The West Virginia Senate passed a bill mandating that doctors give care to infants born alive after an attempted abortion.
The state’s Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act calls for making doctors and other medical officials who perform abortions subject to disciplinary action from their licensing boards if they fail to provide proper care to babies who survive abortions.
West Virginia law already prohibits abortions after 20 weeks, and lawmakers acknowledged that murder is already a crime in the state before passing the bill unanimously. Critics of the bill accused Republicans of attempting to “gin up the base” because existing laws already protect newborns.
“A child born alive who would somehow be killed? That would be murder. It would clearly be murder. There’s nobody doing that, and if they do do it, they’re in jail,” Harrison County Sen. Mike Romano, a Democrat, pointed out. “It isn’t going to change anything.”
The state’s House must now approve minor amendments to the bill before it heads to Republican Gov. Jim Justice for his signature.
President Trump became the first sitting president to attend and speak at the March for Life Rally in Washington last month.
“All of us here today understand an eternal truth: Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God,” he said during his remarks at the rally. “Together, we must protect, cherish, and defend the dignity and the sanctity of every human life. When we see the image of a baby in the womb, we glimpse the majesty of God’s creation.”
The president won West Virginia in the 2016 general election by more than 10 points.
