OB/GYN Testifies Before Congress: Babies That Survive Abortion Are Being Left to Die

(CNSNews.com) — As Democrats continue to block a House vote on the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 962),” Dr. Kathi Aultman, M.D., recently testified on the issue and told CNSNews.com that, as a society, “we have been so blinded by the abortion rhetoric that now letting babies die after they are born doesn’t seem bad either.”

“The opposition is saying that it [H.R. 962] is an impediment to abortion, which it is not,” Aultman told CNSNews.com. “It only deals with a baby that has survived abortion and asks you to treat that baby like you would treat any baby of that same gestational age.”

Dr. Aultman, is a board-certified OB/GYN and a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The “Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” would  “amend Title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.”

Basically, if a baby survives an abortion, the law would require that the child receive immediate medical care and be admitted to a hospital. If the abortionist or doctor fails to do this, he would face criminal penalties, including a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.

In addition, “an individual who intentionally kills or attempts to kill a child born alive is subject to prosecution for murder,” reads the legislation.  “The bill bars the criminal prosecution of a mother of a child born alive for conspiracy to violate these provisions, for being an accessory after the fact, or for concealment of felony.”

On Sep. 12, House Republicans led by GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), and Pro-Life Caucus Chair Chris Smith (R-N.J.) held a hearing on this issue. According to Dr. Aultman, the opposition by the majority Democrats in the House is preventing the legislation from being given a floor vote.

“Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is determined not to let it go to the floor,” Aultman said. “She wouldn’t even give them a hearing room for the hearing. They had to go to the basement.”

This should not be a partisan issue, she said. There has been a lot of misinformation from the media and the opposition regarding the bill, said Aultman, including the notion that there are not many third-trimester abortions and that babies are unlikely to survive late-term abortions.

“1.3 percent, over 600,000 abortions reported in 2015 were late-term abortions and … there were probably many more — the states don’t have to report, it is a voluntary reporting.” Aultman said. “They [babies] can survive, they do survive and we have survivors walking around.”

Democrats justified blocking the bill claiming it would put unnecessary restrictions on the doctors and push them to do “unnecessary” procedures on premature kids. Aultman said that is not the case and explained that the legislation is about granting the same right to wanted and unwanted babies.

“We shouldn’t even have a bill like that except for the fact that babies are being brought to die,” Aultman said. “That is why that bill is so critical and why people need to contact their congressman and find out if they have they sign the discharge petition [to force a floor vote], and if they haven’t, pressure them to sign it.”

Although a previous bill signed by President George W. Bush in 2002 helped define babies born alive after abortion as persons, Aultman said it failed to “prevent the babies to die from neglect.”

“It did not give the abortion industry any guidelines for what is to be done,” Autlman said. “This bill [H.R. 962] does, it gives law enforcement and medical providers all a clear guideline of what needs to happen.”