Western Australians’ concerns about 27 babies who were born alive after botched abortions and left to die are being ignored by state leaders.
The horrifying discovery surfaced in 2017 in a series of questions to parliament by MP Nick Goiran. The government admitted that 27 babies, who ranged from 20 weeks gestation to possibly as late as 34 weeks, did not receive any medical care but instead were left to die.
Western Australia Today reports more than 7,000 people signed a petition calling on parliament to investigate their deaths, the largest petition ever submitted to the state government.
However, nothing has been done.
Questioned recently by the news outlet, Health Minister Roger Cook said he will not recommend an inquiry or review into the babies’ deaths. He simply said “views on termination of pregnancy can be very strong.”
But Goiran is not giving up.
He asked why there has not been an outcry from the media and politicians, as there would be with any other unnatural death.
“I simply make the point that if there was an unnatural death of any other Western Australian citizen this would be front page news and there would be an outcry,” Goiran said. “… in this situation, a different standard seems to apply and I can only conclude that’s because the genesis has to do with a word that people are fearful of discussing, which is abortion.”
Once babies are born, they are supposed to have the same rights and privileges as any other citizen of Western Australia, he said. Yet, these 27 babies were not given those rights because they were supposed to die before birth, he said.
Government leaders admitted as much during Goiran’s questioning in 2017, saying there is “no record of medical intervention or resuscitation” for any of the babies.
Goiran said laws that are supposed to protect these babies are not being enforced.
“The truth is, law reform shouldn’t be necessary because that is already the state of the law,” he said. “But it’s clearly not being enforced, so in the absence of it being enforced I think we need to have it explicitly placed in legislation so it’s heightened in the minds of the health practitioners, of the child protection officers, the Department of Health and the Coroner.”
If they had been given medical attention, some of the babies may have survived. Studies indicate premature babies at 23 weeks now have a good chance of surviving.
Goiran said Perth hospitals provide excellent medical care for very premature babies who are born at the same stage as some of these babies.
“You’ve got access to these resources at King Edward Memorial Hospital and the prospects of success I’m told, from 23 weeks onwards, are good,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that every single one survives, but they have good prospects of success, a high probability. Yet, in these 27 cases we’re told no medical treatment was provided.”
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Some speculated that the babies probably were aborted because they had fatal disabilities, and they would have died anyway. However, Goiran said none of the government agencies have produced any evidence of this.
“I very much suspect that the reasons have been kept secret because it continues to be the case that that are allowing these late-term abortions for conditions that are compatible with life. And that is distressing if that is the case,” he said in a 2017 interview.
This is not a freak occurrence in Western Australia. A 2016 study of Quebec, Canada found that 216 babies were born alive after abortions and left to die between 2000 and 2012.
Previously, the blog Run with Life reported that, from 2000 to 2009, 491 babies were born alive following failed abortions and left to die in Canada. And those are only the ones that are recorded by Statistics Canada.
In America, statistics suggest that thousands of babies also have been born alive and left to die after botched abortions. A 2010 federal report of perinatal infant mortality data indicated that about 1,270 late-term babies were born alive and later died after botched abortions.
Fortunately, a few do survive. LifeNews has published the stories of dozens of abortion survivors. Melissa Ohden, Gianna Jessen and Claire Culwell are just a few examples. The three women are strong pro-life advocates who speak across the world about how their lives are valuable, even though they almost were killed in the womb by abortionists.
