[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S205-S206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Cotton, Mrs. Hyde-
        Smith, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. 
        Risch, Mr. Marshall, and Mr. Moran):
  S. 204. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a 
health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of 
care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted 
abortion; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, later today, I will introduce the Born-
Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, along with my colleague 
Senator Lankford. It is a simple bill. It simply states that a baby 
born alive after an attempted abortion is entitled to the same 
protection and medical care that any other newborn baby is entitled to. 
And you would think that it would be a simple ``yes'' vote from every 
Member of this body, but unfortunately, that is not where we are.
  Four years ago and then three years ago, the U.S. Senate took up this 
bill, and almost every single Democrat in this body voted against it. 
Just 3 weeks ago, the House of Representatives took up this bill, and 
almost every single Democrat over there voted against it. Apparently 
banning infanticide is now controversial because--let's be clear--that 
is what we are talking about here.
  Some Democrats have tried to cloak their opposition to this bill in 
meaningless phrases about a private decision between a woman and her 
doctor, but what is the decision we are talking about? We are talking 
about whether or not a living baby, born after an attempted abortion, 
should be provided with medical care or be left to die or, I suppose, 
be killed outright by the abortionist. That is what we are talking 
about. That is the ``decision'' Democrats are referring to. And that is 
apparently the decision they think should be left up to patients and 
their doctors--whether or not to let a living, breathing baby die.
  The Senate voted on a previous version of this bill introduced by my 
former colleague Senator Sasse 4 years ago when the Democratic Governor 
of Virginia came right out and said you could keep a newly born baby 
comfortable while you decided what to do with it--in other words, while 
you decided whether to let the child die or, I guess, kill it or 
whether to let it live. That chilling statement made it abundantly 
clear that we needed to state explicitly that any baby, wherever he or 
she is born, including in an abortion clinic, is entitled to medical 
care. It is staggering that we have gotten to the point where we need 
to debate this in Congress, staggering that this wouldn't be an 
automatic ``yes'' vote from every Member of this body, but that is 
where we are.
  If anyone thinks that abortion isn't a slippery slope, that we can 
somehow devalue unborn babies' lives while maintaining respect for 
everyone else's, then I am here to tell them differently because the 
Democratic Party has gotten to the point where its members not only 
oppose legislation to protect unborn babies; they oppose legislation to 
protect born ones as well. In Democrats' world, there are now 
apparently two classes of born babies: the wanted ones born alive in 
delivery rooms and the unwanted ones born alive in abortion clinics. 
Apparently, only one of those classes of babies is entitled to the 
equal protection of the laws.
  Democrats talk a lot about abortion when they are talking about this 
bill, but this bill, of course, would do absolutely nothing to restrict 
abortion. It is not a bill protecting unborn babies; it is a bill 
protecting born babies.
  I do understand why Democrats are so worked up, though, because while 
this bill may not do anything to restrict abortion, there is always the 
chance that drawing attention to the humanity and dignity of the child 
who has just been born will draw attention to the humanity and dignity 
of the child who is about to be born--the child Democrats are 
determined our laws should not protect. And Democrats are apparently so 
determined to preserve the so-called right to kill unborn babies that 
they are fully comfortable opposing a law that would protect born--
born--babies.
  These are hard things to talk about, but they have to be said because 
that is the reality of where we are right now.

[[Page S206]]

Roughly 50 percent of the U.S. Congress opposes giving the equal 
protection of the law to born human beings if they happen to be born 
alive following an attempted abortion.
  Now, I think we are at a real inflection point as to where we want to 
be as a nation. Do we want to be a country where the circumstances of 
your birth determine whether or not your right to life is protected? Do 
we want to be a country that endorses leaving living, breathing babies 
to die, that discards born babies because they are, for a moment at 
their birth, unwanted? I don't know. I think we are better than that. 
We have to be better than that.
  If we truly want to be a nation that protects human rights, that 
stands for justice, that defends the vulnerable, then we cannot be a 
nation that says it is acceptable to leave living, breathing, born 
human beings to die in abortion clinics, that says there are two 
classes of newborn babies and that only one of them deserves to be 
protected. Every human being deserves to be protected, no matter the 
circumstances of his or her birth.
  I want to thank Senator Lankford for his leadership on this issue. We 
will be working together to advance this legislation, and I pray that 
sooner rather than later, we will get to the day when this bill will be 
an automatic ``yes'' vote from every Member of this body.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 204

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Born-Alive Abortion 
     Survivors Protection Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) If an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, 
     the infant is a legal person for all purposes under the laws 
     of the United States, and entitled to all the protections of 
     such laws.
       (2) Any infant born alive after an abortion or within a 
     hospital, clinic, or other facility has the same claim to the 
     protection of the law that would arise for any newborn, or 
     for any person who comes to a hospital, clinic, or other 
     facility for screening and treatment or otherwise becomes a 
     patient within its care.

