Born Alive Act

Parnell Supported The Born Alive Act

Parnell Supported The Born Alive Act And Supported The Mexico City Policy. According to Parnell’s Senate campaign website, “I will strongly support pieces of legislation like the Born Alive Act, and believe Joe Biden’s decision to revoke the Mexico City policy undermines our moral leadership worldwide.” [Sean Parnell For Senate – Issues, Viewed 9/1/21]

Parnell Criticized Lamb For Voting Against The Born Alive Act Twice

[VIDEO]: Parnell Criticized Lamb For Voting Against The Born Alive Act. “PARNELL: This guy says one thing in district and votes another way in Washington, said he's pro-life, but he voted against the Born Alive Act not once but twice. Now, voting against the Born Alive Act paves the way for this evil to happen. This is a guy that said he was going to be pro-gun but is now for an assault weapons ban. This is a guy that accepted police union endorsement but then marched with deep on the police radicals. This is a guy that said he's for American energy independence but then voted to put us back in the Paris climate accord. The guy is is a pandering hack liar. And he just entered the Senate race here in the state of Pennsylvania.” [Bannon’s War Room 8/6/21] 210806_PH_2212_B

Born Alive Act Required Doctors To Provide Care To Infants Who “Survive An Abortion Or An Attempted Abortion”

Born Alive Act Required Doctors To Provide Care To Infants Who “Survive An Abortion Or An Attempted Abortion.” According to CBS News, “The legislation -- which fell seven votes short of the 60 it needed to move forward -- would have required doctors to provide care to infants who "survive an abortion or attempted abortion." [CBS News, 2/27/19]

A Similar Bill Was Passed In 2002, However, This Version Imposed Fines And A Potential Jail Sentence For Doctors Who Did Not Provide Care. According to CBS News, “A similar bill passed in 2002, but the most recent one was different in a key way: It would have imposed fines and potential jail time for doctors who didn't provide care.” [CBS News, 2/27/19]

Critics Argued That The Legislation Was Based On Lies And Misinformation Regarding Abortion

Senior State Issues Manager At Guttmacher Institute: “When You’re Providing Abortion Care, This Isn’t Something That Happens.” According to CBS News, “Abortion rights advocates rebuked the legislation and the rhetoric surrounding it, saying that the situation described in the bill -- infants surviving abortions -- is an extreme rarity, only occurring in instances of abnormalities so severe that the fetus has been deemed unviable. "When you're providing abortion care, this isn't something that happens," Elizabeth Nash, a senior state issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute, said in a telephone interview with CBS News Monday.” [CBS News, 2/27/19]

Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen: “This Legislation Is Based On Lies And A Misinformation Campaign.” According to CBS News, "This legislation is based on lies and a misinformation campaign, aimed at shaming women and criminalizing doctors for a practice that doesn't exist in medicine or reality," Planned Parenthood Federation of America President, Leana Wen, wrote in an email to CBS News.” [CBS News, 2/27/19]

Parnell Accused His Opponent Of Supporting “Post-Birth Abortion” And Opposed A Bill To Outlaw The Practice

Parnell Sarcastically Said That People Call The Tea Party Extreme, While Linking To An Article That Allegedly Described Those Advocating For Abortion After Birth. “And ppl call the Tea Party extreme...RT @brithume: There are now people seriously arguing for abortion AFTER BIRTH.” [Twitter - @SeanParnellUSA, 2/24/14]

2020: Parnell Alleged That Conor Lamb Supported “Post-Birth Abortion” Through Lamb’s Support Of Joe Biden. “Here’s what I think @ConorLambPA: You’re endorsing a man who supports: Open Borders; Outlawing private healthcare; Post birth abortion; Banning fossil fuels in pursuit of the Green New Deal; Killing hundreds of thousands of blue collar jobs in WPa; Appeasing enemies.” [Twitter - @SeanParnellUSA, 1/6/20]

Parnell Accused Conor Lamb Of Voting Against Legislation That Would Make So-Called “Post-Birth Abortion” Illegal. “@ConorLambPA once again voted AGAINST legislation that would penalize the intentional killing of infants who survive an abortion. I’m truly horrified by this. Saving the lives of children after birth is not a partisan issue.” [Sean Parnell, Twitter, 3/1/20]

So-Called “Post-Birth Abortions” Does Not Exist

Under The Bill Parnell Supported, A Doctor Who Did Not Apply The Bill’s Required Treatment To A Baby Born Alive After An Abortion Attempt Could Be Sentenced To Prison

The Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act Would Require Doctors To Treat A Baby Born Alive After A Failed Abortion As If They Would Any Other Child At The Same Gestational Age. According to Vox, “The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would have required doctors to provide the same care for a baby born alive after a failed attempt at abortion as they would for any child of the same gestational age. After providing appropriate care, they would be required to ensure that the baby ‘is immediately transported and admitted to a hospital.’ Doctors who failed to comply with the requirements would face a fine and up to five years in prison.” [Vox, 2/26/19]

Doctors And Reproductive Rights Groups Argued That “Post-Birth Abortion” “Doesn’t Exist In Medicine Or Reality”

