an abortion clinic in Hialeah, Florida. When he began breathing and moving, the abortion clinic owner, Belkis Gonzalez, reportedly cut the umbilical cord and zipped him into a biohazard bag where he then died. It is hard to read those words.

But as has been stated here on this floor in this Chamber, this isn't about pro-life versus pro-choice. This is about protecting those most vulnerable. It is about who we are as a society, who we are as a people, and who we are as Americans.

I hope that both sides of this Chamber can agree that accountability is a good thing. Protecting these children is a good thing. It is time to put the party politics aside and the talking points aside and give these children, wanted or unwanted, a fighting chance, a chance that they all deserve.

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