Trump signs executive order to protect preemies, babies who survive abortions

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order to ensure all babies born alive, including after failed abortion attempts, receive proper medical care to survive.

“Every infant born alive, no matter the circumstances of his or her birth, has the same dignity and the same rights as every other individual and is entitled to the same protections under Federal law,” Trump pointed out.

He had first announced his executive order at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Wednesday.

The president referred to a number of laws intended to help “protect infants born alive from discrimination in the provision of medical treatment, including infants who require emergency medical treatment, who are premature, or who are born with disabilities.”

“Such infants are entitled to meaningful and non-discriminatory access to medical examination and services, with the consent of a parent or guardian, when they present at hospitals receiving Federal funds,” he emphasized.

However, “some hospitals refuse the required medical screening examination and stabilizing treatment or otherwise do not provide potentially lifesaving medical treatment to extremely premature or disabled infants, even when parents plead for such treatment.”

Many hospitals argue that treatment of babies born alive before 24 weeks of gestation is pointless because “they believe these infants may not survive, may have to live with long-term disabilities, or may have a quality-of-life deemed to be inadequate.”

Trump countered, “Active treatment of extremely premature infants has, however, been shown to improve their survival rates. And the denial of such treatment, or discouragement of parents from seeking such treatment for their children, devalues the lives of these children and may violate Federal law.”

“It is the policy of the United States to recognize the human dignity and inherent worth of every newborn or other infant child, regardless of prematurity or disability, and to ensure for each child due protection under the law,” the executive order stated.

Alex Azar, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), commented, “HHS’s mission is to protect the health and well-being of all Americans, and that means all Americans—including infants born prematurely and infants with disabilities.”

“The President’s Executive Order is another step by the most pro-life President in American history and ensures that we provide the same protections for innocent infants who are born premature or with disabilities that we provide for every other American,” he added.

At the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast earlier this week, Trump called it “our sacrosanct moral duty” to help children born after failed abortions survive.

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