A number of abortion-rights groups have criticized the GOP after House Republicans pushed through a bill requiring an infant born during or after an attempted abortion to receive medical care.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act passed in a House 220-210 vote on Wednesday, with Texas' Henry Cuellar the only Democrat to support the measure.
The bill would require all health providers to give the same level of care to a baby born alive during or after an attempted abortion as to any other child born prematurely. That would include being taken to the hospital.
The bill, introduced by Kat Cammack (R-Fla), Ann Wagner (R-MO) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, would also see a health care practitioner who fails to provide the required degree of care to a infant born after an abortion attempt face up to five years in prison.
The bill wouldn't impose any penalties on the mother of an infant who was born after the procedure fails.
The passing of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is largely symbolic, seeing as it will fail to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, as almost identical bills have done in the past.
The bill is also the first anti-abortion legislation that has cleared the now GOP-controlled House since the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
NARAL Pro-Choice America said the bill would "allow politicians to interfere" in personal family decisions.
"Once again, Democrats are fighting for our reproductive freedom and the 8 in 10 Americans who support the legal right to abortion, while Republicans are doubling down on their anti-choice extremist values," Mini Timmaraju, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood said the bill is a "nothing contrived scare tactic" by the GOP to stigmatize abortion.
"This bill is deliberately misleading and offensive to pregnant people and the doctors and nurses who provide their care," said Jacqueline Ayers, the senior vice president of policy, organizing, and campaigns at Planned Parenthood.
"It is yet another attempt by anti-abortion politicians to spread misinformation as a means to their warped political end: to ban safe and legal abortion."
Ayers, along with Democrats who opposed the bill, noted that the proposed legislation is unnecessary as there already is a law that protects infants after a failed abortion attempt.
The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 says that a child born during any stage of developing, including after a failed abortion attempt, will be considered a "person" and granted legal protections.
It is also already the law in every state across the U.S. that health providers must provide medical services to any infant born at any gestational age.
In a statement after the bill was passed in the House, Rep. Cammack said: "Upholding the value and sanctity of life has been a personal mission for me, and this bill plays a key role in affirming what the American people have always known: life is sacred."
Rep. Wagner added: "Every single newborn, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, deserves to share the miracle of life and have lifesaving medical care.
"We must act with compassion to protect these little ones and give women a strong support system as they navigate the miracles and challenges of motherhood. This bill will save real lives, and it will give survivors a precious chance to build a future."
Update, 1/12/23 9:17 a.m. ET: Originally, this article referred to 'pro-choice' groups. It now refers to 'abortion-rights' groups, as per our house style.
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Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
