House Dems Peddle False Abortion Attack in Quest To Flip Lower Chamber

As they work to take back the House in November, Democrats are accusing Republicans of voting for legislation that would "make abortion a crime and punish doctors with jail time." But the bill they cite does no such thing. Instead, it requires physicians to care for babies born following botched abortions.

Several Democratic groups targeted Republican Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Ore.), Anthony D’Esposito (N.Y.), Nick LaLota (N.Y.), Marcus Molinaro (N.Y.), Mike Lawler (N.Y.), and John Duarte (Calif.) in ads centered on H.R. 26, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

The House Majority PAC, for example, released a Facebook ad in September accusing Chavez-DeRemer of voting "to jail doctors who perform abortions." The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) wrote that "Molinaro voted for a bill that could punish doctors who provide abortion care with jail time."

But a Washington Free Beacon review found no evidence to support those charges. The attacks reference, and sometimes explicitly cite, the GOP lawmakers’ votes for H.R. 26 as evidence that they want to jail abortion doctors.

That bill, which passed the House in January 2023 but didn’t proceed further, specified the care doctors would need to provide babies who survive botched abortions. Nothing in it indicated that physicians would be punished for successful, legal abortions.

The legislation required doctors to "exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age." A baby that survives an abortion, in other words, is a "legal person" and must be immediately transported to a hospital for life-saving medical care.

Democrats have attempted to make abortion a central issue for the 2024 elections. Presidential nominee Kamala Harris in March became the first vice president to visit an abortion clinic when she toured a Planned Parenthood location in Minnesota. The group, which has endorsed Harris, hosted a mobile clinic outside last month’s Democratic National Convention, providing free abortions and vasectomies.

Had the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act passed, doctors who failed to provide adequate care for botched abortion survivors could have faced up to five years in prison. Physicians and other employees would have been required to report doctors who didn’t comply. The legislation also included protections for mothers from prosecution and provided them with the right to sue the doctor.

The six Republicans the Democratic groups targeted have vowed to oppose a federal abortion ban and support exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. "I believe health decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, not Washington," Molinaro said in an August ad, for example. "And I kept my promise to oppose a national abortion ban—maintaining current access in New York."

While denying that she supports a national ban, Chavez-DeRemer said, "I’ve never been pro-choice enough for the left, and I’ve never been pro-life enough for the right." She also faced criticism from two pro-life groups after she reversed positions and opposed limits on taxpayer-funded abortions in 2023. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called it a "betrayal." CatholicVote president Brian Burch said, "she sold us out," and promised to back a future pro-life challenger.

It’s rare for babies to survive abortions, but Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz’s Minnesota provides a handful of examples. Between 2019 and 2021, doctors didn’t take measures to preserve life for at least eight babies who survived abortions, the Daily Signal reported in August.

As governor, Walz signed legislation in May 2023 that stripped language requiring that reasonable measures be taken to "preserve the life and health" of babies who survive abortions. It was replaced with a more general requirement for "care," which the bill’s author described as "comfort" care.

Walz also signed a bill in January declaring abortion a "fundamental right."

The DCCC and House Majority PAC did not return a request for comment.

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