Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe has signed legislation protecting infants who are born alive during or after an attempted abortion.
Senate Bill 999, known as the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” establishes that any child born alive following an abortion or attempted abortion has the same legal rights as any other live-born child under Missouri law.
The law requires healthcare providers present at such a birth to provide the same standard of medical care they would provide to any other infant at the same gestational age. It also allows prosecutors to charge anyone who knowingly causes the death of a child born alive with first-degree murder and creates a civil right of action for wrongful death or improper healthcare.