Dr. Kristyn Brandi, Physicians For Reproductive Health Board Member: “Patients Do Not Request Abortion When They Are In Labor And Doctors Do Not Provide It.” According to Vox, “Abortions in the third trimester are very rare — just 1.4 percent of all abortions take place at 21 weeks or beyond, according to Planned Parenthood. The situation described in the Virginia committee hearing simply doesn’t come up, Brandi said — ‘patients do not request abortion when they are in labor and doctors do not provide it.’” [Vox, 2/26/19]

Dr. Kristyn Brandi, Physicians For Reproductive Health Board Member: The Bill Was Based On A “False Narrative” About Abortion. According to Vox,“But reproductive rights and physicians’ groups said the bill could criminalize doctors and was unnecessary since laws already exist to protect an infant in the extremely unlikely scenario of a birth after an abortion attempt. ‘The bill maligns and vilifies providers and patients to push a false narrative about abortion later in pregnancy,’ Dr. Kristyn Brandi, a board member of Physicians for Reproductive Health, told Vox in an email.” [Vox, 2/26/19]

Planned Parenthood President: The Bill Was “Aimed At Shaming Women And Criminalizing Doctors For A Practice That Doesn’t Exist In Medicine Or Reality.” According to Vox, “Senate Democrats, reproductive rights groups, and groups representing doctors disagreed, calling the legislation unnecessary and potentially damaging. ‘This legislation is based on lies and a misinformation campaign, aimed at shaming women and criminalizing doctors for a practice that doesn’t exist in medicine or reality,’ said Dr. Leana Wen, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement to Vox.” [Vox, 2/26/19]

Dr. Kristyn Brandi, A Physicians For Reproductive Health Board Member, Said She Had Never Heard Of A Child Born Alive After A Failed Abortion. According to Vox, “[Dr. Kristyn] Brandi, of Physicians for Reproductive Health, said she had never heard of a case of a child born after a failed abortion attempt. ‘This is a part of the false narrative around this bill and abortion later in pregnancy,’ she said.” [Vox, 2/26/19]

Arthur Caplan, A NYU Bioethicist, Said He Knew Of No Examples Of A “Medically Active Killing” Of A Baby Born Alive After Abortion. According to Politifact, “A failure to resuscitate, which is typical in such cases, ‘is a much more contentious issue,’ said Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University Langone Medical Center. ‘Babies born post-abortion, spontaneous or induced, with horrible and potentially painful conditions incompatible with life, would not be routinely resuscitated or aggressively treated by most medical teams. In fact some would not even know how to try, or lack the technology to do so, especially in rural areas.’ Caplan said he is unaware of examples of ‘medically active killing,’ and that while ‘allowing to die does happen,’ it occurs ‘very rarely – say, a baby is born with no lungs at 20 weeks.’” [Politifact, 2/28/19]

Most Abortions Performed At 21 Weeks Or Later Involved Fetal Anomalies Incompatible With Life; Only 1 Percent Of All Abortions Were Performed That Late

American College Of Obstetricians And Gynecologists: Abortions Occurring Later In Pregnancy Usually “Involve Fetal Anomalies Incompatible With Life.” According to Politifact, “‘Many abortions that occur later in pregnancy involve fetal anomalies incompatible with life, such as anencephaly, the absence of the brain and cranium above the base of the skull, or limb-body wall complex, when the organs develop outside of the body cavity,’ the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has written.” [Politifact, 2/28/19]

CDC: In 2015, 1.3 Percent Of Abortions Were Performed At 21 Weeks Of Gestation Or Later. According to the Washington Post, “The Republican push to pass these bills follows efforts in New York and Virginia to roll back restrictions surrounding late-term abortions, which represent a small minority of hundreds of thousands of abortions performed in the United States each year. Those abortions, experts say, typically are prompted by concerns for the mother’s health or fetal abnormalities. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.3 percent of abortions in 2015 were performed at 21 weeks of gestation or later. About 91 percent took place at or before 13 weeks of gestation.” [Washington Post, 2/25/19]

Even More, Any Baby Born Alive Was Already Granted Full Legal Rights Under Federal Law

2002: The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act Guaranteed Full Legal Rights To Infants Born At Any Stage Of Development. According to Vox, “Even if a child were to be born after an abortion attempt, she said, laws already exist to protect the baby. In 2002, Congress passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which guaranteed to infants born at any stage of development full legal rights. That bill, which passed with bipartisan support, did not include criminal penalties for doctors and did not impose specific requirements on medical care.” [Vox, 2/26/19]

The Child Abuse Prevention And Treatment Act, Passed In 1974 And Updated In The 1980s, Made Certain Federal Funding To States Contingent On Adoption Of Policies To Prevent Improper Withholding Of Treatment From Newborns. According to Politifact, “Legal experts pointed to several specific laws relevant to newborns: The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, first passed in 1974 and subsequently revised, including major updates in the 1980s. The relevant portion of the law makes certain types of federal funding for states conditional on their adoption of policies to prevent improper withholding of treatment from newborns, including those with disabilities.” [Politifact, 2/28/19]