"Have we no heart for these vulnerable little human beings? Have we no compassion? Have we no shame?"
– James Dobson, Ph.D.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Yesterday, Feb. 25, 2019, the U.S. Senate voted on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act sponsored by Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.). Senate Democrats blocked the Republican-backed bill 53-44, leaving it seven votes short of the 60-vote threshold required to overcome a legislative filibuster. The measure received support from three Democrats (Casey-PA, Manchin-WV, and Jones-AL) while three Republicans did not vote (Cramer-ND, Murkowski-AK, Tim Scott-SC). Scott and Cramer's absences were reportedly due to travel delays. Senate bill S.311 would have guaranteed that any child born alive in the context of an abortion would be provided full legal protection as a living human being and, therefore, receive medical treatment to save the child's life. There is currently no federal law which requires medical professionals to provide treatment for children born alive after attempted abortions, and as of 2014, only 26 states had laws mandating medical care in such instances. Furthermore, New York's recently passed Reproductive Health Act (RHA) removed that state's protection for children that are born alive after an abortion.
Dr. James Dobson issues the following statement in reaction to the failed Senate vote:
"February 25, 2019, is a disgraceful day in the history of the U.S. Senate, which failed to pass legislation that would have protected newborn babies, some of them at full term, from infanticide. These pitiful babies come into the world wounded after attempts to abort them and are then left to die on porcelain trays, alone and frightened, without the warmth and comfort of their mothers' breast. Have we no heart for these vulnerable little human beings? Have we no compassion? Have we no shame? God Himself created these precious babies who encountered a cruel, cold world, where they would spend their last minutes or hours of life, a few steps from doctors and nurses who could have saved them. It is unconscionable that forty-four Democrats voted against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. In so doing, they grievously failed to denounce infanticide in America. Forty-four Democrats, including six currently running for president, chose instead to hide behind such tired euphemisms as a 'women's health,' 'health-care options,' and 'privacy.' Senators, including Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, recycled these lies rather than acknowledging the gruesome fact that because of their complicity, it remains legal in nearly half of America to murder babies—outside their mother's womb—after they survived a botched abortion. God forgive us!"
See How Your Senators Voted
YEAs—53
Alexander(R-TN)
Barrasso(R-WY)
Blackburn(R-TN)
Blunt(R-MO)
Boozman(R-AR)
Braun(R-IN)
Burr(R-NC)
Capito(R-WV)
Casey(D-PA)
Cassidy(R-LA)
Collins(R-ME)
Cornyn(R-TX)
Cotton(R-AR)
Crapo(R-ID)
Cruz(R-TX)
Daines(R-MT)
Enzi(R-WY)
Ernst(R-IA)
Fischer(R-NE)
Gardner(R-CO)
Graham(R-SC)
Grassley(R-IA)
Hawley(R-MO)
Hoeven(R-ND)
Hyde-Smith(R-MS)
Inhofe(R-OK)
Isakson(R-GA)
Johnson(R-WI)
Jones(D-AL)
Kennedy(R-LA)
Lankford(R-OK)
Lee(R-UT)
Manchin(D-WV)
McConnell(R-KY)
McSally(R-AZ)
Moran(R-KS)
Paul(R-KY)
Perdue(R-GA)
Portman(R-OH)
Risch(R-ID)
Roberts(R-KS)
Romney(R-UT)
Rounds(R-SD)
Rubio(R-FL)
Sasse(R-NE)
Scott(R-FL)
Shelby(R-AL)
Sullivan(R-AK)
Thune(R-SD)
Tillis(R-NC)
Toomey(R-PA)
Wicker(R-MS)
Young(R-IN)
If your senator(s) voted "Yea," please thank him/her for supporting the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
NAYs—44
Baldwin(D-WI)
Bennet(D-CO)
Blumenthal(D-CT)
Booker(D-NJ)
Brown(D-OH)
Cantwell(D-WA)
Cardin(D-MD)
Carper(D-DE)
Coons(D-DE)
Cortez Masto(D-NV)
Duckworth(D-IL)
Durbin(D-IL)
Feinstein(D-CA)
Gillibrand(D-NY)
Harris(D-CA)
Hassan(D-NH)
Heinrich(D-NM)
Hirono(D-HI)
Kaine(D-VA)
King(I-ME)
Klobuchar(D-MN)
Leahy(D-VT)
Markey(D-MA)
Menendez(D-NJ)
Merkley(D-OR)
Murphy(D-CT)
Murray(D-WA)
Peters(D-MI)
Reed(D-RI)
Rosen(D-NV)
Sanders(I-VT)
Schatz(D-HI)
Schumer(D-NY)
Shaheen(D-NH)
Sinema(D-AZ)
Smith(D-MN)
Stabenow(D-MI)
Tester(D-MT)
Udall(D-NM)
Van Hollen(D-MD)
Warner(D-VA)
Warren(D-MA)
Whitehouse(D-RI)
Wyden(D-OR)
If your senator(s) voted "Nay," please contact him/her and politely express your disappointment in him/her for failing to protect newborn babies from infanticide.
Not Voting—3
Cramer(R-ND)
Murkowski(R-AK)
Scott(R-SC)