Anti-abortion bills move ahead in North Carolina, Texas and Ohio

Anti-abortion bills are moving forward in state legislatures in North Carolina, Texas and Ohio, revealing more fallout from legislation passed earlier this year in New York that may have loosened abortion prohibitions in the Empire State but energized social conservatives in middle America.

On Wednesday, a North Carolina Senate committee voted for establishing two felonies for doctors who fail to provide emergency care for a child born alive during an abortion. A day earlier, the Texas Senate approved imprisoning medical practitioners for up to 10 years if they don’t treat infants who survive abortions.

In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine has signaled he will sign a twice-vetoed “heartbeat bill” that bans abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually at six weeks of pregnancy. Two other heartbeat laws, most recently in Iowa, already have been blocked by the courts.

The legislation in North Carolina and Texas — which would penalize doctors for failing to provide assistance to infants who survive abortion attempts — is seen specifically as rebuking Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s comments in a January radio interview that seemed to signal a lax attitude toward infanticide.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, fewer than 150 babies were born alive between 2003 and 2014. The federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, enacted in 2002 under President George W. Bush, extends legal protection to infants born from failed abortions.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act moving to the health care committee in the North Carolina Senate would mandate the reporting of doctors who fail to provide care to a newborn and amend the state’s murder statue. It also would create two new felonies for health care providers who fail to sustain life for newborns after attempted abortions.

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, did not respond to phone and email requests from The Washington Times asking if he would sign the bill should it reach his desk.

Republican state Sen. Joyce Krawiec, the legislation’s sponsor, said it is a response to abortion legislation in New York and Virginia that, in her words, allow for abortion “up to and including birth.”

In January, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo enacted sweeping legislation that allows abortion late in pregnancy if the mother’s health is endangered. Similar legislation in Virginia was defeated.

Ms. Krawiec also called out Mr. Northam’s radio interview in which he appeared to allow infanticide.

“Many of us heard the Virginia governor advocate for infanticide,” she said. “Every human being should agree that an infant born alive should receive medical care.”

Mr. Northam said in January that in the event of a seemingly unviable fetus being born, a “discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother” to decide whether to resuscitate the child. Mr. Northam’s staff later walked back those comments Nevertheless, the Virginia governor’s comments have given fury and momentum to the pro-life movement.

In Wednesday’s legislative hearing in North Carolina, the only opposition to the born-alive bill came from Democratic committee members.

“I barely know where to begin,” said Democratic state Sen. Terry Van Duyn. “But to characterize what happens between women and their doctors in the way that it has been characterized today is shocking to me.”

Other Democrats asked the committee’s attorney, Jennifer Bedford, if laws prohibiting killing an infant, even a child seconds or minutes old, are already on the books.

“The courts have confirmed convictions [of persons] who have caused the death of a child, even though the child has left the womb,” Ms. Bedford said.

Conservatives were not persuaded.

“I’ve just heard her [Ms. Van Duyn] words display a political etiquette,” said Sen. Jerry W. Tillman, a Republican. “And for her to argue to let the baby die, blows my mind.”