Kansas rep who sponsored Born Alive Infants Protection Act: ‘I saw a baby survive abortion’
Kansas State Rep. Ron Bryce is a physician who in 1988 witnessed a baby survive an attempted abortion. Bryce said she supports the state’s Born Alive Infants Protection Act to ensure abortion survivors like that baby receive appropriate medical care.
In an op-ed for The Wichita Eagleexplained Bryce, “I was the medical resident on duty at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas when I was called to a ‘Code Blue’.”
A Code Blue indicates that someone is experiencing a life-threatening emergency, but upon entering the room, Bryce doesn’t notice anyone who appears to be in distress. There were only the silent medical staff and a young woman, asleep but awake, on the operating table.
“Then someone screamed,” he said. He turned and saw a premature newborn on a metal table in the corner of the room.
“She did the seemingly impossible – survived her abortion,” Bryce wrote. “Although strong enough to live briefly outside the womb, he is too young to live for too long apart from his mother. Health care failed to take his life, then was able to offer very little to help him live.
Bryce transferred the baby boy to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and said, “[I]it wasn’t obvious that he was too tough to die so quickly.”
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He added, “After a few more hours, his breathing got stronger. He smirked. Then his growling quieted down, the movement stopped, and the grimacing passed. I said he was dead.”
Bryce previously told Live Action News, “Before I treated that child, I was pro-life.”
He continued, “I didn’t realize humanity — the terrible things that were happening — until it was right in front of me in my hands. I remember looking at him. I remember that I promised myself that I would not make this death in vain.”
Now, Bryce is making good on that promise.
She wrote for The Wichita Eagle on Monday, “This is the first I’ve heard of a baby surviving an abortion attempt. I thought it was rare. But then our county health department investigated cases of infant mortality, and found 27 of these babies born alive within 3 years. It is an honor for me to serve in the Kansas House of Representatives and join more than 50 of my colleagues in the 2023 session to sponsor the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. This bill is now law. It ensures that Kansas medical providers provide appropriate care for any infant born alive.
The law also ensures that instances of abortion safety are reported, including details about the care provided to them.
Even Governor Laura Kelly vetoed the bill in April, along with other pro-life bills, the Kansas House and Senate completed a veto override, allowing the Born Alive Infants Protection Act to become law.
