Senate Democrats block GOP's 'born-alive' abortion bill

Senate Republicans failed on Wednesday to invoke cloture on a bill legislating care for infants "born alive" during attempted abortions, with the motion largely serving to get Democrats on the record as voting against a bill being framed as anti-infanticide.

Republicans sought cloture on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a bill that requires health care practitioners to provide the "same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence" for a child born alive during an attempted abortion, as they would during normal childbirth.

Health care practitioners who fail to comply with the law would face fines and up to five years in jail or both. House Republicans passed their version of the bill when they retook control in 2023. Democrats have routinely criticized "born-alive" bills as being redundant because killing an infant who was born alive following an attempted abortion is already illegal.

Though Republicans gained control of the Senate, their 53-47 majority does not give them enough votes for the three-fifths majority — 60 votes — needed for cloture.

The motion for cloture Wednesday failed with a vote of 52-47. Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) did not vote.

“Senator Hagerty was responding to a family health matter that required his presence. He is a staunch pro-life advocate and would have voted aye,” a spokesperson for the senator told The Hill.

The bill is timed to coincide with the March for Life on Friday, which will bring together anti-abortions activists from across the country and their allies in Washington. Wednesday also marks the 52nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which was struck down in 2022.

"We should all be able to agree that a baby born alive after an attempted abortion must be protected, and yet I fully expect that later today my Democrat colleagues will vote no on this legislation," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.).

"They will vote against protection for a living, breathing newborn baby simply because that child has been born alive after an attempted abortion."

An infant being born alive following an abortion is extremely rare. Between 2003 and 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 143 instances of an infant being born alive after an attempted termination.

A report from the Minnesota Department of Health found that among the 10,177 abortions performed in the state in 2017, three were reported to have resulted in an infant being born alive, none of whom survived.

"The Republican so-called 'born-alive' bill is pernicious as they come," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.

"It attacks women's health care using false narratives and outright fearmongering, and it adds more legal risk for doctors on something that's already illegal. So much of the hard right's anti-choice agenda is pushed, frankly, by people who have little or no understanding of what women go through when they are pregnant," he added.

— Updated at 5:04 p.m. EST

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