S.B. 814 – Sen. Lana Theis
S.B. 815 – Sen. Michael MacDonald

Current Status

Governor Engler signed the Born Alive Infant Protection Act into law on December 31, 2002 and it took effect on March 31, 2003. S.B 814 and S.B. 815 amend the current law and were introduced on March 4, 2020. They were referred to the Senate Health and Human Services committee.

Description

This act addresses cases where failed late-term abortions result in children born alive. The law ensures that newborns who survive abortion attempts are afforded all of the rights of legal personhood including life-sustaining treatment or humane comfort care for those too young to survive. Immunity from the law is provided to the mother. The Born Alive Infant Protection Act allows these children to be surrendered under the Safe Delivery Act so they can be quickly adopted by a loving family. S.B. 814 and 815 would enhance the existing law by requiring abortion survivors to receive the same level of treatment given to other babies born at the same gestational age, would provide for mandatory reporting for those who witness doctors not providing care, and would make failure to provide care or failure to report neglect a criminal offense.

Background

There have been cases around the country in which children have survived abortion attempts and were left to die. These children should have full rights of personhood under the current law and should be provided with medical treatment rather than neglected to death. Sadly, however, this has not always been the case. In January of 2019 the governor of Vermont, a pediatric neurologist, testified that babies should be denied care if they were accidently born alive during a failed late-term abortion if the mother didn’t want the baby resuscitated. As states around the country move to expand their state laws to include abortion up to the point of birth, the Born Alive Infant Protection Act is once again in the spotlight.

History