     SEC. 3. BORN-ALIVE INFANTS PROTECTION.

       (a) Requirements Pertaining to Born-Alive Abortion 
     Survivors.--Chapter 74 of title 18, United States Code, is 
     amended by inserting after section 1531 the following:

     ``Sec. 1532. Requirements pertaining to born-alive abortion 
       survivors

       ``(a) Requirements for Health Care Practitioners.--In the 
     case of an abortion or attempted abortion that results in a 
     child born alive:
       ``(1) Degree of care required; immediate admission to a 
     hospital.--Any health care practitioner present at the time 
     the child is born alive shall--
       ``(A) exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, 
     and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as 
     a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care 
     practitioner would render to any other child born alive at 
     the same gestational age; and
       ``(B) following the exercise of skill, care, and diligence 
     required under subparagraph (A), ensure that the child born 
     alive is immediately transported and admitted to a hospital.
       ``(2) Mandatory reporting of violations.--A health care 
     practitioner or any employee of a hospital, a physician's 
     office, or an abortion clinic who has knowledge of a failure 
     to comply with the requirements of paragraph (1) shall 
     immediately report the failure to an appropriate State or 
     Federal law enforcement agency, or to both.
       ``(b) Penalties.--
       ``(1) In general.--Whoever violates subsection (a) shall be 
     fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, 
     or both.
       ``(2) Intentional killing of child born alive.--Whoever 
     intentionally performs or attempts to perform an overt act 
     that kills a child born alive described under subsection (a), 
     shall be punished as under section 1111 of this title for 
     intentionally killing or attempting to kill a human being.
       ``(c) Bar to Prosecution.--The mother of a child born alive 
     described under subsection (a) may not be prosecuted for a 
     violation of this section, an attempt to violate this 
     section, a conspiracy to violate this section, or an offense 
     under section 3 or 4 of this title based on such a violation.
       ``(d) Civil Remedies.--
       ``(1) Civil action by a woman on whom an abortion is 
     performed.--If a child is born alive and there is a violation 
     of subsection (a), the woman upon whom the abortion was 
     performed or attempted may, in a civil action against any 
     person who committed the violation, obtain appropriate 
     relief.
       ``(2) Appropriate relief.--Appropriate relief in a civil 
     action under this subsection includes--
       ``(A) objectively verifiable money damage for all injuries, 
     psychological and physical, occasioned by the violation of 
     subsection (a);
       ``(B) statutory damages equal to 3 times the cost of the 
     abortion or attempted abortion; and
       ``(C) punitive damages.
       ``(3) Attorney's fee for plaintiff.--The court shall award 
     a reasonable attorney's fee to a prevailing plaintiff in a 
     civil action under this subsection.
       ``(4) Attorney's fee for defendant.--If a defendant in a 
     civil action under this subsection prevails and the court 
     finds that the plaintiff's suit was frivolous, the court 
     shall award a reasonable attorney's fee in favor of the 
     defendant against the plaintiff.
       ``(e) Definitions.--In this section the following 
     definitions apply:
       ``(1) Abortion.--The term `abortion' means the use or 
     prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other 
     substance or device--
       ``(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child of a woman 
     known to be pregnant; or
       ``(B) to intentionally terminate the pregnancy of a woman 
     known to be pregnant, with an intention other than--
       ``(i) after viability, to produce a live birth and preserve 
     the life and health of the child born alive; or
       ``(ii) to remove a dead unborn child.
       ``(2) Attempt.--The term `attempt', with respect to an 
     abortion, means conduct that, under the circumstances as the 
     actor believes them to be, constitutes a substantial step in 
     a course of conduct planned to culminate in performing an 
     abortion.
       ``(3) Born alive.--The term `born alive' has the meaning 
     given that term in section 8 of title 1, United States Code 
     (commonly known as the `Born-Alive Infants Protection 
     Act').''.
       (b) Conforming Amendments.--
       (1) The table of sections for chapter 74 of title 18, 
     United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:

``1532. Requirements pertaining to born-alive abortion survivors.''.
       (2) The chapter heading for chapter 74 of title 18, United 
     States Code, is amended by striking ``PARTIAL-BIRTH 
     ABORTIONS'' and inserting ``ABORTIONS''.
       (3) The table of chapters for part I of title 18, United 
     States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 
     chapter 74 and inserting the following:

``74. Abortion..............................................1531''.....

     SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       This Act shall take effect one day after the date of 
     enactment.
                                 ______