TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL)--A victory tonight for abortion advocates, Florida house leaders passed a bill that would make it a crime for health officials not to report or give care to babies surviving abortions.
Lawmakers say in 2011 there were more than 200,000 live births, but the Agency for Health Care Administration reported more than 70,000 termination procedures were performed in Florida.
State leaders say the clinics currently don't report how many of those babies are aborted and are born alive.
Lawmakers say they're concerned because they don't know whats happening to these babies
Right now the law requires the director of facilities that provide abortion to submit a monthly report to ACHA containing the number of procedures performed, along with two other requirements.
They are "not" required to provide any information on infants born alive after an attempted abortion
"We know that there are also some doctors who do not report when an infant is born alive an sometimes they actually try to purposely inflict more damage on a baby after its born, and I think from that standpoint its important to make the facilities and the doctors and nurses report when an infant is born alive," said Rachel Burgin," former legislator.
"There are infants born alive in abortion clinics and some state require you to keep track of that and render aid some don't so I think we decided that we wanted Florida to be in line with those who have passed this law because it is a concern to us that this baby born alive is in fact a human being," said Sheila Hopkins, Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Doctors face thousands of dollars in fines if they do not comply with this law and care for the babies. Other medical employees such as nurses will be charged with first degree misdemeanors if they refuse care or to report if a baby is still alive once terminated.
The bill passed the full house unanimously its now on the way to the Senate.
