Dan Wolgamott's infanticide crisis
Rep. Dan Wolgamott voted to remove the requirement that medical personnel; "shall" take all reasonable measures to save a baby fully outside a mother's womb. The definition of infanticide is "the act of killing an infant" or "the practice of killing newborn infants." According to the amended statute, an "infant who is born alive shall be fully recognized as a human person." On Page 15 of the bill is a section titled Concealing Birth. Originally, the bill read "Every person who shall endeavor to conceal the birth of a child by any disposition of its dead body, whether the child died before or after its birth, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Every person who, having been convicted of endeavoring to conceal the stillbirth of any issue, or the death of any issue under the age of two years, shall, subsequent to that conviction, endeavor to conceal any subsequent birth or death, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years."
Tina Liebling's amendment to HF91
Aftert Rep. Tina Liebling amended HF91, that section reads "Any person who attempts to conceal the birth of a child by any disposition of its dead body, whether when the child died before or after its birth, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. This section does not apply to the disposition of remains resulting from an abortion or miscarriage."
That's quite the exception for abortion. John Croman's article for KARE11 does a nice job of highlighting the changes to the bill's language:
Croman then includes the bill's language before it was amended:A born alive infant as a result of an abortion shall be fully recognized as a human person and be accorded immediate protection under the law. All reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice shall be taken by responsible medical personnel to preserve the life and health of the born alive infant.That's rather specific, strong language. It instructs the "medical personnel to preserve the life and health of the born alive infant." That isn't a suggestion. Included in that instruction is the word shall.
Amended Statute
An infant who is born alive shall be fully recognized as a human person, and accorded immediate protection under the law. All reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice, including the compilation of appropriate medical records, shall be taken by the responsible medical personnel to care for the infant who is born alive.Where's the command in the amended language to "preserve the life and health of the infant?" That's a rather significant modification to the statute. Check out Walter Hudson questioning Rep. Liebling on an unborn infant's civil rights: Frankly, I think Rep. Hudson tied Rep. Liebling into nots with his precise questioning. Rep. Liebling essentially said that government is too blunt a tool to weigh in on abortion. That's odd considering Rep. Liebling, (DFL-Rochester), didn't get angry when SCOTUS ruled that there was a right to abortion but got upset when that same branch of government said that the previous court got it wrong.
Rep. Wolgamott and Rep. Liebling apparently don't think it's required to read the entire statute. You can't say in one part of the bill that "shall be fully recognized as a human person", then argue that this infant child's life is subject only to the mother who tried aborting that child? Rep. Wolgamott and Rep. Liebling what the difference is between a healthy, wanted infant and an infant whose mother wanted to abort that infant? That sounds the mother, in this specific situation only, gets to play God according to the Gospel of the DFL. Who gave them the right to determine the difference between what's life and what's infanticide?
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