Chris Smith: “Marsha Blackburn's bill, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, requires, under penalty of law, that…”

“Marsha Blackburn's bill, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, requires, under penalty of law, that appropriate healthcare to be given to any child who survives an attempted abortion, not looking the other way, as has been done for decades--Gosnell probably being the most egregious example. The law prescribes that: ``Any healthcare practitioner present at the time the child is born shall exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious healthcare practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age; following the exercise of skill, care, and diligence . . . ensure that the child born alive is immediately transported to a hospital.'' The bill also establishes strong criminal penalties for practitioners who violate this requirement; establishes a civil right of action for the mother of the child, to enforce the law; and the mother of the child born alive may not be prosecuted under this law. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we are, again, at a very urgent moment here for our country. We have a lot to do, and we ought to be working in a bipartisan way to keep the government open. That ought to be everybody's priority. Quite frankly, we ought to be focused on that more than on a bill that is a sound bite that is going nowhere.…”