As the father of three beautiful children and a Christian man, I fully understand how precious the gift of life is. Throughout my almost 60 years on earth, I have found fatherhood to be the greatest accomplishment of my lifetime.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade case, a dark shadow over our nation’s conscience. We have come a long way in the pro-life movement over the past few decades, but we still have a long way to go.
On Friday, hundreds of thousands of people will gather on our National Mall to defend the rights of the unborn. I stand with them.
In Congress, my conservative colleagues and I continue to support legislation to protect life. We even have the pro-life caucus, which I am a proud member of, to help keep pro-life issues in the spotlight.
This week, in honor of The March for Life, the pro-life caucus had a very important piece of legislation come to the Floor of the House of Representatives.
H.R. 4712, the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which I co-sponsored, amends the United States criminal code to prohibit any health care practitioner failing to exercise the proper degree of care for a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
This legislation would just help ensure that an unwanted baby who survives an abortion procedure be given the same appropriate level of care that a planned baby with any type of birth complications would receive. How can anyone with a heart not understand and support this?
The legislation would also establish criminal penalties for any practitioner who intentionally kills a baby who survives an abortion with up to five years in prison and fines.
You may remember the Planned Parenthood videos that were brought to light in 2015 about the selling of baby organs and tissue. These acts are unconscionable to me and this bill should help prevent the practice of practitioners selling these babies’ body parts.
Lastly, this legislation gives the mothers of the babies that survive abortions the ability to sue the practitioner if they do not try to save the life of the baby.
I am proud of this legislation. I will always fight for the rights of the unborn. Those innocent, tiny babies have no voice and it is up to us to be their voice and give each baby a chance to live. They are precious gifts from God and our responsibility to care for and not destroy.
U.S. Representative Mike Rogers is a Republican from Saks
