Gabbard earns pro-life praise for bills to shield babies feeling pain, protect abortion survivors

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Hawaii Democrat, is earning praise from conservatives for again bucking her party this month by introducing two separate pieces of pro-life legislation, one that would ban abortions for infants-in-utero who are capable of feeling pain and the other to protect born-alive infant survivors of abortions. 

Separately, Gabbard also this month bucked her party in a move favored by some conservatives when she introduced a bill aimed at preventing males from competing against women in sports receiving federal funding. 

Under the Late Term Abortion Ban Act, this “pain capable” bill, would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy--or about five months--unless the mother’s life is severely at risk.

“I'm really proud of Tulsi for being so brave and bringing this legislation to the forefront,” Alison Centofante, the director of external affairs for Live Action, a pro-life group, told Just the News AM television program on Thursday. “We know that babies can feel pain at that point in time, and that would protect any child after 20 weeks from the pain of abortion. So that's a really, really good thing.”

Gabbard’s “born alive” bill, H.R. 8923 would amend the U.S. criminal code "to ensure a health care practitioner exercises the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion." Gabbard’s legislation was similar to one backed by Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., and Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., earlier this year, however, both Senate and House Democrats rejected the bill, which would penalize doctors who refused to provide lifesaving medical care to abortion survivors. 

Centofante cited a report from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention that found within a period of 10 years from 2003 through 2014, at least 143 babies have died after being born alive following an induced abortion.