Bush Administration To Enforce 2002 Law Requiring Physicians To Provide Care for Infants Who Survive Abortion Procedures

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 26 Apr 2005 - 9:00 PDT

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The Bush administration on Friday issued new guidelines reminding doctors and hospitals that under a 2002 federal law they must provide care for all infants who are "born alive," including those who survive attempted abortion procedures, the... Washington Post reports (Connolly, Washington Post, 4/23). President Bush in August 2002 signed into law the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act (HR 2175). Under the law, an infant is considered born alive if it is "completely outside the mother's body and has a beating heart or shows other signs of life" (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 8/6/02). According to the measure, any infant or fetus born breathing or having muscle movement, a beating heart or a pulsating umbilical cord is considered to be alive and should receive protection under federal emergency medical statutes and child abuse laws, according to the Post (Washington Post, 4/23). The law also amended the legal definitions of "person," "human being," "child" and "individual" to include "any human who is born alive." However, the measure states that it "is not meant in any way to 'affirm, deny, expand or contract any legal status or legal rights'" of fetuses (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 8/6/02).

Government Statements
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt in a statement said, "As a matter of law and policy, [HHS] will investigate all circumstances where individuals and entities are reported to be withholding medical care from an infant born alive in potential violation of federal statutes for which we are responsible." He added, "We will also take proactive steps to educate state officials, health care providers, hospitals and child protection agencies about their obligation to born-alive infants under federal law" (Freking, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 4/23). Dennis Smith, director of CMS' Center for Medicaid and State Operations, did not specify whether the announcement was in response to complaints about the denial of care to infants who had survived abortion procedures, the New York Times reports. However, some Bush administration officials and members of Congress had urged that the law be more actively enforced (Pear, New York Times, 4/23).

Reaction
Several physicians on Friday said that the law's definition of when a fetus or infant is born alive is "overly broad" because some muscle movement or twitching can occur after death, the Post reports. David Grimes, a licensed OB/GYN who previously worked for the abortion surveillance division of CDC, said the new HHS guidelines were not medically necessary, according to the Post. "I don't see this as a big issue. Physicians are going to do what's appropriate," Grimes said, adding, "It's all rhetoric from persons with political views they want to advance" (Washington Post, 4/23). However, Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, said, "The 2002 law and today's actions by the agency were both badly needed because there are those in our society who have convinced themselves that some newborn infants -- particularly those born alive during abortions or with handicaps -- are not really legal persons." NARAL Pro-Choice America said it had no comment on the guidelines and did not oppose the law because it does not impede a woman's right to obtain an abortion, according to the AP/Chronicle (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 4/23). The American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists did not immediately comment on the new guidelines, according to the Times (New York Times, 4/23).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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