Social Issues

Trump signs order to save infants that survive abortions

Washington, Sep 26 (efe-epa).- United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to ensure life-saving medical care to infants who survive abortion procedures, a rare occurrence.

“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,” said the order.

It laid down the fulfillment of the rule as a condition for federal funding of hospitals.

Although existing laws already carry provisions to protect the life of newborns, Trump said that some hospitals deny medical care to premature or disabled infants “even when parents plead for such treatment.”

“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,” said the document, dubbed the “born-alive” order by the media.

The president signed the order a day ahead of announcing the nominee for the vacant post of a supreme court judge, with conservative Amy Coney Barret almost sure to get the job, according to the media.

It also comes at the height of his campaign for a second four-year term.

The conservatives, including the Republicans, have tried to restrict or ban the right to abortion in the country.

But they would be closer to achieving that after Barret’s almost certain appointment, which would consolidate the right-wing to a six-to-three majority in the Supreme Court.

Abortion has been a legal practice in the US since 1973 when the Supreme Court declared that any interference by the state in women’s rights to abortion was unconstitutional.

Barett will replace progressive judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week.

In the past, the Republicans have unsuccessfully tried to pass laws similar to Trump’s order in the Congress, although the bills laid down prison sentences for doctors who refuse medical attention to such infants.

Critics of the measure have argued that cases of infants being born alive during abortions were rare and existing laws already protected them. EFE-EPA

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