Noting that 26 states currently give protection to survivors of abortion, she said that many states are also “rolling back their protections. This is why this is needed.”

Scalise’s and Wagner’s case was bolstered by the story of Melissa Ohden, 41, of Kansas City, Mo., who said at a press conference outside the Capitol that she survived an abortion that was “forced on” her 19-year-old biological mother in 1977.

Ohden said that only later did her adoptive parents learn that Ohden had survived a toxic saline procedure. She said she was contacted a few years ago by a nurse who she said had saved her after the procedure at a hospital in Sioux City, Iowa.

Critics have questioned the need for the legislation, saying it happens so rarely there are no dependable figures on it, and in pointing out that there are already state and federal laws against murder.

But that’s why the reporting requirement is in the bill, Wagner said. And she and Ohden pointed to efforts in some states to broaden access to late-term abortions.