An Alabama legislative committee approved a bill today that would make it a crime for a doctor to fail to provide care to try to save the life of a baby born alive after an attempted abortion.

The approval came after a contentious debate about whether such a law is necessary.

The sponsor, Rep. Ginny Shaver, R-Leesburg, told the House Judiciary Committee that she knew of cases where babies were born alive after attempted abortions and doctors failed to try to save them. Shaver said she previously worked as a counselor for pregnant women and for women after abortions. She declined to give any specifics.

“I know of multiple cases,” Shaver said. “But I’m not going to reveal anything about those folks that have confided in me. They are not willing to come forward and be public and I don’t blame them.”

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, said Alabama law bans abortions after the age when a baby could survive outside the womb. England asked Shaver why she did not report the doctors involved in the cases she said she was told about. England said it’s already a crime in Alabama for a doctor to abort a viable fetus.

“It was after the fact by the time that I heard about it,” Shaver said.

“There’s really no after the fact in that situation,” England said.

Shaver said she could not say why the women who told her their stories did not report the doctors but said their reluctance was understandable.

“They’re in a very difficult place and not willing to be public,” Shaver said. “And I understand that.”

Under Shaver’s bill, doctors who violated the law could be charged with a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of not less than $100,000. The pregnant woman would not be liable. The bill applies only to abortion clinics. Shaver said hospitals fall under a separate set of regulations.

The committee approved the bill on a voice vote. England and Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Birmingham, voted against it.

Coleman said she was bothered by the lack of data Shaver offered to support her contention that the bill was needed.

The vote moves the bill into consideration by the House of Representatives. Fifty-two House members are signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation.

Dr. Morissa Ladinsky, associate professor of Pediatrics at UAB Medicine, said the bill is based on a fallacy because clinics in Alabama perform abortions up to 21 weeks gestational age, which is before babies can survive outside the womb. “It’s basically a theoretical scenario that is medically implausible,” Ladinsky said.

The House passed a similar bill by Shaver last year after arguments about whether it was needed. It did not pass the Senate.

“All I’m asking that if a baby is born alive during an abortion or attempted abortion that that doctor try to save that baby’s life," Shaver said today.

Alabama lawmakers passed a nearly total ban on abortion last year but a federal judge has put it on hold.

Supporters of the ban expected that to happen and are hoping the court case can reach the U.S. Supreme Court for a review of the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision.