Some of the rhetoric surrounding a new North Carolina bill gives the impression that laws don’t already protect newborns who survive an abortion.
The "Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act," or Senate Bill 359, instructs physicians and nurses to care specifically for newborns who survive an abortion.
The proposal includes new punishments for physicians and nurses who don’t comply with the law or who fail to report noncompliance. They could face felony charges, prison time and up to $250,000 in fines.
The state House and Senate approved the bill this week, but Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed it Thursday and it remains to be seen whether lawmakers will pass it over his opposition. Democrats have opposed it, saying newborns are already protected and the bill is meant to intimidate medical care providers. Republicans have voiced concern for infants born alive during an abortion.
Sen. Joyce Krawiec, a Republican from Kernersville and one of the bill sponsors, said during an April 15 speech on the Senate floor that protections are needed.
"No, we do not have laws in place protecting babies who are born alive as the result of an abortion," she said, according to WRAL.
Legal experts disagree.
Many protectionsLegal experts say a range of laws protect newborns regardless of the circumstances of their birth. In other words, newborns are protected even if they enter the world during the course of an abortion.
The U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause, state constitutions, and a variety of homicide laws also apply, said Neil Siegel, an attorney and professor at Duke Law School.
"If you have a baby born alive, it doesn’t matter if it was born from a failed abortion or otherwise … it’s entitled to full constitutional protections," Siegel said in a phone interview.