Diocesan Resources
Talking Points for Letters to the Editor regarding the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (2019)
Talking Points for Letters to the Editor regarding the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
Numerous witnesses, including nurses and other health care providers, have come forward to testify that children do indeed survive abortions—and are then sometimes denied medical care, left to die, or intentionally killed.
Current homicide laws are not enough to protect children who survive an abortion from being killed or left to die. Though infanticide is a form of homicide, evidence indicates that homicide laws are not ensuring that babies that survive abortion actually receive a fair chance at life. 29 states have already passed laws providing additional protections, and the federal government should do so as well.
Current federal law does not ensure that a child born alive after an abortion receives the same medical care as any other newborn. Good medical practice would imply that the location of a baby’s live birth—be it an abortion clinic or hospital—should have no bearing on whether or not they receive care. But unfortunately, too often, being born alive in an abortion clinic means murder or death by neglect to the born child. Giving specific requirements for the abortionist to follow will help to ensure that his/her bias against this baby does not prevent the baby from receiving the same care as any other newborn at the same gestational age.