Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., plans to use a procedural tactic to force a floor vote on a bill that would punish any doctor who fails to provide medical care to a child born alive after an abortion, The Hill reports.
Under the bill, the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, "any infant born alive after an abortion or within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the same claim to the protection of the law that would arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within its care."
The Senate in late February voted to block consideration of the measure, with all but three Democrats voting against a procedural mayor.
Scalise next week plans to move forward with a discharge petition, which would force a vote on the bill. He needs 218 signatures to do so.
"Next week, on April 2, next Tuesday, I will be formally filing the discharge petition on the Born Alive Act," he told reporters during. "Ann Wagner will be my first signator and there are a lot of members that want to sign that, and frankly we're going to find out real soon which Democrats truly are pro-life."
Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., sponsored the bill.
Opponents of the bill said it would criminalize doctors and was unnecessary since laws already exist to protect an infant in the extremely unlikely scenario of a live birth after an abortion attempt.
Planning to use a procedural tactic, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., intends to force a floor vote on a bill that would punish any doctor who fails to provide medical care to a child born alive after an abortion, according to The Hill.