Massachusetts GOP: Democrats' ROE Act Misinformation Campaign – Is Denying Lifesaving Medical Care to Infants Born Alive… Humane?

WOBURN, Massachusetts, Sept. 25 -- The Massachusetts Republican Party issued the following news:

Democrats are wildly claiming abortion would be outlawed in Massachusetts should a constitutionalist fill a vacant U.S. Supreme Court seat and are now redoubling efforts to advance legislation that would in part repeal a section of state law mandating the presence of lifesaving medical equipment in rooms where abortions are performed.

Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons spoke out on the issue on the same day that Republican President Donald J. Trump announced a planned executive order protecting babies that survive abortion attempts, describing it as "our sacrosanct moral duty," and declared increases in federal funding for neonatal research "to ensure that every child has the very best chance to thrive and to grow."

Lyons said the more appropriate name for the ROE Act "should be the Infanticide Act" and pointed out that the central focus of the legislation does not involve preserving the reproductive rights already written into state law -- "the legislation instead seeks to radically expand the practice of abortion beyond the moment of birth, effectively legalizing infanticide."

"The 'sky-is-falling' charade being put on display by Democrats and their surrogates in the Massachusetts media is pure deception. Their radical legislation isn't about protecting the state laws that are already in place, it's about dismantling the state laws put in place to protect the most vulnerable among us," Lyons said. "Denying medical treatment to someone born alive during an 11th hour abortion is nothing short of evil."

Lyons noted that at the heart of the ROE Act is a provision that would permanently repeal the state statute which reads, "the physician performing the abortion shall take all reasonable steps, both during and subsequent to the abortion, in keeping with good medical practice, consistent with the procedure being used, to preserve the life and health of the aborted child.

"Such steps shall include the presence of life-supporting equipment, as defined by the department of public health, in the room where the abortion is to be performed."

Said Lyons:

"It will be astonishing to watch the radical Democrats claim that President Trump's decision is anything but the humane and right thing to do, knowing that Massachusetts state law already includes the same protections his executive order calls for."