WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - Senate Democrats voted 53-44 against a measure that would have provided medical care to babies born alive after botched abortions.
The Senate vote for the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act took place Monday, and failed to meet the minimum 60 votes to overcome the filibuster.
Not all Democrats voted against the bill. Three Democrats — Doug Jones (Ala.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Bob Casey, Jr. (Pa.) — joined Republicans in voting to pass the pro-life measure. Republican Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) abstained from voting. Republican Senators Tim Scott and Kevin Cramer would have voted in support of it but were unable to be present.
Reaction to the failed measure was swift. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tweeted, "Repulsive. Tell me more about how our children are threatened by climate change while voting not to protect children born alive, Senators."
Repulsive. Tell me more about how our children are threatened by climate change while voting not to protect children born alive, Senators. https://t.co/ZMFcgTycxn
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 25, 2019
Catholic writer Matt Walsh called the Democratic Party "evil beyond words."
A vast majority of senate Democrats voted against a bill that would require clinics to provide care to infants born alive after a failed abortion. They officially and on the record endorsed the murder of born infants. That is infanticide. The Democratic Party is evil beyond words
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 26, 2019
Ryan Saavedra of The Daily Wire noted that every Democrat running for president next year voted against the measure.
BREAKING: Presidential candidates Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders have voted "NO" on a bill that would've required doctors to provide medical care to infants born alive after an attempted abortion.
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) February 26, 2019
Lila Rose of Live Action also tweeted the names of Democrat presidential hopefuls.
Elizabeth Warren
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) February 25, 2019
Bernie Sanders
Kirsten Gillibrand
Kamala Harris
Amy Klobuchar
Cory Booker
ALL just voted "NO" against MEDICAL CARE FOR BABIES WHO SURVIVE ABORTION.
Infants. Babies crying for help. By default, they voted for infanticide.
The 2020 Dem Candidates for Prez of USA
Father Frank Pavone, executive director of Priests for Life, made clear this would be an election day issue.
Ok, folks, so the vote on the Born Alive bill in the Senate was 53 to 44 and therefore the Democrats prevented a basic step forward to protecting babies born alive.
— Fr. Frank Pavone ���� (@frfrankpavone) February 25, 2019
Powerful #Election 2020 issue. Don’t complain when we use it to hammer you at the polls.
Benjamin Weingarten of The Federalist called it an "abomination."
This is a moral abomination. Those on the Left who love to virtue-signal and claim their political opponents are deplorable ALL stood for this https://t.co/smI2pwGBJs
— Benjamin Weingarten (@bhweingarten) February 25, 2019
In comments shortly after the vote, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) said the vote "made it crystal clear" that Democrats "support the legalization of infanticide ... ."
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.) introduced the bill in the wake of New York's abortion law passed last month, the most radical abortion measure in the history of the country, which would allow killing of an unborn child for practically any reason up to the moment of birth — and even after birth, if it's the result of a botched abortion.
"What this bill does is try to secure basic rights, equal rights, for babies that are born and survive outside the womb," Sassie said on the Senate floor before voting took place.
"I urge my colleagues to picture a baby that's already been born, that's outside the womb gasping for air," Sasse said. "That's the only thing that today's vote is actually about. We're talking about babies that have already been born."
Democrats argued that the new bill would restrict doctors' options on how to handle babies with serious medical conditions, arguing that the 2002 Born Alive Infants Protection Act already provides basic protections against infanticide. Sasse's bill would have built on the 2002 law, clarifying what steps doctors must take to save such babies, including immediately sending them to the hospital.