A Kentucky Senate panel has approved a bill to require that doctors and other health workers provide life-saving care for an infant born alive after a failed abortion attempt.
The measure sailed through the Senate Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee without opposition Thursday.
The bill now heads to the Republican-dominated senate.
Sen. Whitney Westerfield, the bill’s lead sponsor, says he isn’t aware of any instances in which an infant was born alive in Kentucky from a failed abortion. But he says the measure is needed to “prevent it ever happening.”
“Who can dispute that that’s a human life?” Westerfield said. “It’s outside the womb. It’s alive. Who would advocate for it to be killed? … We want to make sure the law’s there to punish those that are trying to do it and get away with it.”
The bill would require that health-care workers give “medically appropriate and reasonable life-saving and life-sustaining medical care and treatment” to any infant born after a failed abortion.
Violating the bill would be a felony punishable by 1 to 5 years in prison. It would apply to doctors and other health workers found in violation of the care requirements.
By the Associated Press
