Apr 27, 2023
TOPEKA, KS – Kansas lawmakers enacted the “Born-Alive Infants Protection Act” into law yesterday, while the Kansas House sent two other pro-life bills to the Senate this week overriding a total of three vetoes from Governor Laura Kelly. Specifically, the “Born-Alive” bill requires emergency care by any “health care provider present” for infants born alive after a failed abortion. The bill requires medical providers to treat babies born alive after a failed abortion with the same level of care as they would any other newborn of the same gestational age. Legislators overwhelmingly overrode the governor’s veto in the House 87 – 37 and in the Senate 31 – 9 surpassing the two-thirds majority needed. The “Born-Alive” law will go into effect on July 1.
The other two bills passed in the House by similar margins. Kansas HB 2264 would require physicians to give patients information about how to reverse the abortion pill, and HB 2325 would ban abortion providers from buying liability insurance from a state fund. The Senate is expected to conduct an override vote on these measures this week.
As for the “Born-Alive” bill, it defines “born alive” as an infant who is completely outside the mother and “breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord or definite movement of voluntary muscles.”
In other areas, the bill’s language is nearly identical to the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” that passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 11, 2023, which now awaits a vote in the U.S. Senate.
The Kansas law requires, “Any health care provider present at the time the child is born alive to: (1) exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care provider would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age; and (2) ensure that the child born alive is immediately transported to a hospital.”
The new law makes it a felony to fail to provide reasonable care for such a newborn in the state of Kansas. Also, the law makes provisions for the newborn's parents and the parents or guardians of minors to sue the medical providers involved for any violations of this law, but it also protects the mother of a child born alive from prosecution. In addition, the law introduces annual reporting requirements for medical care facilities to report to the state on the “number of infants born alive subsequent to an abortion.”
Critics of the law at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists claim the idea of newborn neglect is not something that really exists in modern medicine and is a “fabricated political concept.”
However, infants surviving abortions against all odds are not a “fabrication.” Even though most states do not keep track of the number of babies who survive abortions, data from just seven states between 2020 and 2022 found reports of 34 babies who were born alive in botched abortions. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that at least 143 babies were born alive after an attempted abortion between 2003 and 2014—a number derived from only eight states that reported this information.
During the preliminary criminal hearing for Liberty Counsel’s client Sandra Merritt, the undercover journalist who exposed Planned Parenthood’s trade in baby body parts, an expert in stem cell research testified that various studies involving baby human hearts had to have been conducted while the hearts were still beating when cut out. In other words, the babies had to have been born alive.
Regarding the bill requiring patients to get information about reversing the abortion pill, the legislation would mandate medical practitioners to provide that information before the abortion pill is prescribed. In addition, wherever the pill is prescribed or dispensed, a noticeable sign that says it may be possible to reverse the pill’s intended effects must be clearly visible. Critics claim this is “state-mandated misinformation” and that research has “debunked” taking another substance to successfully reverse the abortion pill.
Nothing could be further from the truth. According to Dr. William Lile, who is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and has delivered more than 4,000 babies, stated he has successfully reversed the abortion pill using a natural hormone called progesterone that is “bio-identical” to what a pregnant woman produces.
“When a woman becomes pregnant, there is a hormone in her body that is called progesterone, which means pro-gestation,” said Dr. Lile. “This is the hormone…that tells the woman’s body, ‘Congratulations, you are pregnant,’ it is time to support this pregnancy and to protect this pregnancy.” Dr. Lile noted mifepristone, the abortion pill, blocks this progesterone very efficiently and convinces the woman’s body she is not pregnant.
“We reverse [mifepristone’s] effect by supplementing the woman’s body with progesterone,” Dr. Lile said. “The progesterone we give the mom is bio-identical to what is made naturally by the mom. The bio-identical progesterone hormone comes from yams and soybeans. It is as natural and as identical as it possibly can be. If we can intervene early enough, usually within the first 72 hours, we can actually save the life of that baby by supplementing with progesterone.” Dr. Lile stressed the protocol is most effective if started in the first 24 hours after the abortion pill is taken. More information about reversing the abortion pill can be viewed here.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “We commend the Kansas state legislature for banning the horrific tragedy of infanticide, affirming that abortion medication is reversible, and holding abortion providers accountable. These legislative actions are about protecting the lives of precious babies who have a right to live. If these protections were not implemented, abortion providers can simply back away from the table and leave a baby to suffer and die. This is not a political issue. This is a life issue. This is common sense legislation which should be enacted all across the country to ensure that every child is protected.”
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