U.S. Senate Democrats once again hold the power to decide if babies who survive abortion will receive the same medical care as every other premature baby.
The new Senate majority leader, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., on Jan. 8 announced he would bring to a vote this month the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would mandate that lifesaving care for such babies born alive.
On Thursday, three anti-abortion senators formally introduced the bill.
The law wouldn’t decide the care; doctors would. The law would just protect the premature baby from being killed or ignored.
Do such laws already exist?
Of course, they do --- inconsistently.
It’s a patchwork nationally with many gaps.
The proposed federal bill has not fared well when Democrats have controlled the Senate or the House.
In June 2024, Senate Democrats blocked Sen. Thune’s request to bring the bill to the floor for consideration after it languished in committee for more than a year.
Over recent years, Republicans have filed discharge petitions when Democrats controlled the U.S. House. But not enough Democrats joined the Republicans in agreeing that there should even be a debate and vote on the matter.
The House has passed the bill when Republicans held a majority, but without both chambers in favor, of course, a bill goes nowhere.
The slim-and-ever-changing-Republican majority in the current House should be big enough to pass the newly introduced H.R. 21.
In the Senate, with a 53-47 Republican majority, two abortion-friendly GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, would have to vote in favor of the Senate bill, and seven courageous Democrats would have to cross the aisle to reach the 60 votes necessary for the bill to advance to a floor vote.
This bill has nothing to do with limiting access to abortion, but it's precisely the Democrats’ obsession with abortion that explains their opposition to this bill.
It’s a terrifying logic: For them, choice prevails over life.
The baby in the womb is targeted for death, and death it shall have.
The division over this bill comes down to this question: Where exactly is the point at which the protection of life prevails over the choice to end it?
Even if one recognizes a constitutional basis for saying abortion must be permitted (which the U.S. Supreme Court no longer does but some states do), is it unreasonable that Congress would legislate on where the boundaries of that choice rest?
As Sen. Thune explained, "This straightforward bill 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."
Getting the Democrats on the record on the bill is one of his top three priorities for this legislative session, along with curbing illegal immigration and supporting our ally, Israel.
But this is more than just a legislative priority or a political debate — it is a test of our national character. A society is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable members, and few are more vulnerable than a newborn gasping for breath, alone and fighting for life. To deny care to these children is to turn a blind eye to the very essence of humanity and compassion. And yes, it does happen, as both the CDC and various states record and as survivors of abortion testify. If we cannot even agree as a nation that babies already born deserve care, what does that say about who we are?
I doubt the Democrats are ready to pass this test, though some may be re-evaluating the political wisdom of their position. Their abortion extremism was certainly a factor in President Donald Trump being returned to the White House and Republicans winning control of the House and Senate. Americans have spoken; we just need a handful of Democrats to have received the message.
“This vote will ask Democrats to answer whether a living baby born after an attempted abortion should be provided with medical care or left to die,” Sen. Thune said. “It shouldn’t be a hard question.”
America truly stands at a crossroads. Will we choose to defend the defenseless, or will we allow partisan politics to erode our moral foundation?
Every Democrat who opposes this bill will need to explain to their constituents — and to their own consciences — why they believe a newborn child, already born and fighting for life, does not deserve care.
This is not just a vote; it is a moment of moral reckoning.
Frank Pavone is an anti-abortion leader, and National Director of Priests for Life. Read Frank Pavone Reports — More Here.