The bill would require that infants born alive after an attempted abortion receive the same protection as any newborn baby, and threaten medical providers with prison time for failing to resuscitate them.
Senate Democrats blocked a Republican-written bill on Wednesday that could subject some doctors who perform abortions to criminal penalties, thwarting the G.O.P.’s first attempt to restrict reproductive rights since the party has secured its governing trifecta.
With Democrats unanimously opposed, the measure stalled in the Senate on a party-line vote of 52 to 47, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster and advance toward a final vote.
Its consideration, scheduled to coincide with the 52nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade and on the same week as the annual March For Life in Washington, was part of a continuing Republican effort to appeal to its conservative, anti-abortion-rights base.
The bill would require that infants born alive after an attempted abortion receive the same protection under the law and degree of care as any newborn baby, and threaten medical providers with up to five years in prison for failing to resuscitate babies born alive during abortions.
Federal law already requires that a baby who survives an attempted abortion receive emergency medical care, and live births during abortion procedures are rare. But the legislation would create new penalties for medical providers involved in such procedures, which could also apply to those treating women with severe late-pregnancy complications who find themselves in agonizing situations in which their children have no chance of survival.
The House passed the same bill last year and is expected to take it up again later this week.
Conservative groups have continued to make opposition to abortion rights a litmus test, even as outright abortion bans have alienated voters across the country in multiple election cycles. Republicans have routinely brought up what they call the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” when they are in control of Congress, presenting it as something that should not be debatable.