A bill requiring abortionists to provide care to abortion survivors was rejected by the Colorado House State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. The vote was reported to have been split along party lines, and after seven hours of testimony, the Democrat majority voted to dispatch this bill and another pro-life measure.
Colorado House Bill 1068 was introduced as establishing “a physician-patient relationship between a child born alive after or during an abortion and the physician who performed or attempted to perform the abortion.” The legislation would’ve required abortionists to utilize “professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child.” The physician would then be required to transfer the born alive child to a hospital.
Failure to comply with these regulations would’ve to lead to a civil penalty of $100,000 as well as a class 3 felony, and a conviction of unprofessional conduct for medical licensing purposes.
The bill’s sponsor, Representative Shane Sandridge, emphasized that the bill was “not an abortion bill.” Speaking on the need for it, Sandridge told the committee, “If this bill dies today, that is saying it is okay, I hate to use the words, to finish off a baby after a failed abortion and the child is born.”
But the committee also voted down House Bill 1098, which would’ve banned abortions after the modern age of viability, 22 weeks.
An attorney with Americans for Life, Katie Glenn, said of the hearings:
“Colorado’s legislative hearings on late-term abortion show just how extreme and entrenched the pro-abortion lobby has become.”
Recently, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced plans for the Senate to vote on similar legislation to protect born-alive infants and ban abortions on pain-capable unborn babies. Pro-life activists in Colorado are also attempting to collect signatures to put the 22-week abortion ban on the ballot initiative in the 2020 election. To do this, they’ll need 125,000 signatures before the March 4, 2020 deadline.
