by Dr. Alan Keyes
Editor’s Note: There’s already a law against murder in the US. Furthermore, as Alan points out, BAIPA legally recognizes newborn babies as a “person.” If such laws—already in place to protect the very life that laws are written for—are not enforced then the whole concept of “law” in the US may be seen as a rhetorical exercise.
This week, Democrats voted down an effort to make sure that abortionists who murder infants, born alive despite an attempted abortion, are held accountable for their crimes.
Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican bill that would have threatened prison time for doctors who don’t try saving the life of infants born alive during failed abortions, leading conservatives to wonder openly whether Democrats were embracing “infanticide” to appeal to left-wing voters. (“Dems block ‘born alive’ bill to provide medical care to infants who survive failed abortions“)
When I first heard about the GOP effort to pass the bill, I immediately wondered why it was necessary. In 2002, large bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress approved the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (BAIPA) which President George W. Bush then signed into law.
That act directs:
In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the words “person,” “human being,” “child” and “individual,” shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development.
Apparently, because the bill did not explicitly specify penalties for murdering such newborn infants, it has had little or no effect. A Heritage Foundation report explains:
While current law recognizes that all infants born alive are “persons,” babies who survive an abortion attempt are left vulnerable because the law provides for no requirements that health care practitioners treat the infant with the same degree of care afforded to any other newborn. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would remedy this problem by requiring that proper medical care be given to infants who survive an abortion and establishing criminal consequences for practitioners who fail to do so.
Now, the Constitution of the United States provides that no person shall be deprived of life without due process of law. The language of the 14th Amendment (Section 1) clarifies that this prohibition constrains the state governments, each of which is also forbidden to “deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
So if an 11-year-old child is murdered in any state, the state’s government is required to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrator(s) in the same manner as it would if the victim were 30 years old. No special provision of federal law is required to enforce this requirement. The duty of prosecution is uniform for persons of all ages.
This means that states that have failed to investigate and prosecute the willfully purposeful or negligent homicide of newborn infants who survive an abortion attempt violate the supreme law of the land.
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