Grace Carr, DCNF

Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse reacted to comments Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam made Wednesday morning, telling the governor that he shouldn’t serve in government if he supports leaving babies to die after they’ve been born.

“This is morally repugnant,” Sasse said in a statement after Northam, in a Wednesday morning interview, couldn’t precisely answer whether he supports abortion until birth and suggested an infant could be born and then the mother and doctor could discuss what should happen next, The National Review reported.

“In just a few years pro-abortion zealots went from ‘safe, legal, and rare’ to ‘keep the newborns comfortable while the doctor debates infanticide,’” Sasse continued, according to the Review. “I don’t care what party you’re from — if you can’t say that it’s wrong to leave babies to die after birth, get the hell out of public office.”

.@BenSasse on Gov Northam's comments: "I don’t care what party you’re from – if you can’t say that it’s wrong to leave babies to die after birth, get the hell out of public office." https://t.co/c5wdVFKpk0 pic.twitter.com/aNM1eldy9Q — James Wegmann (@jameswegmann) January 30, 2019

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” Northam said in a WTOP interview.

Aborting a baby after it has been born is illegal. Doctor Kermit Gosnell was sentenced to life in prison for killing live babies or leaving them to die after they were born.

Roe v. Wade allows women to have an abortion up to the point of fetal “viability,” a term that continues to foster debate as neonatal care advances. Physicians generally point to between 22 and 24 weeks as the point at which a newborn baby can survive outside the womb.

His comments come after Democratic Virginia Delegate Kathy Tran introduced HB 2491 in January. The legislation seeks to repeal the state’s current restrictions on late-term abortions. The bill would allow a doctor to perform an abortion when a woman is dilating, meaning she is about to give birth.

“Clearly, this kind of legislation is an attempt to create legal infanticide as viable babies are aborted to the cheers of abortion extremists,” Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins said in a statement.

If passed, the measure will do away with the state’s requirement that second- and third-trimester abortions be performed only to preserve the health or life of the woman. Obtaining an ultrasound before an abortion would also not be required, under the proposed law.

Currently, three physicians must conclude that a third-trimester abortion is necessary to preserve the health or life of the woman. Those requirements are stripped under the proposed legislation, which also removes the state’s mandate that second- and third-trimester abortions be performed in hospitals.

Seventy-five percent of Americans support significant abortion restrictions and say abortion should not be legal after a woman is three months pregnant, according to a Jan. 15 Marist poll.

Northam did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment in time for publication.

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