5 states report 108 babies born alive after abortion
In the last 12 years, 108 babies have been born alive after attempted abortions in five U.S. states alone.
The babies were born in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota and Texas, Live Action reported, citing state records. Only a small minority of states reports when babies are born alive after an abortion, Live Action Director of External Affairs Alison Centofante told The Christian Post in an email.
“There are only a handful of states (eight as far as we know) that require reporting for live births after abortions,” she wrote. “Some states that do require reporting had reported zero, an example of that would be Oklahoma.”
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Only a small number of abortions result in a child’s live birth. Texas statistics suggest that about two babies in 100,000 survive abortion. But when people hear about these cases, it can impact how people view unborn babies, she noted.
“Babies born alive after botched abortions illuminates the humanity of every preborn child -- a humanity that is present at the moment of conception. Beating hearts, pumping lungs, tiny fingers and toes. Hearing stories of babies born alive after botched abortions should wake people from their slumber of apathy,” said Centofante.
“Abortion kills 2,363 babies every single day in the U.S. The procedure starves, poisons, beheads, and dismembers the most vulnerable members of our human family and we must do all we can to protect them.”
Abortion methods include injecting potassium chloride or digoxin, dilation and evacuation, which pro-life groups refer to as dismemberment, and crushing the skull, among others.
Current infant protection laws lack the force required to protect abortion survivors, Centofante argued.
“The 2002 Federal Born Alive Infant Protection Act is insufficient to ensure babies surviving abortion are given appropriate care because it simply acknowledges that all newborns, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, are to be recognized as persons from the moment of their birth if they show any sign of life. It does not provide specific duties for an abortion doctor to follow or penalties if they are not followed,” she pointed out.
According the 2002 act, U.S. law considers "every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development" a person. Actively killing a baby after birth is murder under U.S. law.
The law is less clear on whether infants born alive after an abortion can be left to die without medical help. In 19 states, no laws demand that adults provide medical care for babies born after abortion.
In some cases, newborn babies are left to die.
In 2006, a baby born alive after an abortion was sealed in a biohazard bag to die. In 2013, three abortion clinic employees in Texas testified that an abortion doctor killed babies born alive during abortions. In 2017, an abortion provider told an undercover reporter that she paid attention to who was in the room when a baby was born alive.
“Right now there is no federal protection to ensure babies born alive from abortion are given medical care appropriate for a wanted baby born at that age and that there will be penalties if you do not provide care,” Centofante wrote.
Tara Sander Lee, senior fellow at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, stated last year that without legal penalties and protections for infants who survive abortion, “these babies are going to die on the table.”
Lee cited a study, saying babies born as early as 22 weeks had a 58% survival rate in 2016.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would require doctors to provide medical aid to babies born alive after an abortion or face legal penalties. Despite multiple attempts, Congress has not passed the bill.
"Leaving a baby who needs medical attention to die — though it isn’t active execution — is really killing that child through negligence and a deliberate choice to leave that child on the delivery room table, withholding the care that child deserves," Centofante stated.
