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

Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act This bill establishes requirements for the degree of care a health care practitioner must provide in the case of a child born alive following an abortion or attempted abortion. Specifically, a health care practitioner who is present must (1) exercise the same degree of care as would reasonably be provided to any other child born alive at the same gestational age, and (2) ensure the child is immediately admitted to a hospital. Additionally, a health care practitioner or other employee who has knowledge of a failure to comply with the degree-of-care requirements must immediately report such failure to law enforcement. A health care practitioner who fails to provide the required degree of care, or a health care practitioner or other employee who fails to report such failure, is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, up to five years in prison, or both. An individual who intentionally kills or attempts to kill a child born alive is subject to prosecution for murder. The bill bars the criminal prosecution of a mother of a child born alive under this bill and allows her to bring a civil action against a health care practitioner or other employee for violations.

## How this bill is scored

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.

## Recorded votes

Roll 26: On Motion to Recommit. Yea 205 · Nay 216 · Other 12.
Roll 27: On Passage. Yea 217 · Nay 204 · Other 12.

HTML: https://justmeasure.org/bill/hr-21-119/