President Trump has ordered that babies born alive after a botched abortion must receive proper medical care to help them survive.
The Executive Order said: “Every infant born alive, no matter the circumstances of his or her birth, has the same dignity and the same rights as every other individual and is entitled to the same protections under Federal law.”
It added: “It is the policy of the United States to recognize the human dignity and inherent worth of every newborn or other infant child, regardless of prematurity or disability, and to ensure for each child due protection under the law.”
Not enough
Current laws, including the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, are already supposed to ensure premature or disabled newborns receive the medical treatment they need.
However, pro-life institutions argue it fails to explicitly protect babies who survive an attempted abortion.
Patrina Mosley of the Family Research Council said that the 2002 Act “was only a definitional change stating that all infants who survive abortion are full persons under the law. It neither required any medical care for infants born-alive nor included a provision for prosecuting anyone who failed to provide care.”
Violation
The new Executive Order warns hospitals that in not providing “potentially lifesaving medical treatment to extremely premature or disabled infants”, they “may violate Federal Law” and could lose Federal funding.
Alliance Defending Freedom’s Senior Counsel, Denise Burke, praised the President for “taking action to protect these children”.
Also see:
US Supreme Court rules religious groups cannot be forced to fund abortions