This week, Senator Sasse introduced a piece of legislation that sought to protect infants who survive botched abortions. Oftentimes legislation consists of hundred of pages of legalities and long-winded political speech, but the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act does not follow that trend. It, instead, simply seeks to provide the same rights to survivors of abortion that our Constitution provides to any other infant born in this country.
This legislation should have received bipartisan support. Surely, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents can agree that babies who survive botched abortions deserve the same protection as any other baby that is born. We can all agree, can’t we, that there isn’t a more vulnerable demographic than a defenseless baby right after birth? We may not agree on when life begins, but can we not all agree that a fully formed baby that is born meets the definition of life?
I am not easily shocked, but this week I watched one of the major political parties in this country and five presidential candidates stand in opposition to this bill. Our Senate is made up of moms, dads, and grandparents, and this week they went on the Senate floor and refused to say aye for a bill that would simply protect a baby born alive after a botched abortion. Many of them arguing, frankly, against a bill that they clearly hadn’t read.
How can this be? What could possibly drive elected officials in one of the most advanced societies this world has ever seen to oppose a bill that would protect the most vulnerable in our society? We have stood and fought for countries around the world when infanticide entered their culture. We have freed populations from tyrannical reign as we defended those who couldn’t defend themselves. Yet, we refuse to do the same when the opportunity is in front of us here in our own country. We could have, through a simple vote, protected the most vulnerable in our society. We could have, but we didn’t. Politicians, instead, decided to grandstand and choose their abortion ideology over the lives of fully formed viable born babies.
That may sound harsh to some, but I have struggled to reach another conclusion. What could possibly possess someone to oppose offering protections and rights to children born? The process at which they were born should not be the determining factor on whether they have rights or not. A baby born through a traditional birth or through a botched abortion is still a baby, and in this case, a citizen that these politicians are bound by oath to represent.
Where are the town halls on mainstream media outlets discussing this bill? Where are the articles and op-eds exposing the power of the abortion lobby over political candidates? When will we see the outcry by these outlets for the vulnerable babies who survive botched abortions being left to die? When will these outlets interview the men and women that are alive today because a medical professional stepped in and saved their life?
Some would argue that the pro-life label is toxic and should be removed from our narrative and vocabulary. I don’t subscribe to this thinking. There are three thousand abortions occurring daily in this country, we have participated in, roughly, 60 million abortions since 1973, and just this week Senate members refused to stand in opposition to infanticide. Being pro-life matters now more than ever and many are joining this fight.
Some choose to call me extreme for my positions on abortion and life. If this is true, my extremism has me fighting for the life of every human while their extremism has them fighting to end the life of those deemed disposable. The lack of leadership shown in the halls of our nation’s Capitol this week is heartbreaking, but it will not break our resolve to stand for those who are unable to stand for themselves.
