LINK to online version
Note: The Post has done a few edits to the published version. The original is set forth below.
As expected, the abortion issue blew up during the recent presidential debate with one of the main issues being whether or not Kamala Harris and the Democrats want to kill babies after birth. Here is the exchange:
TRUMP: "Her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth — it's execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born — is OK.”
I suppose you would expect to see Harris’ reply but Harris didn’t have to reply because the debate moderator, Linsey Davis, replied for her:
DAVIS: "There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born.”
Sometimes Trump’s passion gets the better of him so he missed an opportunity to invite Davis onto the stage and join Harris, but he also missed an opportunity to fact-check Davis’ fact-check.
Trump’s comeback should have been “what do you call discarding a crying, squirming, just born baby as bio-waste?” Because that is exactly what is perfectly legal in at least 15 states, including Minnesota where Governor Tim Walz signed a bill into law removing existing legal protections for children who survive botched abortions.
And because mothers probably don’t want to hear their baby crying while it dies in a trash can, the baby is sometimes immediately “dispatched.” There isn’t the room to document this here so just search for “drowning aborted babies.”
That’s why Trump called it “execution” and it is perfectly legal in 15 states. In fact, it was perfectly legal in Guam prior to November 27, 2013. That’s the date Public Law 32-090 was enacted.
Guam’s 2013 law mandates - among other things - that should a child survive an abortion the physician performing the abortion must take “all medically appropriate and reasonable steps to preserve the life and health of an infant.” (9 GCA §91.04(d))
At its public hearing, the legislation (Bill 195-32) was vigorously opposed by none other than our now-governor. She was clever as to how she opposed it though, arguing that the legislation was “unnecessary: "I am aware that there is already federal legislation that addresses the issue at hand, thus making this legislation unnecessary." (Committee Report, Bill 195-32.)
The “federal legislation” Leon Guerrero was referring to was the 2002 Born Alive Infant Protections Act, which, while defining infants surviving botched abortions as “full persons under the law,” lacked an enforcement mechanism to protect those “full persons.”
Even though drowning said “full persons” in a toilet, tossing them out as bio-waste, or intentionally letting “full persons” die on the delivery table is essentially aggravated murder at worst and negligent homicide at best, Bill 195-32 stopped short of the penalty for murder or homicide and left the matter for civil and disciplinary action.
Nevertheless, requiring normal medical care for a living, breathing, just-born child who his or her mother didn’t want was too much for our now-governor so she functionally argued to let the baby die while lecturing the legislature to show “more concern” for the unemployment rate. (Committee Report, Bill 195-32.)
One of the testimonies in support of the bill was submitted by a mother who lost a daughter named “Natasha” - for whom Natasha’s Law was named. Natasha’s mother recommended that the legislation, if successful, be named “Kaitlyn’s Law.”
Kaitlyn was a baby girl who survived an abortion. In another testimony, Kaitlyn’s father tells the story:
“Our daughter, Kaitlyn, survived a late-term abortion by a woman who ingested pills issued (to her at the) Women’s Clinic. Instead of inducing (the) abortion as intended, the woman went into labor and a friend (drove) her to GMH where she delivered a live 3 1/2 pound ‘preemie’ and subsequently abandoned her there.Through the good offices of our priest and godly social worker, we took the child into our home at age 34 days. After three court appearances over the next eight months, she officially became our daughter.”
Kaitlyn’s father continues:
“The girl is a bonafide miracle child. No only did Kaitlyn escape the medical issues one might expect in a child who entered the world under such adverse conditions, she emerged as a beautiful island girl, healthy, athletic and startlingly intelligent - nothing (my wife) and I can take genetic credit for, but we consider ourselves blessed for the privilege to raise such a child.”
Attached to his testimony are pictures of this “beautiful island girl” which you can see in the Committee Report for Bill 195-32 at GuamLegislature.com
Tim Rohr has resided in Guam since 1987. He has raised a family of 11 children, owned several businesses, and is active in local issues via his blog, JungleWatch.info, letters to local publications, and occasional public appearances. He may be contacted at timrohr.guam@gmail.com
RESOURCES
FRC Releases Updated Map and Issue Brief, Born-Alive Abortion Survivors
SBA Pro-Life Score Card: Sen. Kamala Harris(former) California (Democrat)
Democrats Block Thune’s Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
