The Education and Health Committee voted down the legislation on a 9-6 vote on Feb. 16, with every Republican supporting the bill and every Democrat opposing it. It had previously passed the House of Delegates 52-47 on Feb. 7, with Republican leadership supporting the bill and Democratic leadership opposing it.
Although the legislation was shot down without any debate, there was some debate in the Health Professions Subcommittee on Feb. 13.
“The reason why we believe this is important is because we know we have documented cases of situations where a child is born alive, and in some cases, they have been left to die after the fact,” Freitas said in defense of his proposal.
Democratic lawmakers pushed back during the subcommittee.
“A doctor in this situation would have to have another doctor overseeing him and a lawyer to make sure he wasn’t committing malpractice, which would cause him to spend 10 years in prison,” Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, said during the committee.
Freitas countered the Democratic opposition by noting that doctors are required to provide care in other circumstances. He said the state needs rules in this circumstance because of cases in which “they’ve actually been left to die on the table.”