Samuel Case, FISM News

[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″] 

Doctors accused of not providing enough care to infants delivered alive after a failed abortion in Kansas could face lawsuits and criminal charges under a bill that won final approval Tuesday in the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.

In a vote of 86 to 36, the Kansas House passed a “born-alive infants protection” bill that would require doctors to give medical care to babies that survive a failed abortion.

“We’re talking about human life here folks,” said Republican Rep. John Eplee last month. “This bill is our best attempt to provide guidelines, guardrails with practitioners that we do as much as we can.”

The bill now goes to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s desk with a veto-proof majority after passing the state House and Senate with more than two-thirds of lawmakers approving the measure.

Under federal law, doctors are required to provide medical care to babies that survive abortion, but the law has no criminal penalties for physicians who fail to act. Earlier this year U.S. House Republicans passed a bill to add criminal penalties to the law, but it’s unlikely to pass the U.S. Senate. 

At least 18 other states require the hospitalization of babies that are born alive after an abortion, making it a crime when doctors fail to act. 

The Kansas legislation comes as last August voters in the state overwhelmingly rejected a proposition to amend the state’s constitution which would have allowed lawmakers to ban or restrict abortions.