Born Alive Should Mean Born Protected: The Legal and Moral Case for Infant Protection

All babies deserve to live.

Everyone ought to at least agree with this baseline: Once a baby is born alive, that child must be protected. Born-alive laws are not an extreme demand. They are the bare minimum of decency and legal consistency.

A baby is a person under the law; youth does not deprive them of that basic truth. Deliberately causing or allowing that baby’s death – whether by direct act or by calculated neglect – is homicide. It’s murder.

This principle has stood for centuries. It reflects the most basic duty of any just society to protect its most vulnerable members. But the laws need to reflect this basic principle.

The common law long recognized this reality. Classic legal authorities such as Edward Coke and William Blackstone agreed that if a child was born alive, those who caused that death, even if the injuries were prenatal, were guilty of murder.

[B]ut if the childe be born alive and dieth of the potion, battery, or other cause, this is murder; for in law it is accounted a reasonable creature, in rerum natura, when it is born alive. (Emphasis added.) – Sir Edward Coke, Institutes of the Laws of England (1644)

[B]ut if the child be born alive, and dies by reason of the potion or bruises it received in the womb, it is murder in such as administered or gave them. (Emphasis added.) – William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1769)

This basic “born-alive rule” reflected the practical limits of proof at the time, yet it established a clear legal truth: A living child outside the womb is a person entitled to the law’s full protection against homicide.

Modern law has reaffirmed the same principle. In 2002, Congress passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which set a clear medical definition of “born alive” and confirmed that every such infant – no matter the gestational age or how the birth occurred – is a “person,” “human being,” “child,” or “individual” under federal law.

Unfortunately, there has been a strong pushback against this basic moral and legal truth. As we saw in the heartbreaking and revolting case of Kermit Gosnell, late-term abortion procedures will often result in the live birth of a baby. Instead of immediately offering lifesaving care, these monsters (Gosnell and his team) committed infanticide in a ghoulish attempt to hide their tracks. This should never happen again.

Take action with the ACLJ. Sign the petition: End Infanticide – Protect Babies Born Alive.

For that reason, it is unacceptable that, in 2026, some states have not only failed to enact strong, enforceable protections for babies born alive, but are actively undermining whatever safeguards previously existed – deliberately paving the path to infanticide.

Some states maintain robust laws affirming the full humanity and rights of newborns. Others, however, have pursued weak provisions – or worse, repealed longstanding protections entirely. This inconsistency leaves the most vulnerable newborns – infants who survive abortion attempts – exposed to ambiguity and potential mistreatment.

While legislative silence does not erase the underlying legal protections under general homicide, manslaughter, and criminal neglect statutes that apply to any born person, such silence creates dangerous gaps. Active efforts to weaken or remove these protections send a chilling message and fail to give clear direction to medical professionals.

This dangerous trend is evident in states like Minnesota, where lawmakers under Governor Tim Walz repealed the longstanding requirement that doctors take “reasonable measures” to preserve the life of a born-alive infant. In its place, the law now only requires that the infant be “cared for” – a deliberate downgrade that shifts the obligations from lifesaving medical intervention to mere “comfort care.” This change fundamentally alters how the law treats infants who survive abortion attempts, potentially denying them the full protection and care they deserve simply because they were born alive after a failed abortion.

Other states have engaged in similar efforts. In Maryland, legislators proposed HB 1131, which would restrict medical professionals from reporting infant deaths unless there is “clear evidence of external abuse” or unrelated criminal conduct, while tying law enforcement’s hands by prohibiting investigations into “pregnancy loss” without preexisting independent evidence. We prepared testimony against that legislation, which so far has failed to make it out of the Maryland House Judiciary Committee.

California’s AB 2223 and Washington’s SB 5093 create legal ambiguity or outright remove investigation requirements and safeguards around perinatal (the period through 1 to 4 weeks after birth) deaths and botched abortions. Whether through blocking investigations, lowering standards of care, or repealing protections, these bills erode the most basic duty of government (and society) – to protect innocent life. They blur the line between abortion and infanticide – though that line should not have to be drawn.

This is why the ACLJ strongly supports the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act of 2025. This legislation strengthens the 2002 law by requiring any health care practitioner present at the live birth of a child after an abortion or attempted abortion to provide the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve that baby’s life and health as would be given to any other newborn of the same gestational age. It also requires immediate transport and admission to a hospital and mandates reporting when that standard of care is not met. These are basic safeguards to ensure no born-alive baby is abandoned or neglected.

At the federal level, the House of Representatives passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act in January 2025. The Senate, however, refused to even allow debate, failing to invoke cloture by a 52–47 vote. As a result, this basic protection for babies born alive after failed abortions is still not law.

The law has always needed clear, observable standards for when full legal protections attach. Live birth provides that standard. It is verifiable by medical personnel and documented in records. Once a baby is born alive, that child is not placed in a lesser category of persons whose deaths can be treated as private medical discretion without accountability.

A baby born alive is a person. Deliberately allowing that baby to die is infanticide. This has been true for generations. Born-alive protections are the bare minimum. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act of 2025 would bring stronger federal safeguards into alignment with that principle. Every state should do the same. These babies deserve nothing less.

Take action with the ACLJ. Sign the petition: End Infanticide – Protect Babies Born Alive.