Their survivals have been called “imaginary” and protections for them unnecessary, but new state health data indicates that at least 40 babies were born alive after botched abortions between 2016 and 2018.
Fox News reports the 40 known abortion survivors were documented in just three states, meaning their likely are many more. Meanwhile, pro-abortion Democrats in Congress have been blocking legislation to protect these babies’ lives.
According to the new research, 11 babies were born alive after botched abortions in Minnesota, 10 in Arizona and 19 in Florida since 2016.
Minnesota has been keeping track of abortion survivors since 2015 when pro-lifers passed the state Born Alive Infants Protection Act. The law recognizes infants who survive abortions as human persons and requires that they be provided with reasonable medical care.
Since the law went into effect, state reports indicate that 11 babies have survived abortions: five in 2016, three in 2017 and three in 2018, according to Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.
In 2018, one of the three babies had an APGAR score of one, meaning the baby was observed as one of the following: flexed arms or legs, had a pulse (below 100 bpm), had a pink body with bluish hands/feet, displayed some level of breathing or showed facial movements such as a grimace or weak cry, according to the state report.
Here’s more from Fox News:
Three other states—Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas—have laws requiring data on infants born after botched abortions, but either have reported no cases or have not yet begun compiling the information. Arkansas just passed such a law in 2019. In most reported cases, the babies do not survive beyond 24 hours. …
Arizona had the largest number in the shortest amount of time, with the state’s Department of Health Services reporting: “From August 2017 to December 2017, 10 abortion reports involving fetus or embryo delivered alive were submitted to ADHS along with the physician’s statement documenting the measures taken to preserve the life of the fetus or embryo.”
Keep up with the latest pro-life news and information on Twitter. Follow @LifeNewsHQ
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as the personal testimonies of nurses and abortion survivors themselves, also provide evidence that babies survive abortions. According to the CDC, at least 143 babies were born alive after botched abortions between 2003 and 2014 in the U.S., though there may be more.
Research by the American Center for Law and Justice estimated the number is much higher, at least 362 between 2001 and 2010.
However, Diane Horvath from the pro-abortion Physicians for Reproductive Health slammed the statistics with claims that pro-life advocates are “manipulating” the issue.
“These data are likely reflecting cases in which a woman has a wanted pregnancy but is unable to continue it, where she makes the decision with her doctor to end the pregnancy through induction of labor,” Horvath told Fox News in a statement. “Examples may include a woman who has life-threatening bleeding before her baby is viable, who was in a car accident and has severe injuries that would require labor to be induced, or who received a fetal diagnosis that was incompatible with life.”
The reports do not include the reasons for the abortions in the cases where the babies survived, but research indicates that almost all abortions are elective, including late-term abortions where babies can survive outside the womb.
Despite the strong need for protections for babies who survive abortions, Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate have blocked the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act almost 100 times this year.
Recently, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, filed a discharge petition. If it garners 218 signatures, the full House would be forced to vote on the bill. Currently, every House Republican has signed the petition, but only three Democrats have.
Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, a Republican from North Carolina, and Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser slammed Democratic leaders’ extremism on the issue:
The fact that this overwhelmingly popular legislation has been stonewalled in both chambers of Congress demonstrates how extreme the Democratic Party has become. They are out of step with the people they claim to represent, to the point of backing hideous abortion measures and blocking commonsense safeguards on the lives of the unborn.
How could anyone turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the suffering of these vulnerable children? This issue transcends what it means to be an American and goes to the core of what makes us human.
Currently, about 18 states do not have laws to protect abortion survivors from infanticide. Some states never have passed laws to protect abortion survivors, while at least two others, New York and Illinois, repealed their laws requiring medical care for infants who survive abortions.
Texas recently passed a law strengthening protections for infants who survive abortions. The state legislatures in Montana, North Carolina and Wisconsin did as well; however, their Democratic governors vetoed the legislation. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers argued that the legislation was “not a productive use of time.”
