North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday vetoed a bill that would have required doctors to try to preserve the life of any infant born alive during an attempted abortion.
The state's Republican-controlled Legislature had passed the bill, called the "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act," this week. In a letter announcing his veto, Cooper, a Democrat, wrote that laws "already protect newborn babies, and this bill is an unnecessary interference between doctors and their parents."
"This needless legislation would criminalize doctors and other healthcare providers for a practice that simply does not exist," Cooper wrote. Under the proposed law, if an infant were born alive during an abortion attempt against it, any health care practitioner there would be required to "exercise the same degree of professional skill, care and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonable, diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age."
A health care practitioner who does not do that would be guilty of a class D felony. Additionally, anyone who intentionally "performs an overt act" that kills the child would be guilty of murder, the proposal says.
Most of the bill's supporters in the Legislature were Republicans, though it attracted affirmative votes from a few Democrat lawmakers. Two of the bill's primary sponsors, Sen. Joyce Kawiec and Rep. Pat McElraft, said in a joint statement Thursday that "caring for a living, breathing newborn infant is too restrictive for Gov. Cooper's radical abortion agenda," according to CNN affiliate WRAL.
"We thought Democrats would agree that children born alive should be separate from the abortion debate, but it's clear that they want the 'right to choose' to even extend past birth," the two Republican lawmakers said. "This is a sad day for North Carolina."
The state Senate passed the bill Monday with a 28-19 vote, with three senators absent. Two Democrat senators voted for it.
The House passed it Tuesday with a vote of 65-46, with nine lawmakers absent or not voting. Four Democrat representatives voted yes. To override Cooper's veto, legislators would need the approval of three-fifths of each chamber.
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NORTH CAROLINA DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR VETOES
PRO-LIFE "BORN ALIVE" BILL
BY RAVEN CLABOUGH
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper has vetoed a measure that would have protected babies born alive during a late-term abortion, proving once again that the Democratic Party has become the “pro-infanticide” party.
Under the legislation, healthcare practitioners would be required to provide life-saving care for newborns born alive during botched abortions. Those who fail to do so could face a felony and prison time, along with fines and civil damages, the Washington Times reports.Cooper contends the legislation is unnecessary. “Laws already protect newborn babies and this bill is an unnecessary interference between doctors and their patients,” Cooper wrote in his veto message. “This needless legislation would criminalize doctors and other health care providers for a practice that simply does not exist.”But according to the North Carolina Values Coalition, five states reported at least 25 children were born alive during attempted abortions in 2017, and while North Carolina does not maintain those sort of statistics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 140 infant deaths nationwide involved induced terminations from 2003 to 2014, the Times writes.There is also video evidence that contradicts claims that “born-alive” legislation is needless. Live Action president Lila Rose issued a statement outlining this evidence:Live Action has documented on camera how abortionists in our country’s notorious late-term abortion facilities talk about survivors of abortion. Washington, D.C. abortionist Cesare Santangelo told our undercover investigators that he would make sure babies “do not survive” if they were born alive at his facility. A New York abortion worker told our Live Action investigator to “flush” the baby down the toilet or “put it in a bag” if she’s born alive. In Arizona, an abortion worker told us there “may be movement” after the baby is outside of the mother and that they would refuse to provide help and instead let her die. Dr. DeShawn Taylor, former medical director for Planned Parenthood, told a Center for Medical Progress investigator that identifying “signs of life” after a baby survives an abortion is contingent upon “who’s in the room.”Governor Cooper seems to be taking a page right out of Ralph Northam’s book. The Governor of Virginia said in a January radio interview that he supports infanticide of babies who survive botched abortions, also citing the intimate relationship between the patient (the mother) and her doctor.“This is why decisions such as this should be made by providers, physicians and the mothers and fathers that are involved,” he said. “When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physician — more than one physician, by the way — and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities. There may be a fetus that’s non-viable.”Sadly, Cooper and Northam do not appear to be exceptions to the rule. Twenty times Senate Democrats have blocked a Republican bill that threatens prison time for healthcare practitioners who do not attempt to save the life of infants born alive during failed abortions .“If an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, the infant is a legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States, and entitled to all the protections of such laws," reads the legislation, adding: "Any infant born alive after an abortion or within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the same claim to the protection of the law that would arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within its care."All of the prominent Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls — Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — have voted down the measure.Still, pro-life lawmakers are taking a stand against the anti-life legislation that has sadly become a trend since New York passed its Reproductive Health Act. Following in New York’s footsteps, legislatures in Rhode Island, New Mexico, Vermont, and Illinois have proposed measures to expand access to late-term abortions. Texas is close to passing its own “born-alive” bill, which would likely be signed into law by GOP Governor Greg Abbott. Arkansas, North Dakota, Iowa, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Ohio have also passed fetal heartbeat bills that prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. Unfortunately, many of those laws are currently not in effect as a result of court orders.
