Alive but threatened

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe last month signed into law the Born Alive Infant Survivor’s Act—something pro-choice advocates claim is a political tactic meant to harm abortion access. 

Laws like these, they say, are merely “anti-abortion” propaganda that scare women and speak to made-up scenarios. 

“The term ‘born alive’ is anti-abortion rhetoric designed to spread myths and fearmonger to ban abortion,” said a Planned Parenthood flyer. 

Democrat Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania called a House-passed born-alive law “another extreme political stunt” and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said it was “fearmongering at its finest.”

Yes, infanticide is illegal. But late-term abortion creates an uncomfortable question: Why should passing through the birth canal radically change the moral calculus and intent for the doctor?

Just moments before birth, an abortion is legally intended to end the life of the baby. If that same child emerges alive, intentionally ending its life becomes a crime. The child hasn’t changed—only the baby’s location has changed. And yet, under the law, that line is the difference between what is legally defined as abortion and infanticide.

It’s important for abortionists to fully grasp that a failed abortion isn’t a license to kill a born child, who immediately gains full rights and protection under the law at first breath. 

We need the Born Alive Infant Protection Act because those who should protect the most innocent—lawmakers—can’t be trusted. 

Just last month, we watched a crowd of smiling women surround Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, applauding as she legalized abortion up to 9 months of pregnancy—for any reason. Eight other states and Washington, D.C., have the same legislation, with the full backing of the American College of OB-GYNs (ACOG) which calls it “a necessary component of comprehensive health care.”

By their reasoning, a fully developed child inside the womb can be killed without penalty or fear. But, that same child—on the opposite side of the birth canal—is fully valuable and worthy of life-saving measures. And the only difference is a matter of seconds and location of the body. 

Forgive us if we can’t trust or follow this logic. 

What if the child survives the abortion? The child who was supposed to die lives—and then we’re left with the visible truth pro-aborts refuse to grapple with: A child born alive after an abortion may be maimed, injured, crying, and likely close to death. To feel that beating heart and see those tiny movements would be to know that it is undeniably a precious human being. Born-alive protections force us to confront this glaring and obvious moral line.

It’s impossible to know exactly how many infants survive abortion attempts because most states don’t track this information, but we do know that abortions sometimes fail. They can fail when the abortion pill doesn’t work, as was the case with Claire Culwell, who survived an abortion while her twin sister did not. 

They can also fail in later-term pregnancy if the poison doesn’t quite take or the “delivery” of an aborted baby includes a heartbeat. Even the pro-abortion Society of Family Planning warns abortionists of this possibility, taking care to guide them toward procedures that will “prevent the unanticipated expulsion of a fetus with cardiorespiratory activity.”

Jill Stanek, a registered nurse, testified before Congress that she “cradled and rocked” a dying baby for 45 minutes after a failed abortion. He died in her arms. Another nurse, Allison Baker, testified that she witnessed a baby with Spina Bifida, delivered after a failed abortion, who lived nearly 2 hours. 

The Charlotte Lozier Institute reports 284 documented cases of babies born alive after abortion in the last 27 years, but that’s only for the few states that report the numbers. 

The Abortion Survivors Network says it has connected with more than 700 documented people who survived attempted abortions—and estimates that tens of thousands more survivors have existed, although comprehensive national data isn’t available. 

A doctor who “completes” an abortion post-birth will not report this. They may even be the only person who ever knows it happens, so to have an extra legal weight on their shoulders is important. 

A baby who survives an attempted abortion lives in a gray area—one where only a doctor or medical staff realize he or she is still present. That child’s claim to legal protection then doesn’t depend on her God-given human rights, but on the intentions and moral seriousness of those in the room. The ones that meant to take her life can’t be trusted to save it. 

Abortion advocates demand explicit legal protections for doctors treating pregnancy emergencies in pro-life states. Yet many fiercely oppose explicit protections for children who survive abortions.

Those gleefully celebrating late-term legal access to abortion are the very people who created the necessity for Born Alive Infant Protection laws. No sane or ethical society can allow what pro-abortion forces are demanding.