On Wednesday, September 25, President Donald Trump announced he would be signing a “born alive” executive order for babies born alive in botched abortions.
“Today I am announcing that I will be signing the Born-Alive Executive Order to ensure that all precious babies born alive, no matter their circumstances, receive the medical care that they deserve. This is our sacrosanct moral duty,” Trump said.
Some states do not have protections in place to provide medical care to a baby born alive in a failed abortion attempt; they leave him or her to die. Contrary, however, some states already do have born-alive protections in place similar to the executive order Trump signed. These protections ensure the born-alive abortion survivors have every chance to stay alive and survive, rather than being left for dead. See the full version of the Executive Order here, which was singed on September 25.
In hospital emergency rooms, it is the medical duty of the doctors and caretakers to attempt to stabilize whomever is in need, or transfer them somewhere which can. So why doesn’t this apply to babies? By signing this order, Trump is ensuring that at hospitals receiving Federal funds, these babies still have the same moral and human right to life as any person in the medical system. A hospital isn’t going to refuse to help a dying person with life-threatening injuries, so the same standard should be in place for these newborns. The act ensures these newborns will not be discriminated against when it comes to providing the highest standard of care. This is exciting for parents and advocates of extreme premature babies, as well. In many instances, the hospitals tell the parents there’s no point to provide respirators and take other life-saving measures because the baby is too premature. Now, because of this executive order, if parents of these preemies want life-saving medical care, the hospital has to provide it. There are many instances where parents want medical intervention for their newborns but the hospitals deny treatment. Now, so many of these early babies will have a chance of life.
Many other politicians, specifically his rivals this election, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, are extremely pro-choice and support late-term abortion. Biden claims to be Catholic, however his pro-choice stance is the exact opposite of what the Catholic church teaches. Donald Trump has taken numerous pro-life actions during his time in office and this latest executive order is likely to win him more votes from Catholics over Joe Biden. Many U.S. Bishops have praised Trump for his efforts and encourage other Catholics to support him. Others saw this move more negatively, as a last-minute effort to win over more Catholic voters right before the election.
