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Commentary

CBS Accidentally Admits that Harris Thinks Medical Care for Infants Born Alive after Abortion Is ‘Extreme’

August 13, 2024

On Sunday, vice presidential nominee and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance (R) joined Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” for an interview. Predictably, the conversation started with six questions in a row on abortion. While answering those questions, Vance spoke of the contrast between former President Donald Trump’s views on abortion and the view of the Democratic Party. He said, “You have Democrats who have supported abortion right up to the moment of birth — and even beyond the moment — of birth, which is just sick stuff. And I think it’s such a contrast…” 

Margaret Brennan cut off Vance saying, “That’s not accurate.” 

Of course, she’s wrong. 

But then, things got interesting. Vance either misspoke or performed one of the most genius political moves ever to have occurred on live television. He responded, “It is accurate. In fact, the Born-Alive [Abortion Survivors] Act, multiple members of the current Democrat administration, including the vice president, supported it.” 

Here, Vance was wrong.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is a piece of federal legislation introduced because there is no law protecting infants who are born alive after an abortion attempts to take their life. There are at least 245 reported cases in which an infant has been born alive following an abortion, but the actual number is likely much higher, as only 10 states require reporting in such cases. 

At the federal level, because of Democrats’ opposition, legislation requiring infants born alive after an abortion to receive the same care any other infant would, has failed to pass. 

When the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act received a Senate vote in February 2020, 56 senators voted in support, while 41 senators (including three Democrats) voted against the legislation. Surprisingly, three of the Senate’s most radically left senators, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) did not vote on the bill, but Kamala Harris did — and her vote was predictably among the Nays. Prior to that, in 2019, then Senator Harris also voted against the lifesaving legislation.

Perhaps in an attempt to be pro-Harris — or out of a desire to smear J.D. Vance’s fumble in his face — “Face the Nation” decided to “fact check” Vance’s error. From a Democrat’s perspective, this backfired mightily, as the media outlet reported, “FACT CHECK: HARRIS DID NOT SUPPORT THE BORN ALIVE ACT.”

Seemingly not realizing that her “fact check” validated Vance’s far more important claim that Democrats — including Kamala Harris — have supported killing unborn children up until the moment of birth and even after birth, Margaret Brennan dug in, and when a taping of the interview aired, it featured a brief interruption for her to explain:

“We want to clarify what Senator Vance said about the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, and his claim that Vice President Harris supported the legislation. A CBS News fact check finds Harris voted against advancing the bill twice when she was a senator and has previously called it ‘extreme’ and a setback to reproductive rights in America. We found no evidence that anyone who currently serves in the Biden administration voted for it either.”

Whether the result of a mistake or a brilliant move by J.D. Vance, this admission is perhaps the most honest reporting the mainstream media has done on Kamala Harris in the last five years. 

Kamala Harris believes protecting infants born alive after abortion is “extreme” and “a setback to reproductive rights in America.” But don’t take my word for it. Ask CBS. 

This story has been corrected to reflect that three Democrats voted with Republicans in favor of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act.

Mary Szoch is the Director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council.