Trump says Democrats fine with ‘executing’ babies as abortion row heightens in US

US President Donald Trump has accused Senate Democrats of advocating “executing newborn infants” after they defeated a Republican bill to secure proper medical care for newborn babies surviving failed abortions.

"Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children," Trump wrote in tweet on Monday. "The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they don’t mind executing babies AFTER birth."

The fiery rant came shortly after senators voted 53-44 on the abortion legislation brought by Republican Senator Ben Sasse, denying it the 60 votes it needed to advance in the chamber.

“I want to ask each and every one of my colleagues whether or not we’re okay with infanticide,” Sasse said on the Senate floor. “It is too blunt for many people in this body, but frankly, that is what we’re talking about here today. . . . Are we a country that protects babies that are alive, born outside the womb after having survived a botched abortion?”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the measure “a straightforward piece of legislation to protect newborn babies.”

“So my colleagues across the aisle need to decide where they’ll take their cues on these moral questions. On the one hand, there are a few extreme voices who decided some newborn lives are more disposable than others. On the other side is the entire rest of the country,” McConnell said.

The bill was Republicans’ response to controversial abortion legislation in the state of Virginia, where a Democratically-sponsored bill seeks to give women the right to abortion in the final stages of pregnancy.

The controversy was inflamed when Virginia’s Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, chimed in and suggested that third-trimester abortions, while rare, should be allowed when an infant is severely deformed or is unable to survive after birth.

"In this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen: the infant would be delivered; the infant would be kept comfortable; the infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother," Northam recently told a local radio show.

Trump is known for his fierce anti-abortion views.

During the 2016 presidential campaign he proposed punishments for women who attempted illegal abortions. He also backed calls for defunding Planned Parenthood and similar centers that provided abortion services.

Democrats defend position

On Monday, Senate Democrats defended their opposition to the new measure, arguing that Republicans were trying to outlaw something that was already illegal.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer accused Republicans of misrepresenting the bill for political gains.

“Pay attention to the facts and not false rhetoric. This bill is Washington politics at its worst,” he said.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said he opposed the bill because Republicans’ statements about it were "misleading."

"Congress reaffirmed that fact with its passage of the bipartisan Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in 2002. I support that law, which is still in effect. There is no need for additional federal legislation on this topic," Kaine said.

Senator Patty Murray denounced the Republican bill as “clearly anti-doctor, anti-woman and anti-family.”

“It has no place becoming law. Its proponents claim it would make something illegal that is already illegal,” Murray said on the Senate floor, adding the legislation would “do nothing except help Republicans advance their goal of denying women their constitutionally protected rights.”

PressTV-US vice president says abortion will end 'in our time'

In an anti-abortion speech, US Vice President Mike Pence boldly predicted that abortion will end in America “in our time."

Analysts said the bill was aimed at putting 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls on the record over the issue.

All of the party’s announced candidate, including Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Kamala D. Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, voted against the bill.

Latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 1.3 percent of hundreds of thousands of abortions across the US in 2015 were performed at 21 weeks of gestation or later while around 91 percent took place at or before 13 weeks.

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