John Thune And Laphonza Butler Battle Over His Bill Protecting Babies Born Alive During Abortions

5 months ago

On the Senate floor, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA) debate his bill to protect babies who are born alive during abortions.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. President, just a few minutes, I'll ask for unanimous consent to pass my Born Alive

00:06Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

00:09This is a very simple bill, Mr. President, and it should be a non-controversial one.

00:15It simply says that a baby born alive after an attempted abortion is entitled to the same

00:19protection and medical care that any other newborn baby is entitled to.

00:26That's all.

00:27It doesn't limit abortion.

00:30It doesn't make abortion illegal.

00:33It simply states that a baby born alive after an attempted abortion is entitled to medical

00:39care.

00:40And yet somehow, this bill is too much for my Democrat colleagues, Mr. President.

00:47Somehow saying that a living, breathing baby born alive after an attempted abortion is

00:52entitled to medical care is a step too far.

00:59I'd be interested to know exactly what it is that they're afraid of.

01:03And I suspect they're afraid that by pointing to the humanity of the born child, they might

01:09end up pointing to the humanity of the unborn child.

01:14After all, it makes no sense to say that a baby is not a human being a second before

01:20birth and is a human being a second after.

01:26And so I suspect that Democrats are afraid that recognizing the humanity of a living,

01:29breathing, born child in an abortion clinic might end up leading to protection for unborn

01:36children.

01:38And Democrats are apparently so determined to ensure that the supposed right to kill

01:44unborn children is protected that they're willing to oppose a law to protect born children.

01:51It is a tragic measure of their extremism on this issue.

01:58And if anyone thinks that abortion isn't a slippery slope, that we can somehow devalue

02:05unborn babies' lives while maintaining respect for everyone else's, well, I'm here to tell

02:10them differently.

02:13Because we're at a point where roughly 50 percent of the United States Congress opposes

02:19protecting the lives of born human beings if they happen to be born alive after an attempted

02:25abortion.

02:26Mr. President, in a matter of seconds now, one of my Democrat colleagues will object

02:31to this legislation.

02:34But I hope and pray that this will not be the last word, and that one day soon we will

02:41get to a point where legislation like this will not be controversial and where human

02:45rights of every human being, born and unborn, will be respected.

02:55So Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged

03:00from further consideration of S. 204 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

03:05I further ask consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the

03:08motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

03:12Is there objection?

03:13Mr. President.

03:14Senator from California.

03:15Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the Born Alive Abortion

03:28Survivors Protection Act.

03:31Despite what our Republican colleagues propose, the contents of this legislation would yield

03:38harmful impacts on patients and providers.

03:43This bill creates new and vague standards of care for physicians providing reproductive

03:50health care that are not based in medicine, not based in science, and not based in fact.

03:57It goes to unnecessary lengths to penalize doctors and patients for so-called substandard

04:03care when current federal law already ensures doctors the obligation to provide appropriate

04:12medical care to all their patients.

04:16This bill fails to consider a serious reality for expected parents.

04:21Too often, some parents learn late in their pregnancy that their baby wouldn't survive

04:26due to factors beyond their control.

04:28At that point, parents are often placed in a position to make one of the most difficult

04:33decisions of their lives, which is to end the pregnancy at the delivery of their baby.

04:42That is why my Democratic colleagues and I have taken to the Senate floor over the last

04:47few weeks to plead with our Republican colleagues about protecting a patient's right to choose

04:53what to do with their own bodies.

04:55But this bill is an attempt to once again drag our nation backwards.

05:01And I refuse, Mr. President, to sit idly by and watch it happen for those reasons I object.

John Thune And Laphonza Butler Battle Over His Bill Protecting Babies Born Alive During Abortions

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