Despite a report by the Washington Times that several abortion-rights organizations, including the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, oppose the recently reintroduced Born Alive Infants Protection Act (S 1050/HR 2175), NARAL has indicated in a statement that it does not oppose the bill. Introduced on Friday in the Senate by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) and in the House by Reps. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Melissa Hart (R-Penn.) and Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), the bill would "grant federal protection to newborns who are fully outside the mother, regardless of their stage of development" ( Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 6/15). The bill defines "born alive" as "the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother ... a member of the species homo sapiens ... at any stage of development, who after such expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, Caesarean section or induced abortion" (S 1050/HR 2175 bill text, 6/20). In the statement, NARAL says, "Consistent with our position last year, NARAL does not oppose passage of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Last year's committee and floor debate served to clarify the bill's intent and assure us that it is not targeted at Roe v. Wade or a woman's right to choose" (NARAL release, 6/13). NARAL explains in its "Congressional Record on Choice," "In response [to the Supreme Court decision striking down Nebraska's "partial-birth" abortion ban, anti-choice lawmakers launched a new attack through the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. This legislation ... seeks to further mischaracterize Roe v. Wade to the American public as a decision that has recently been 'expanded' to the point that newborn infants are now at risk. Although the legislation [is] statutorily unnecessary because newborn infants already receive full legal protection (and thus NARAL did not oppose its final passage), [when introduced last year] it was openly used by its anti-choice sponsors to lure pro-choice lawmakers and advocates into the trap of defending against their preposterous mischaracterizations of the current state of abortion-rights law" (NARAL "Congressional Record on Choice 106th Congress, 2nd Session," January 2000).