Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats have refused 20 times a request by Republicans to allow a vote on the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, legislation that would stop infanticide and provide medical care and treatment for babies who survive abortions.
Today, House Republicans announced a plan to give Democrats until April 2nd to allow a vote on the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. If a vote is not allowed, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise and Representative Ann Wagner told Lifenews today that they will move forward a discharge petition. That’s a petition any member of Congress can sign to allow legislation to move out of committee and to the House floor when the party controlling Congress refuses to allow a vote on it.
Leading pro-life members of Congress have been collecting signatures while Democrats have refused a vote on the anti-infanticide bill. They are continuing to collect signatures and leading pro-life groups are calling on Americans to call and email their members of Congress to ask them to sign the discharge petition. Upon being signed by a majority of members of the House, the discharge petition will force a vote on the Born Alive Act on the House Floor. April 2 is the first day the petition would be eligible to be executed on the House floor and, if they have enough signatures, pro-life members of Congress will push ahead with it.
“As Speaker Pelosi refuses to allow a vote on this legislation to defend and protect innocent life, we are taking matters into our own hands. This effort is not just about going on the record, it’s about taking concrete action to end infanticide,” said Whip Scalise. “Legislation to protect babies born alive during an abortion is supported by over seventy percent of voters of all parties, including Democrats and independents. Rep. Wagner’s Born Alive Act is a truly bipartisan bill that deserves a vote on the House floor. The American people deserve to know where their representatives stand on this issue of life or death.”
SIGN THE PETITION: Stop Infanticide! Stop Abortions Up to Birth!
“This discharge petition is a critical step in forcing Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats to bring HR 962, the Born Alive Survivors Protection Act, to a vote,” said Rep. Wagner. “As radical states and legislators have begun promoting not just late term abortions but infanticide, it is more important than ever that we come together to protect America’s women and children with lifesaving medical care during the moments they cannot protect themselves.”
With all 197 Republicans signing they would need 21 Democrats to join. Democrat Representatives Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.), Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), and Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) have already co-sponsored the underlying bill but they would need to be joined by another 18 Democrat lawmakers — most of whom would be abortion supporters.
National Right to Life is urging pro-life Americans to contact their member of Congress to sign the discharge petition.
“We applaud the efforts by Minority Whip Steve Scalise and Rep. Ann Wagner to bring the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to the forefront of the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Pro-abortion Democrats who oppose this bill should be forced to explain to their constituents why they believe abortion is such an absolute ‘right’ that it protects what amounts to infanticide: willfully withholding life-saving care from a born-alive infant.”
“Thanks to the governors of New York and Virginia, and pro-abortion Democrats in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, the extreme pro-abortion agenda has been laid bare for all to see,” Tobias added. “They believe it should be legal to kill unborn babies, for absolutely any reason, at any time up to and including the moment of their birth, and even in the moments after they are born.”
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a leading House member, discussed the discharge petition in a recent interview with the Daily Signal.
“It’s just heartbreaking. I was disheartened by the vote, 44 senators that voted against legislation that would protect babies who were born alive, babies that had survived an abortion, were outside the womb, and yet they were not willing to bring in the insurer under law that they would bring in the doctor’s care,” she said. “In years past, this is passed with unanimous consent in the Senate. So it really exposed the extreme position that the left is taking right now, that Democrats are saying they reject legislation to protect babies born alive.”
“In the House, we are moving forward with a discharge petition. As you know, the Democrats have the majority in the House. One way that we can bring a bill to the floor is to demand a discharge petition,” she added. “You have to get 218 people to sign a discharge petition, and then you can bypass Speaker Nancy Pelosi and bring the bill directly to the floor. We’re working actively on that right now.”
The blocking of a vote on a bill to stop infanticide come even as national polling shows Americans — including people who are “pro-choice” on abortion — oppose abortion up to birth and infanticide. And doctors indicate abortions are never needed to protect a woman’s health and women admit having abortions on healthy babies.
And a new poll finds a massive 17 percent shift in the pro-life direction after Democrats have pushed abortions up to birth and infanticide nationally.
H.R. 962, introduced by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), ensures that a baby born alive after a failed or attempted abortion receives the same medical care as any other newborn. It would also penalize doctors who allow such infants to die or who intentionally kill a newborn following a failed abortion.
Every single Democrat in the Senate who is running for president voted against a bill that would stop infanticide and provide medical care and treatment for babies who are born alive after botched abortions. That includes Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Amy Klobuchar.
While they all voted to support infanticide, President Trump spoke out against infanticide in two tweets saying that it’s nothing short of “executing” babies to let them die after failed abortions.
ACTION: Contact members of Congress and urge them to sign the Discharge Petition to bring the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to the House floor for a vote.
