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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) took to the Senate floor to voice her support for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. This legislation, introduced by Senator Ben Sasse and cosponsored by Senator Fischer, would ensure that newborns who survive abortions receive the same care and attention as any other newborn. Fischer voted for the bill today, which failed to pass the Senate. The vote tally was 53-44. 

The full transcript from today’s speech as prepared for delivery is below:

Madam President, I rise today to voice my full support for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, offered by my colleague from Nebraska.

Today’s vote on this important bill is going to give every member of the Senate a chance to show America where they stand on the basic right of care for newborn infants. 

Throughout my career in public service, I have been a strong supporter of pro-life policies that show compassion to women and children.

During my time in the Nebraska Legislature, we passed the first state-wide ban on abortion procedures after 20 weeks.

Members from all points of the political spectrum – Republican, Democrat, pro-life and pro-choice – came together to support the bill.

Today, we have the opportunity to come together, Republicans and Democrats, to stand up for the lives of newborn infants in the United States Senate.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act protects the life of children that survive an attempted abortion.

Simply put, if a baby survives an abortion, he or she deserves the same medical care as any other child who is born prematurely.

Without question, newborns deserve care, attention, and love.

This is should not be a divisive issue.

This an issue that is fundamental to what it means to be an American citizen, and more so, what it means to be a human being.

Our founding fathers believed unequivocally that every person born in the United States has a right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act should be, without any doubt, a measure that is passed here in the Senate.

Like most Nebraskans, I have been deeply disturbed by the actions in Virginia and New York and the new extremes that have been pushed in the ensuing national debate that it is okay to deny newborn abortion survivors medical care.

As we all know, a bill was introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates that would make it easier to get a third-term abortion.

When discussing this legislation, the Governor of Virginia recently made extremely disturbing comments defending the bill and promoting infanticide when he described the process of an abortion procedure taking place while a mother is in labor.

These policies and lines of thought fly in the face of our core values.

They have to end.

Leading up to the vote today, critics across the aisle have mounted a campaign of misinformation to try to knock the bill off course.

To be clear, the legislation doesn’t set any limits on the rights to obtain an abortion or abortion procedures or methods.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would ensure that if newborns survive an abortion then they would receive the same care and attention to their health as any other newborn.

A newborn child should never be treated without basic human rights or full protection of our laws because they are not wanted.

Especially when reports have estimated that nearly two million couples in the United States are currently waiting to adopt children. 

Two million couples.

There is simply no excuse for an infant not to receive life-saving care.

We live in a nation that was founded upon the basic rights of dignity, self-worth, and equality for every human being.

In 2002, the Born Alive Infants Protection Act passed the House of Representatives by voice vote, passed the Senate by unanimous consent, and was signed into law by President Bush.

We have the chance, right now, to build upon the 2002 consensus that those who survive an abortion are, in fact, people, and clarify that they deserve medical care. 

Today, we can come together to support this sound policy once more.

We can clarify, in light of the extremism we’ve seen displayed recently, that newborn abortion survivors deserve medical care. 

I thank my fellow Nebraskan for his good work on this bill, and I will be voting to affirm that children deserve protection at every stage of life.

I ask all of my colleagues here in the Senate to support this measure and vote in favor of this important bill here before us.

Thank you. I yield the floor.