H.R. 21 (119th): Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

The bill sets care requirements for a child born alive after an abortion or attempted abortion. A present health care practitioner must provide the same degree of care that would reasonably be given to any other child born alive at the same gestational age, and must ensure the child is immediately admitted to a hospital. Practitioners and other employees who know of a failure to comply must immediately report it to law enforcement. Failure to provide care or to report carries a fine, up to five years in prison, or both. Intentionally killing or attempting to kill a born-alive child is subject to murder prosecution. The bill bars criminal prosecution of the mother and allows her to bring a civil action against a practitioner or employee for violations.

Theological note: Scripture affirms that every human life is made in God's image and is protected by God's law, including the least and most vulnerable. This measure addresses the protection of a newborn who has already come into the world alive, which bears directly on the duty not to shed innocent blood and on the defense of the helpless. Its issue relevance concerns whether the civil order gives a born-alive child the basic care and legal protection owed to any other child.

• Tier: Tier 1, signed off.
• Lane: abortion. Category: life. Lane tag: command.
• Lane: abuse_accountability. Category: justice_truth. Lane tag: general equity.
• Lane: born_alive_protection. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
• Lane: child_protection. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
• Lane: defends_life. Category: life. Lane tag: command.
• Lane: family_policy. Category: children. Lane tag: command.
• Lane: murder_prosecution. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
• Tier 1 sign-off: tier1. Signed by Adam Malin on 2026-10-20.
• Stored polarity: good. A yea supports the bill. A nay is the penalized direction when the tag is scored as a protection. A yea on a credit tag is a credit.
• Procedural polarity: matched with s-6-119.
• For each member, the latest polarity-known vote among cloture, the motion to proceed, and passage governs a matched group, or the bill alone when it is not in a group. A supporting latest vote, including a cloture yea, counts as support on every vehicle in the group. An opposing latest vote removes earlier support, including an earlier amendment yea. Members vote only in their own chamber. A procedural yea that would be Tier 1 is at most tier 2 when a later governing vote on a matched vehicle opposes; the vote is not erased.
• Tested-record vehicle: a recorded yea or nay on this bill counts toward a Qualified label. A member with no recorded yea or nay on a key life or child-protection vehicle keeps the score and is shown as Not yet tested on life and child-protection votes.
• Roll 26: On Motion to Recommit. Vote type: recommit.
• Roll 27: On Passage. Vote type: final_passage.
• Polarity rationale: Reviewed enrichment (llm_import) polarity: The measure directly restrains a named harm: the killing or neglect of a child born alive after an abortion. It imposes care duties, mandatory reporting, and criminal penalties to protect that child's life, which places it under defense of innocent life and general equity rather than prudential dispute.
• Theological note: Scripture affirms that every human life is made in God's image and is protected by God's law, including the least and most vulnerable. This measure addresses the protection of a newborn who has already come into the world alive, which bears directly on the duty not to shed innocent blood and on the defense of the helpless. Its issue relevance concerns whether the civil order gives a born-alive child the basic care and legal protection owed to any other child.

Tested record Debt and war Cloture and Tier 1 Procedural votes Scoring mechanics abortion abuse accountability defends life