House GOP Pushes for Floor Vote on Born Alive Act

Republicans are maneuvering to give an abortion survivors protection bill a floor vote in the Democrat-controlled House.

GOP leaders will file a discharge petition to force a vote on the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act on April 2 in an effort to force a vote after Democrats have refused to bring it out of committee. Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R., La.) is spearheading the effort to gain the 218 votes needed to accomplish that goal. That would require the support of his entire caucus, as well as 21 Democrats. Scalise acknowledged that the maneuver is rarely used, but said it was necessary given the embrace of "radical abortion" positions advancing in blue states, such as New York.

"This is one tool we have, especially as the minority party, to try to bring very important and critical legislation to a vote," he told the Washington Free Beacon. "There is momentum already starting to build … we already have heard from some Democrats and there's been a lot of interest from the pro-life community."

The bill would force abortionists and medical personnel to provide care to infants who survive the procedure and are born alive. Bills in the House and Senate emerged following public outcry when Virginia's Democratic governor Ralph Northam endorsed allowing babies to die on the table if doctors did not receive permission from mothers to care for them. Scalise called the practice "barbaric" and recent late-term abortion legislation in New York has "alarmed people all across the country."

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