Obama's Opposition to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act: When, How, and Why

Someone commented in a previous post that Barack Obama's opposition to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act was an urban legend. If that's true, I want nothing to do with perpetuating it.

But, sadly, Obama's opposition to BAIPA is a matter of record.

Here is a quick rundown, based on some research by Jill Stanek:

IL Senate 2001

• Senate Bill 1095, Born Alive Infant Protection Act
• Voted "no" in the Senate Judiciary Committee (March 28, 2001)
• Argued against the bill on the IL Senate floor (March 30, 2001) (see pp. 84-90 of this PDF)
• Voted "present" for the bill (March 30, 2001)

IL Senate 2002

• Senate Bill 1662, Born Alive Infant Protection Act
• Voted "no" vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee (March 6, 2002)
• Argued against the bill on the IL Senate floor (April 4, 2002) (see pp. 28-35 of this PDF)
• Voted "no" for the bill (April 4, 2002)

IL Senate 2003

• Senate Bill 1082, Born Alive Infant Protection Act
• Obama, who chaired the Health and Human Services Committee, held the bill from receiving a committee vote and stopped the senator sponsor from adding the federal act's clarification paragraph, which made the bills absolutely identical.

Ms. Stanek also has a blog post running through the top 10 reasons that Obama has given for opposing the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.

Update: Just saw Jeremy Pierce's post from a couple of weeks ago, looking in more depth at Obama's argument.