Abortion
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA), a member of House Democratic Leadership, spoke on the House floor in opposition to H.R. 21, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act, which she dubbed the GOP’s Reproductive Health Care Surveillance Act.
“Mr. Speaker, we’re more than three weeks into January, and yet Republican leadership in this chamber has failed to call a vote on a single piece of legislation to address the pressing needs of hardworking families,” Congresswoman Trahan said. “So, what’s the priority for the Republicans this week? A vote on H.R. 21, the so-called ‘Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act,’ a bill that will give politicians here in Washington the power to monitor women’s pregnancies and criminalize doctors and nurses who provide lifesaving care to women in need. I wish I was kidding.”
House Republicans have continued to prioritize this bill despite the situation described in H.R. 21 almost never occurring. After Texas passed a law to require reporting on abortions that result in a baby being born alive, the state reported zero live births from 2013 to 2015, the years with reported results. A similar law in Oklahoma also found zero live births post-abortion from 2012 to 2014 and again in 2016. In Florida, the state reported six reported cases out of 70,083 abortions in 2018, just two of which occurred in the third trimester due to life endangerment and serious fetal abnormality.
“So, what is this bill actually targeting? As we dig into H.R. 21, it becomes clear that this legislation purposely distorts what abortion care really is. It sweeps up highly complex and deeply personal medical situations, including those where a mother learns her life is in danger because her baby has a fatal abnormality and cannot survive outside the womb,” Congresswoman Trahan continued.
Instead of allowing parents and their physicians to determine the best path forward for their health care, H.R. 21 creates new criminal and financial penalties for doctors and nurses who provide reproductive care. While the legislation claims to only target “abortions or attempted abortions,” medical experts argue that the bill’s vague wording sweeps up complex medical situations, including situations where fatal and potentially dangerous fetal abnormalities require inducement to save a mother’s life.
“This bill is not about protecting life. It’s about pushing blatant lies about women’s health care. And it’s about control. It’s about extreme Republican politicians inserting themselves into the most personal, private, and heartbreaking decisions a family has to make,” Congresswoman Trahan argued.
The U.S. Senate failed to advance this same legislation yesterday.
-- Congresswoman Lori Trahan
