Born-Alive Abortion Survivors bill fails to beat Senate filibuster

February 25, 2019 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Washington D.C., Feb 25, 2019 / 04:40 pm (CNA).- The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act has failed to achieve the 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture and bring the legislation forward. The Senate voted of 53 to 44 to invoke cloture on Monday, but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to halt a filibuster by Democratic senators.

The vote was almost entirely on party lines.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), the legislation’s lead sponsor, submitted the bill in early February using the Rule 14 process, which means the bill was brought directly to the Senate floor. After an initial attempt to pass the bill via unanimous voice vote was foiled by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Feb. 4, the process shifted to a roll-call vote.

Speaking on the floor of the Senate Monday, Sasse urged members from both parties to consider how little the legislation actually aimed to ensure.

“I urge my colleagues to picture a baby that’s already been born, that’s outside the womb gasping for air. That’s the only thing that today’s vote is actually about. We’re talking about babies that have already been born. Nothing in this bill touches abortion access,” Sasse said.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would have penalized doctors or other medical professionals who do not provide medical care to infants who are born alive following a botched abortion attempt. The bill does not restrict abortion rights.

Several Democratic senators spoke against the bill saying it would force doctors to provide care against the “reproductive rights” and “choices” of women.

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) called the measure a “solution in search of a problem,” and that it could force doctors to provide “unnecessary” or even “harmful” care to patients. She was not clear if she was referring to the child or the mother as the “patient.”

Speaking after the vote, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said it was “unconscionable” that “protecting innocent, newborn abortion survivors is now a partisan issue.”

“Every infant that is born alive despite a botched abortion deserves the same proper medical care and treatment that doctors are required to give to other newborns,” Rubio said.

The Florida senator was an original co-sponsor of the bill.

Rubio said that the vote “made it crystal clear” that Democratic senators “support the legalization of infanticide” and “openly embraced the growing extremism” within their party.

Sasse told CNA on Feb. 1 that he did not think there was “any legitimate argument” that could be made against his legislation, and that he hoped that nobody in the Senate would oppose the bill.

The Nebraska senator brought the fast-track the legislation in response to comments by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) that appeared to endorse neglecting infants who survived late-term abortions. Northam’s spokesperson later said that the governor was only referring to infants with “severe” birth defects or other disabilities.

Sasse said that objecting to his bill would be a sign of support for infanticide.

“(Members of the Senate) need to show what side they’re on,” Sasse told CNA in February. “It’s a pretty simple question: are you on the side of these vulnerable little babies, or are you on the side of Gov. Northam and his defense of infanticide?”

Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (WV), Bob Casey (PA) and Doug Jones (AL) all voted in favor of the bill, as did Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). The four senators are usually considered to be potential swing votes on abortion issues.

While uncommon, there have been many documented cases of infants surviving abortions. Former abortionist Kermit Gosnell is currently serving a life sentence after he was found to have murdered numerous infants who were born alive after surviving attempted late-term abortions.

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Catholic Social Services launch new appeal to Supreme Court

June 3, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Washington D.C., Jun 3, 2019 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Lawyers representing Catholic Social Services of Philadelphia are appealing to the Supreme Court after the agency was stripped of its contract to provide foster care services for the city for refusing to place children with same-sex couples.

Although the Supreme Court declined to hear the case last year, Lori Windham, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is providing counsel in the case, said that this year is a different story.

“Last year, we made a very unusual emergency request asking the Supreme Court to get involved before the case even been heard in the appeals court,” Windham explained to CNA June 3.

In April, the Third Circut Court of Appeals ruled that city contractors in Philadelphia must place foster children with same-sex couples.

Although the Supreme Court declined the case earlier this year, three members–Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas–dissented from the decision.

Windham said that the minority interest was “encouraging” at the time, and that following the appeals court ruling the case was ready for the higher court’s attention.

“Now is the time for the Supreme Court appeal,” said Windham.

The City of Philadelphia received an allegation in March 2018 that two of the Department of Human Services’ approximately 30 contracted agencies would not place children with same-sex couples as foster parents. After the department investigated, it stopped referring foster children to those agencies.

One of those agencies was Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (CSS), that had been working with foster children since its founding. CSS served approximately 120 foster children in about 100 homes at any one time and been in operation in the city for more than a century.

At the time the contract was ended, no same-sex couple had ever approached Catholic Social Services seeking a home study or placement, and there are 30 other foster care agencies located in the city which work regularly with same-sex couples.

If a same-sex couple, or an unmarried couple living together, were to have approached Catholic Social Services seeking a home study for foster care, Catholic Social Services would have worked to refer them to another foster care agency, Windham explained.

“[Catholic Social Services] simply cannot provide a written certification for a marriage relationship that is contrary to their beliefs,” she said.

Immediately before ending its relationship with Catholic Social Services, Philadelphia officials put out an “urgent call” for 300 new foster families, in part due to the ongoing opioid crisis. Due to its decision to stop working with Catholic Social Services, many eligible, safe foster homes are now empty.

Windham claimed the city was inventing policies specifically to target Catholic Social Services.

“The city is still trying to use city laws and policies–they can’t quite tell us which policy, they keep making them up as they go along–the city is making up new policies to try and shut down Catholic Social Services and stop them from caring for foster children as they have done for a century,” she said.

“The city of Philadelphia has engaged in some really disturbing targeting of Catholic beliefs,” said Windham.

“The head of the city agency in charge of foster children told Catholic [Social Services] that it’s not 100 years ago, and that they need to obey the teachings of Pope Francis,” she said.

Pope Francis has said that same-sex marriage “threatens the family” and “disfigures God’s plan for creation.” The pope has also told parents to love their gay children.

Additionally, Philadelphia’s city council “passed a resolution calling this ‘discrimination under the guise of religious freedom,”” said Windham.

“So I think this city has sent a really troubling message to Catholics.”

Windham noted to CNA that the Trump administration had made a series of recent decisions aimed at protecting religious liberty, and highlighted the president’s announcement last month that he would reverse a policy that denied federal funding to adoption organizations that will not work with same-sex couples.

“Unfortunately, the city of Philadelphia did not get the message,” said Windham.

[…]

1 Comment

  1. The democratic senators who voted against this will probably get re-elected when they run again, but they should keep in mind that inevitably they will face a higher court.

    Reply

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