House Members Seek to Uphold Protections for Babies Born Alive After Botched Abortions in Hearing

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ACLJ.org

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September 22, 2016

4 min read

Pro Life

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I first met Thandi in 2006 while working at an orphanage for abandoned infants in South Africa.  She was a thriving four-month-old with an infectious smile and a very distinctive scar on her tiny bald scalp.  Even at only four months old, Thandi exhibited a profound fighting spirit to overcome the circumstances that led her to our care, as she battled to gain weight and heal from illness after illness.

Several weeks after arriving at the orphanage, I inquired about Thandi’s scar.  I was informed that Thandi was the survivor of an illegal botched abortion.  She had been found by local police tied up in a trash bag and left to die.

Thandi’s precious scar will forever be etched in my mind as a picture of just how resilient and tenacious even the smallest children, born or unborn, really are.  Despite the attempts by others to snuff out her life, Thandi kept fighting.

It is easy to feel as if the Thandi’s of the world are oceans away.  Yet, the same horrific things have happened in abortion clinics across the United States.  Despite what the abortion industry would have you believe, the horror house of Dr. Kermit Gosnell is not the only case of babies born alive after botched abortions who then die. Earlier this year as part of an investigation in Phoenix, AZ, a nurse reported seeing a baby moving and struggling to breathe before dying after being born alive after a botched abortion.

As we’ve written before, hundreds of babies die after being born alive from botched abortions right here in America.

Yet the abortion industry and its allies on the Hill are now challenging the fundamental right to life of these children by seeking to derail the Born Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act.

The House Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice is holding a hearing tomorrow morning at 9 AM EST on “The Ultimate Civil Right: Examining the Hyde Amendment and the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.”

Subcommittee Chairman Trent Franks commented on the hearing:

The Born Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act protects little children who have been born alive. No one can obscure the humanity and the personhood of these little born alive babies.

The abortion industry labored all these decades to convince the world that unborn children and born children should be completely separated in our minds, that while born children are persons worthy of protection, unborn children are not persons and are not worthy of protection.

Now opponents of this bill are trying to join born children and unborn children back together again and convince all of us to condemn them both as inhuman and not worthy of protection after all. To anyone who has not invincibly hardened their heart and soul, an honest consideration of this absurd inconsistency is profoundly enlightening."

Whether it’s the nurse who saw that baby move in Phoenix or Thandi’s scar in South Africa, we must not harden our hearts and souls to these most vulnerable members of the human family made in the image of God.

Thankfully, there are pro-life Members of Congress working to pass this common-sense legislation. This shouldn’t even be a debate. As Senator Ben Sasse has said of the legislation, “"If we can’t come together and agree that newborn babies deserve care, our talk about 'human rights' and 'inherent dignity' is empty. This is an opportunity for well-meaning people to set aside our differences and work to protect babies.”

Our Government Affairs team is working with Members of Congress on this legislation and attending the hearing tomorrow. We will report back on the testimony as we continue to support this legislation at every stage to be a voice for the voiceless.