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Republican lawmakers in North Carolina failed on Wednesday to overturn the Democratic State Governor's veto against a proposal to create criminal penalties for doctors and nurses who do not provide medical care. an infant during an unsuccessful abortion.
Legislators debated for over an hour Senate Bill 359 – known as the Living Living Abortion Survivor Act, before voting 67-53. Efforts have failed to get the supermajority – 72 votes – needed to override Governor Roy Cooper and give pro-choice groups a win after a string of defeats of restrictive abortion bills in recent weeks .
"It's important to protect the lives of all children and laws already exist to protect newborns," Cooper said in a statement issued following the vote.
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The measure would have required health professionals to care for newborns who survived an abortion and to provide them with the same protections as other patients instead of allowing them to die after the unsuccessful procedure. Those who do not comply may be sentenced to prison and fines of up to $ 250,000.
Unlike other states that have passed abortion bills in recent weeks, the measure taken in North Carolina would not have reduced the time period between the time when a woman can get treatment.
The State House and Senate led by the GOP approved the measure before Cooper vetoed it. The Senate voted to cancel the veto a few weeks ago. It was enough for the House to do the same.
President Trump has expressed his support for "born-alive" bills. At a press conference held Wednesday before the vote, Republicans said the bill did not concern abortion.
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North Carolina House Speaker, Tim Moore, a Republican, heads a press conference touting the "Living Born Abortion Survivors Act" with penalties for doctors who commit what proponents of the bill call infanticide Wednesday at the Raleigh Legislative Building. (Long Travis / The News & Observer via AP)
"It's about caring for infants who have survived the abortion," said state senator Joyce Krawiec, the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper reported.
Kelsea McLain, director of outreach to abortion provider Women's Choice in the Raleigh area, said the bill was part of a national trend to criminalize abortion.
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"We're just here to make sure people know that it's a bad bill." It's not a need-based bill, it's a well-founded bill on stigma and not on science, "McLain said, according to the newspaper, adding that the bill" Rooted in the idea that abortion is inherently bad and that providers of such care are bad people, so that's really not the reality we face. "
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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