President signs bill protecting abortion survivors

PITTSBURGH — President Bush signed the “Born Alive Infants Protection Act” Aug. 5. The bill, which was passed by unanimous consent in the Senate on July 18 and by a voice vote in the House of Representatives in March, stipulates that every infant born alive is guaranteed full rights under federal law, even if the birth was the result of an incomplete abortion.

The new law defines the term “born alive” as “the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother of [a human being], at any stage of development, who after such expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section or induced abortion.”