Contact: James Wegmann, 202-224-4224

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2019 /Christian Newswire/ -- U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) released the following statement after House Democrats blocked Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's unanimous consent request to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Sasse introduced the Senate's companion legislation.

"Yesterday, Speaker Pelosi took the President of the nation's largest abortion business to the State of the Union address and today she's blocking legislation that makes it illegal to leave a newborn baby to die. This is morally repugnant. Passing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act shouldn't be hard - there are only two sides to this debate: you're defending babies or you're defending infanticide."

Background:
Senator Sasse's Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would protect newborns that survive abortions by requiring appropriate care and admission to a hospital. 

Monday night, Senator Sasse asked for unanimous consent to pass the legislation. Democrats blocked the request.

Sasse's legislation requires that, when an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, health care practitioners must exercise the same degree of professional skill and care to protect the newborn as would be offered to any other child born alive at the same gestational age. It also requires that the living child, after appropriate care has been given, be immediately transported and admitted to a hospital.

Currently, federal law does not adequately protect a born child who survives an abortion.