How often is a baby born alive after abortion?
The truth is, we don’t know. But the fact that it happens is a matter of public record, and the more we dig, the more we find.
Only a few states have laws that require abortionists to report instances of babies surviving abortion. But from those few states, we know it happens.
We also know it happens because abortionists themselves say it does. In a California courtroom last week, a video was shown in which an abortionist being secretly recorded admitted that when a baby survives abortion it is “the biggest disaster and it never goes away.”
In 2002, the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act had bipartisan support as it was passed by Congress and signed by then-President George Bush. But that law did not spell out the type of medical care to which this newly born human being was entitled, nor did it impose criminal penalties for abortionists who let these babies die. Sometimes these babies are kept “comfortable” while they die, according to Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
And sometimes these abortion survivors are murdered outright.
But is the point of barbarism like this how often it happens, or whether it should be allowed to happen at all? Shouldn’t we, as a civilized society, ensure this never happens? Shouldn’t there be a law that calls for life-saving emergency medical care, in a hospital, not an abortion mill, for these tiny fighters? Shouldn’t we punish so-called “doctors” who continue to deny the humanity of these babies who were not supposed to draw breath but did, against the odds?
On Tuesday of this week, some 35 members of the U.S. House of Representatives asked a panel of expert witnesses these and similar questions in a hearing entitled “End Infanticide.” It was organized by House Republican Whip Steve Scalise and Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), primary sponsor of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 962).
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It was a hearing filled with both facts and emotion, as eyewitnesses to the infanticide shared what they saw, as a neonatologist and a former abortionist gave the medical facts about babies born alive, and as Rep. Ann Wagner gave a tearful conclusion to the hearing, leading to a standing ovation from all those who were present.
Jill Stanek was working as a nurse when she found one of these newborns, discarded and left to die alone at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois. Dr. Kathi Aultman is a former abortion provider who had her road-to-Damascus moment when she worked in a neonatal intensive care unit and realized she was working to save babies who were the same age as those being killed by abortion.
Another witness, Dr. Robin Pierucci, is the director of a 50-bed neonatal intensive care unit. Tessa Longbons from the Charlotte Lozier Institute also spoke about her extensive research on late-term abortions.
Prior to the hearing, we at Priests for Life organized about fifty people who split into nine teams and lobbied the offices of Democrat members of the House of Representatives, asking them why their party refuses to even have a vote on this bill, and challenging them to take a stand.
We had quite a few substantive discussions. We stressed the point that this bill does not in any way restrict whether a mother can get an abortion. It merely — and yet profoundly — spells out what must happen when an abortion results in the birth of a newborn human being
The lobbying and the hearing addressed the various fallacies that the Democrats assert regarding this problem of infanticide.
For example, the argument that state law already protects babies who survive abortion is only partially true. Some states do have this protection already.
In Texas, a born-alive bill just went into effect earlier this month. But in North Carolina and Montana this year, governors vetoed born-alive protections. And in some states, like New York and Illinois, new laws on the books strip protections both from the child in the womb, and from those who make it out alive.
Tuesday’s events brought attention to the fact that the Democrat majority in the House is refusing to vote on a bill that has the support of some 77% of Americans, including 70% of those who identify as Democrats. Republican members have risen on the House floor more than 80 times to ask for a vote on the bill. A discharge petition that also could lead to a vote needs 17 more Democrats to sign on but none appear courageous enough to step forward.
This is a necessary bill, and it’s the most important issue facing the 116th Congress.
It’s chilling to think that as I write this, and as you read it, there could be a newborn abortion survivor somewhere in the United States who has been abandoned in a soiled utility closet, or thrown on a roof, or had his neck snipped. But that’s the reality. Babies drawing their first breaths are just minutes away from their last gasp.
And now is the time to do something about it.
