US Senate bill banning infanticide fails, despite majority support


LifeSiteNews—The Senate voted 53-44 for the 20-week abortion ban, and 56-41 for the anti-infanticide measure. Both needed 60 votes in order to pass.

A majority of the United States Senate voted again Tuesday to ban late-term abortions and mandate medical care for infants delivered alive after failed abortions, though Senate filibuster rules once again prevented either measure from passing the chamber.

Especially noteable: Three presidential candidates—Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar—did not vote at all. 

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, would prohibit most abortions starting at 20 weeks (or five months) into pregnancy, by which point science indicates preborn babies are capable of feeling pain. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would require abortionists to transfer infants who survive abortions to hospitals, where they would be given the same degree of care as any wanted newborn.

The Senate voted 53-44 for the 20-week abortion ban, and 56-41 for the anti-infanticide measure. Both needed 60 votes in order to pass.

“These two proposals, in any sane and rational world, would be agreed to unanimously,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on the Senate floor. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) challenged anyone who denies the science of fetal pain to visit a neonatal intensive care unit and listen to nurses explain “how they can hold that small infant, sometimes even in the palm of their hands. And they can see it grimace at a poke or a prod, maybe even slap away a tube or a needle as they approach.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed for cloture on both bills last week, beginning a formal debate period and setting the stage for Tuesday’s cloture vote to end debate, which would then theoretically be followed by a vote on whether to pass them as required by the U.S. Constitution. 

The outcome was a… Read More>>

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