The day after President Donald Trump was inaugurated to his second term, Senate Democratic leaders went to the floor to attack a bill that congressional Republicans hoped they could send to Trump to sign into law.
It was the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
"Look, it is Donald Trump's first week as president, and Republicans are already escalating their war on women's reproductive freedoms," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
"So we are here because we need to expose this bill exactly for what it is: myth-based fearmongering," said Schumer. "It is an attack on reproductive care."
"It is anti-women, anti-family, anti-science," he said.
"So we should resoundingly reject this deeply partisan bill when it comes to the floor later this week," he said.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durban (D-Ill.) followed Schumer.
"Roe v. Wade enshrined into law something that should have been a given in America: In America, women have the right to make decisions about their own bodies," Durbin said.
"But after nearly 50 years of progress, in June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe with Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, dragging women's rights half a century backward," said Durbin.
"Instead of addressing the healthcare crisis that Dobbs has unleashed, Republicans are now instead looking to make it even harder for women to access comprehensive and compassionate healthcare," he said.
"Tomorrow," said Durbin, "they will attempt to bring to the floor the so-called Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
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"This bill offers a poorly drafted and dangerous solution to a problem that simply does not exist," he said.
Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, sent a letter on Jan. 21 to members of the House and Senate stating the opposite. He backed up his argument with evidence -- and called on members to vote for the bill.
"The tragic risks are not theoretical," the bishop wrote. "Years of testimonies before legislatures, candid recordings, and more have painted a gruesome picture of children, trying to live, being left to die in bags or closets.
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that at least 143 born infants died after an attempted abortion between 2003 and 2014, and conceded that this may well be an underestimate," he wrote. "Florida alone reported 14 infants born alive in abortions in 2023, and Arizona logged ten in just five months of 2017."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, also gave a floor speech.
"But we all know that our country is now well into its third year without the protections of Roe," she said.
"So the solution is not the bill before us this week," said Klobuchar.
What did she think the solution should be?
"I call on our colleagues to join us in codifying Roe v. Wade into law," she said.
What exactly would the bill these Democrats opposed do?
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) succinctly explained it the next day on the Senate floor.
"It is a simple bill," he said. "It simply states that a baby born alive after an attempted abortion must be given the same protection and medical care that any other newborn baby would be given.
"That is it," he said.
Thune then explained why he believed Democrats opposed it.
"They are afraid that if they recognize the humanity of a living, breathing born baby in an abortion clinic, they might end up pointing to the humanity of the unborn baby in the abortion clinic," he said. "That is what this boils down to."
"After all," said Thune, "once you recognize the humanity of the newly born baby, it gets a little harder to say that that child wasn't human just a few minutes ago simply because he or she wasn't yet born."
On Jan. 22, the Senate held a cloture vote to end debate on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and bring it up for a substantive vote. Under Senate rules, cloture requires 60 votes. It only got 52.
No Republican voted against cloture. No Democrat voted for it. Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) would have voted for it, but as noted in a statement his spokesperson gave The Hill, he missed the vote because he "was responding to a family health matter."
This vote demonstrated a small but telling change among Senate Democrats. In 2020, the Senate also held a cloture vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. That year, the vote was 56 to 41 -- as three Democrats voted for it. They were Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.)
Casey lost his reelection bid last November to Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.). Jones lost his in 2020 to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). Manchin left the Democratic Party in 2024 and did not seek reelection. He was succeeded by Sen. Jim Justice (R.-W.V.). This year, McCormick, Tuberville and Justice all voted for cloture on the born-alive bill.
The House of Representatives held its own vote on this bill on Jan. 23. It passed 217 to 204. No Republican voted against it, but only one Democrat -- Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) -- voted for it.
Just seven Democratic votes in the Senate would have allowed this bill to protect babies become law. But there were none.
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