During her testimony before Congress last week, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch refused to say whether she would enforce the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act if it became federal law.
The bill, HR 3504, would amend the federal Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which defines babies who are delivered live after attempted abortions as persons, with specific legal requirements to provide care for such babies and a maximum five-year prison sentence for refusing to do so. Just five House Democrats voted for BAASA in September, a stark decline from the unanimous bipartisan support BAIPA received.
“There’s legislation here in the Congress that’s passed the House that would give definitive protection to born alive – now, I’m not talking about unborn babies – but born alive babies that have survived the abortion process,” Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) said. “Would you support that legislation, and would you enforce it if it were in statute?”
“Certainly with respect to any draft legislation proposed by this body, the Department of Justice will review it and provide the relevant input to you for your help and for your use,” Lynch replied, but “not having not seen the drafts, I’m not able to comment on specifics.”
Franks followed up by asking if would “generally” support the legislative goal of protecting born children who survived abortion attempts, but she would not commit to anything further than “look[ing] at whatever proposals you have.” Franks repeatedly emphasized that “born alive” infants were at issue here, not preborn fetuses, and lamented, “That’s too bad you can’t answer a question like that.”
As Live Action News reported last week, the head of the Justice Department also admitted to Congress that she still had not watched the Center for Medical Progress undercover videos, four months after pledging to “review all the information and determine what steps, if any, to take at the appropriate time.”
