204 representatives in the House of Representatives voted against the law on providing life-saving treatment to newborns who survive abortion
The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would penalize doctors who fail to provide life-saving care to newborns born after attempted abortions.
All but one Democrat voted against the bill, which passed 217-204, while all Republicans were in favor. One Democrat, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, voted “present.”
The draft directs health professionals to work with “the same degree of professional skill, care and diligence” for a baby born with a heartbeat after a miscarriage as during a normal birth. Doctors who violate the rule will be fined or up to five years behind bars.
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All the Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives voted against the bill (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
House Republican leaders praised the bill, with Majority Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., telling Fox News Digital, “Requiring medical care for babies born alive after a failed abortion is not controversial, it’s common sense.”
“The fact that Democrats would rather support infanticide than vote for this bill shows how extreme and out of touch their party has become,” Emmer said.
Democrats argued the bill was redundant, given existing laws against infanticide and murder, and could endanger the lives of women seeking late-term abortions for medical emergencies, while unfairly penalizing doctors.
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House Majority Representative Tom Emmer criticized all Democrats who voted against the bill. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
“No one goes through pregnancy and everything that comes with it … and then after eight or nine months it’s like ‘no, I don’t want to do this,'” said Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif. debate on the bill, adding that late-term operations account for about 1% of abortions. “It is due to a serious abnormality of the fetus or the health of the mother.”
She said the bill was “not based on science or reality.”
Several Democrats who spoke out against the bill and themselves went through emergency abortion procedures with an unsustainable pregnancy.
Among them was Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, DN.M., who said the bill would allow women to “die on the operating table because doctors are afraid of going to jail.”
Rep. Sara Jacobs was among the Democrats who spoke in favor of the bill. (Getty Images)
Republicans, meanwhile, argued the bill would prevent babies from being “left to die in a closet, alone and discarded like medical waste,” as Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., said during the debate.
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“These precious babies, fellow Americans, deserve to be protected because they are alive,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
The vote comes after Democrats rejected the bill in the Senate earlier this week. The law did not pass the procedural hurdle that required 60 votes to allow discussion on its final adoption.
