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President Trump Announces ‘Born Alive’ Executive Order Guaranteeing Medical Treatment To Infants That Survive Abortion

   DailyWire.com
A three-days-old baby.
FRANK RUMPENHORST/DPA/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will sign an executive order guaranteeing medical care to infants who survive failed abortion attempts, bringing the weight of the federal government behind the Born Alive Act.

Trump revealed the Born Alive Executive Order Wednesday morning in a livestreamed message to the annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast held in Washington, D.C., according to Catholic News Agency.

“Today I am announcing that I will be signing the Born-Alive Executive Order to ensure that all precious babies born alive, no matter their circumstances, receive the medical care that they deserve. This is our sacrosanct moral duty,” Trump said.

CNA reports that, while the executive order is still under wraps, it is expected to mirror the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act — a piece of legislation that is regularly introduced in Congress but has yet to pass. The last time the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act made headlines was in February of 2019 (several states, CNA points out, have passed their own version of the Born Alive Act).

That act “establishes requirements for the degree of care a health care practitioner must exercise in the event a child is born alive following an abortion or attempted abortion,” according to the official House record.

The act mandates that:

  • A health care practitioner who is present must (1) exercise the same degree of care as reasonably provided to another child born alive at the same gestational age, and (2) immediately admit the child to a hospital. The bill also requires a health care practitioner or other employee to immediately report any failure to comply with this requirement to law enforcement.
  • A person who violates the requirements is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.
  • Additionally, an individual who intentionally kills or attempts to kill a child born alive is subject to prosecution for murder.

The bill explicitly notes that it does not introduce any new obstacles to obtaining a legal abortion, even through the third trimester, and it does not criminalize a woman for seeking an abortion, for “conspiracy to violate these provisions, [or] for being an accessory after the fact, or for concealment of felony.”

It also provides mothers of born-alive infants who do not receive the required care the ability to sue their health care professional for violation of the act.

In addition to the executive order, “Trump also announced that his administration would be ‘increasing federal funding for neonatal research, to ensure that every child has the very best chance to thrive and to grow.’ September is Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Awareness month,” CNA noted.

The issue of abortion is suddenly front and center in Washington as the Trump administration prepares to announce a nominee to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court. Although the White House cannot ask about nominees’ feelings on legal abortion, “conservative” justices, like the one Trump is expected to nominate, are typically seen by the Left as a threat to the continued existence of “abortion rights.”

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