Penna Dexter

Recently President Trump addressed the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, held online this year. To the surprise of attendees, he said these words: “Today I am announcing that I will be signing the Born-Alive Executive Order to ensure that all precious babies born alive receive the medical care that they deserve. This is our sacrosanct moral duty.” It would be a lot better if Congress had enacted this as a law. Since they didn’t, the president acted. You may ask: Don’t we already have a federal law that recognizes the need to protect babies who are born after an attempted abortion? The answer is yes. In 2002, President Bush signed The Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which states that all infants who survive abortions are full persons under the law. But the law lacks enforcement provisions. To date there have been no prosecutions under this law, even though between 2003 and 2014 at least 143 babies have survived botched abortions for between four and 24 hours. The Centers for Disease Control says that number is likely an underestimate. These are living children who have become patients. Not giving them medical care is infanticide. Last year, Representative Ann Wagner of Missouri introduced the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The law was meant to provide criminal consequences, up to five years in prison, for health care providers who violate the 2002 law. Mothers would not be prosecuted under this law. In fact, a mother would have cause of action against an abortionist who did not provide care for her born-alive child. The House Speaker has stopped the bill from coming to a vote more than 80 times. And when Senator Mitch McConnell brought it up in February, Senate Democrats, including Kamala Harris, filibustered it. So, acting within the boundaries of his authority, the president issued this executive order. Shame on lawmakers who could not dig down deep to find the compassion to make this a law.