Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Kamala Harris (Calif.) have doubled down on their extreme stance on abortion, and Warren in particular has outright defended her vote against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which was defeated in the Senate on Monday in a 53-44 vote. The bill, sponsored by Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.), needed 60 votes to pass.
“I think it’s up to a woman to make that decision, and I will always stand by that,” Harris told the Daily Caller on Wednesday, when asked if she believes abortion is immoral. “I think she needs to make that decision with her doctor, with her priest, with her spouse. I would leave that decision up to them.”
During an event in Iowa, meanwhile, Warren was heckled by an attendee who asked why she voted against the born-alive bill.
“What we say to each other is if it’s your grandma or it’s you or it’s your niece’s baby, we’re all going to pitch in a few nickels, so we can be there for each other. That is the best of who we are,” Warren said in her speech, according to Daily Caller coverage.
“What about the babies that survive abortion? How come they can’t have health care?” an attendee interrupted.
“Infanticide is illegal everywhere in America,” Warren replied, and repeated the line again after the audience member continued pressing her on it.
During the Senate floor debate on the born-alive bill, Iowa Republican Joni Ernst pushed back against this talking point.
“Although previous laws were passed that recognize infants born alive during abortion proceedings as legal persons, there still exists a critical loophole that prevents abortionists from being held accountable for failing to follow these very laws,” Ernst said. “This legislation closes the gap and ensures that there are concrete enforcement measures to protect children who survive abortion attempts.”
In other words, there is no current federal law that requires doctors to provide medical treatment to living infants that survive abortion procedures, nor creates legal penalties for doctors who fail to do so.
In a statement in May 2017, Warren said she believes “health care is a basic human right.” Apparently she doesn’t believe that right applies to infants who manage to survive abortion procedures.
Along with Harris and Warren, every other Democratic senator currently running for president or seriously considering a run — Cory Booker (N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) — voted against the born-alive bill on Monday, as did Independent Bernie Sanders (Vt.).