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Xavier Becerra, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human ServicesDrew Angerer / Staff / Getty

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WASHINGTON, D.C., May 12, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — During a Capitol Hill meeting today, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra portrayed himself as ignorant of U.S. law banning partial-birth abortion.

When Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Florida, asked Becerra during a House Energy and Commerce Committee, Health Subcommittee hearing, “Do you agree that partial-birth abortion is illegal?” Becerra claimed, “There is no medical term ‘partial-birth abortion.’” 

Bilirakis pressed him again and Becerra doubled down: “There is no law that deals specifically with the term ‘partial birth abortion.’”    

“Stop lying,” demanded the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List (SBA) in a tweet directed at Becerra.

“The law passed & Supreme Court upheld it,” continued SBA. “This law bans killing a child when it is already partially born. You voted AGAINST this law. Shame on you.”

In subsequent tweets, SBA called out the new Democratic HHS head for his guileful answer:  

Becerra claimed, “There is no law that deals specifically with the term Partial-Birth Abortion.”

But that’s exactly what U.S. Code § 1531 does:

Read the law: https://law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1531

Becerra is very much aware of the Partial-Birth Abortion ban. When Planned Parenthood was caught red-handed admitting they used the partial-birth abortion method, instead of prosecuting Planned Parenthood, then-California AG Becerra prosecuted the undercover journalists Center for Medical Progress.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, slammed Becerra’s mendacity.  

“Sec. Becerra told me under oath that he would follow the law on partial birth abortion,” said Daines. “Now, he’s denying the law banning these barbaric partial birth abortions even exists. This is shameful.”

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, took up where Bilirakis left off, asking Becerra, “It’s a very clear statute, Mr. Secretary, please don’t waver on this. The Supreme Court has already spoken on this particular statute. Do you recognize it, yes or no question?” 

Becerra again avoided acknowledging the term “partial-birth abortion.”

“During his confirmation hearings, Xavier Becerra dodged questions about his stance on partial-birth abortion – when an unborn child is partially delivered and then killed – deflecting with repeated claims that he would ‘follow the law’ as head of HHS. Now the top health official in America, Becerra outright denies the existence of a law banning partial-birth abortion since 2003,” commented SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Becerra can hardly plead ignorance on this topic. As a freshman congressman, he voted against the ban. This shameless lie is standard for the most radical pro-abortion administration in history. It should not be hard to recognize that partially delivering a baby and then suctioning his or her brain is not only illegal, but utterly inhumane.

“As Becerra works hand-in-glove with the White House to expand abortion on demand and force taxpayers to bankroll the abortion industry against their will, pro-life leaders in Congress are fighting back,” continued Dannenfelser. “210 legislators are demanding a vote on legislation to protect babies born alive during failed abortions from being killed or left to die. If just five Democrats sign the petition, it will force a vote Speaker Pelosi seems desperate to avoid. Sadly, not a single Democrat has yet signed the petition and opposed infanticide.” 

“Becerra’s responses further reveal the extremism of Biden-Harris Democrats and SBA List will work tirelessly to expose them and ensure political consequences,” she added. 

The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 defines partial-birth abortion as “an abortion in which a physician deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living, unborn child's body until either the entire baby's head is outside the body of the mother, or any part of the baby's trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother and only the head remains inside the womb, for the purpose of performing an overt act (usually the puncturing of the back of the child's skull and removing the baby's brains) that the person knows will kill the partially delivered infant, performs this act, and then completes delivery of the dead infant — is a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never medically necessary and should be prohibited.”