SC Lawmakers Advance ‘Born Alive’ Legislation

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina legislative panel has approved a bill that says any fetus that survives abortion is entitled to lifesaving treatment.

Chester GOP Rep. Greg Delleney says doctors would have to try to save those infants just as they do any other patient with a life-threatening condition. The measure defines a person as anyone who’s breathing and has a beating heart after birth, whether that’s by labor, cesarean section, or abortion.

It mimics the Born Alive Infant Protection Act signed by President Bush in 2002.

A panel led by Delleney sent the bill to the full House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

Earlier this week, his bill requiring women to wait 24 hours after their ultrasound to get an abortion was sent to the House floor.