Republicans tried using the tragedy of losing a pregnancy to advance their politics
When Congress is at its best – doing what it should – it takes a problem and passes a bill to solve it. But sometimes, that process gets hijacked for something else: a solution in search of a problem.
That’s exactly what the so-called Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is: a bill to “solve” something that isn’t happening.
The Senate voted on the bill last week after Republicans insisted we spend our time not on legislation to expand access to health care, create jobs, lower prices, but instead on something simply meant to divide people. You might think this would be noncontroversial based on the title alone. But what does it actually do?
Republicans say the bill is a common-sense way to protect fetuses and newborn children. That it should be illegal to kill a newborn.
We agree! The thing is, it’s already illegal to harm a newborn baby. In the horrific cases used as examples for why we need this bill, the doctors are already in jail. Because again, it’s already illegal. And that’s been the case for a long time.
Just to clear up any ambiguity in federal law on the issue, Congress settled this in 2002 with the *bipartisan* Born-Alive Infant Protections Act which made sure all children born alive are equally protected under the law, regardless of the circumstance of birth.1 That means it’s illegal to harm a newborn baby, and doctors are required to provide medical care to babies once they are born.
Then why did Senate Republicans take up this legislation in 2025? What’s changed since 2002?
Nothing. It is still illegal to kill a newborn child. It was yesterday, and it will be tomorrow – as it should be.
And, the laws that we currently have on the books are effective. They’ve been used correctly to convict physicians who have broken the law and committed infanticide.2
For example, in 2013, a physician in Philadelphia was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder after he was arrested for committing infanticide. He is serving a life-sentence in prison. As he should.
The real answer to why Republicans want to pass this legislation now is simple. They’re playing political games and they’re using what is often the most difficult time in young parents’ lives to do it.
The bill’s language is written to be intentionally vague in order to intimidate health care providers who provide abortion care.
It would force doctors to use extraordinary measures to keep a fetus alive, even when doing so threatens a mother’s life, contradicts a doctor’s advice, or goes against the family’s wishes. For example, in the tragic case where a fetus has a fatal diagnosis, an induced labor could be considered an “attempted abortion”. A provider who induced the labor could be charged with up to five years in prison. Even if it would save the life of the mother.
Families would also lose their say on how they’d like to spend the last moments with their terminal newborn. Doctors’ hands would be tied, and they’d have to provide care – no matter how futile medical aid is or if it goes against the family’s wishes. These are some of the most painful moments someone can experience. These are decisions that are – and should continue to be – made between women and their doctors.
Republicans shouldn’t be using it as a gimmick to make a political point about abortion.
Since Roe was overturned in 2022, red states and MAGA Republicans have zeroed in on rolling back reproductive rights across the board. They’ve targeted access to contraception and IVF. Millions of women have lost rights their mothers had.
Now, this is their latest attempt.
There’s a long list of real solutions to the issues working Americans face – like high costs and access to affordable health care.
Let’s stop chasing our tail to score political points and instead tackle the real issues of working families.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/2175
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/us/kermit-gosnell-abortion-doctor-found-guilty-of-murder.html