CHICAGO - Babies born alive after an abortion and then purposely allowed to die made headlines in 1999 when nurse Jill Stanek discovered the practice going on a Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois. 

After the Democrat-controlled Illinois House and Senate refused to pass any measures banning the practice, it took President George W. Bush and a pro-life Congress to move at the federal level. The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 ("BAIPA" Pub.L. 107–207, 116 Stat. 926, enacted August 5, 2002, 1 U.S.C. § 8) extended legal protection to an infant born alive after a failed attempt at induced abortion, but had no legal teeth to enforce the law or protect the innocent victims.

The U.S. House voted Friday to pass a measure protecting babies born alive in a botched abortion, and punishing those performing the abortions. It next faces the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Representative Mike Bost (IL-12) voted with a majority of his colleagues in favor of the Born Alive Abortion Survivor’s Protection Act (H.R. 4712). The bill, which Rep. Bost and six other Illinois congressional delegates cosponsored, ensures medical care and legal protection for babies who survive an abortion, while protecting their mothers from prosecution.

“As a father and grandfather, I value the preciousness of human life,” said Rep. Bost. “It is my sincere belief that America is only as strong as our willingness to protect the weakest and most vulnerable among us. We should all be able to agree if child is born, human dignity requires that we protect his or her life. This commonsense bill ensures that a baby who survives an abortion procedure receives the same treatment that would be given to any other child born prematurely at the same state of development.”

H.R. 4712 was co-sponsored by Republican U.S. Reps Bost, Peter Roskam, Adam Kinzinger, Rodney Davis, John Shimkus, and Randy Hultgren. One Democrat - Dan Lipinski - signed on as a co-sponsor, as well.

The Born Alive Abortion Survivor’s Protection Act will need to pass the U.S. Senate next. The legislation:

• Ensures that any child born alive during an abortion procedure receives the same degree of professional care to save the life of the child that any other child born alive at the same gestational age would receive
• Mandates that abortion survivors are immediately admitted to a hospital
• Bars women who receive abortions from being prosecuted, and allows them to file civil action
• Establishes criminal penalties for those who harm babies born alive, let them die, or attempt to harvest body parts