West Virginia passes bipartisan ‘Born Alive’ law

March 4, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Charleston, W.Va., Mar 4, 2020 / 08:30 am (CNA).- West Virginia became the latest state to pass legislation which requires that babies born alive after an attempted abortion be given medical care.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act was signed into law by Gov. Jim Justice (R) on Monday, March 2. The law will go into effect on May 19.

“It’s unbelievable that we even have to go through this process for something that seems like it’s just common sense,” said Justice at the bill’s ceremonial signing.

“But, at the same time, we should be really proud that we’re defending the lives of our most vulnerable. To God above, that baby is worth it.”

Unlike similar bills aimed at protecting children born after abortions, including at the federal level, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act received widespread bipartisan support in West Virginia.

The bill passed unanimously in the West Virginia Senate, which is composed of  20 Republicans and 14 Democrats. In the West Virginia House of Delegates, the bill passed by a vote of 93-5, with all five “nay” votes coming from Democrats. More than 30 Democratic delegates voted in favor of the bill, with one abstention.

Justice added that the signing of the bill was a sign that “we stand for life and we stand for the right stuff.” He referred to the bill as a “no-brainer” and said that he had been a longtime supporter of this kind of legislation.

Justice was elected governor in 2016 running as a Democrat. In 2017, he switched to the Republican Party.

Under the new law, a child born alive after an attempted abortion must be given age-appropriate treatment that a child of the same gestational age would receive. The law states that the physician must use “reasonable medical judgment” when administering care, and ensure that the baby is transported and admitted to a hospital.

The bill defines “alive” as a child born with a beating heart, pulsating umbilical cord, or “definite movement of voluntary muscles.”

Abortion is already not legal in West Virginia after the 20th week of a pregnancy, and the state’s only abortion clinic does not perform abortions after the 16 weeks gestation.

A recent attempt to pass a born-alive bill at the federal level failed. Only three Democratic senators–including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)–voted in favor of the bill.

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Members of Congress push for end to the federal death penalty

January 26, 2021 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Jan 26, 2021 / 03:55 pm (CNA).- Dozens of members of Congress are urging the Attorney General-designate to stop use of the federal death penalty.

In a letter to Attorney General-designate Merrick Garland on Tuesday, 45 members of the House—led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Adriano Espillat (D-N.Y.)—asked Garland to work with Congress on legislation to end the federal death penalty, once he is confirmed.

 

In addition, they asked Garland to take specific steps to halt or end use of the death penalty nationwide, including by revoking the Trump administration’s 2019 resumption of federal executions.

“The death penalty is a stain on the United States’ commitment to advancing justice and human rights,” the letter signed by 45 members stated. “We ask that upon confirmation you partner with Congress to enact legislation to end the federal death penalty and resentence those currently on federal death row,” the members stated.

 

In 2019, Attorney General William Barr—a Catholic—announced a resumption of federal executions after a nearly two-decade moratorium.

 

Beginning in July, a total of 13 federal death row inmates were executed by the end of the Trump administration on Jan. 20. In December and January alone, five of the inmates were executed.

 

The U.S. bishops’ conference condemned the executions, and in a Jan. 11 statement asked Congress and the Biden administration to stop federal executions and abolish the federal death penalty.

 

In one of the cases, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark sent a letter to President Trump asking for clemency for Dustin Honken. Tobin noted that, while previously Archbishop of Indianapolis, he visited Honken at Terre Haute federal prison several times a year. Honken was executed in July.

 

The next chair of the USCCB’s doctrine committee, Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, called the death penalty part of the “throwaway culture” in a Jan. 8 online panel.

 

While campaigning for president, Biden promised to end the federal death penalty. As a senator, however, he sponsored a 1994 criminal justice bill that expanded the number of federal offenses eligible for the death penalty.

 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that President Biden was “opposed” to the federal death penalty, but offered no details on a possible stoppage of its use.

 

Among the members’ requests of Garland on Tuesday are that he “[w]ithdraw authorization for all pending death penalty trial cases” and stop seeking the death penalty in any federal cases.

 

In addition, the members are asking that “the federal Bureau of Prisons dismantle the federal death chamber at Terre Haute prison in Indiana.”

 

“As the Trump Administration has undertaken an appalling rush to execute a historic number of Americans this year, it is incumbent upon the Biden Administration to reverse course and work to make America a more just society,” the letter stated.

 

Rep. Espillat is a Dominican-American and Catholic. He introduced legislation, H.R. 97, on Jan. 4 to abolish the death penalty under federal law.

 

Pressley, meanwhile, introduced the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act of 2021 with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Jan. 11, to end federal use of the death penalty and provide for the re-sentencing of federal inmates currently on death row.


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