SC Panel Advances ‘Born Alive’ Measure

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina legislators have advanced a bill that ensures a fetus who survives an abortion attempt is not treated as medical waste.

A Senate panel approved the bill Wednesday, sending it to the full Judiciary Committee. The House approved it in February.

The proposal defines a person as anyone who is breathing and has a beating heart after birth, whether by labor, cesarean section, or abortion. A fetus who survives an abortion attempt would be entitled to treatment as any other person.

The bill copies the Born Alive Infant Protection Act signed in 2002 that applies to federal property and facilities.