The media continues to express skepticism that extremely late abortions and infanticide are occurring under certain circumstances in the United States.
During a recent interview between Texas Governor Greg Abbott and CNN’s Jake Tapper, Tapper confronted Abbott about a study which claimed to find an increase in infant mortality in Texas, directly related to the state’s pro-life laws. (Despite this line of questioning, that study has been debunked.) Instead, Abbott drew attention to the extreme nature of supporting late abortions — and even infanticide.
“Kamala Harris supports abortion until the very last second before a fully developed child in the mother’s womb is born,” Abbott claimed. “That’s late-term abortion. That baby can definitely feel the pain. That definitely, the baby who, if it survives one more minute —.” But Tapper immediately became argumentative, interrupting Abbott.
“Where are there abortions being carried out?” Tapper interjected, while Abbott continued, “— will be born, but instead will lose its life.”
“Where? Where are these abortions being carried out up until the moment of birth?” Tapper asked. “I keep hearing Republican politicians talking about that. And, I mean, that’s infanticide. I don’t know where this is going on.”
Abbott claimed that in California (where Harris is from) it is the law to allow abortion without limits, as well as in Minnesota (where Harris’ running mate Tim Walz is governor). However, California’s law, according to the Guttmacher Institute, does not allow abortion past “fetal viability, generally 24–26 weeks of pregnancy” — though ‘viability’ is highly subjective and determined by the abortionist who is paid to commit the abortion. Colleen McNicholas, a Planned Parenthood abortionist, admitted that “my practice includes abortion care through the point of viability, and as we previously discussed, that could be at any point” (emphasis added). In addition, children born as early as 21 weeks are capable of surviving when given medical assistance.
Minnesota’s law, however, does allow abortion without limits — and it is one of nine states (plus D.C.) in the U.S. that do (Alaska, Vermont, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, and New Jersey).
While even HuffPost says the claims about late abortion and infanticide are “horrifically false” — yet fails to explain how — it is unfortunately true that late abortions, well past the point of viability, take place in the thousands annually, and there are facilities who openly advertise extremely late abortions for any reason.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute compile abortion statistics, though some states do not report their numbers to the CDC; therefore, Guttmacher’s numbers are much higher. According to the most recent reports available, the CDC claims 1% of abortions occur after 21 weeks; Guttmacher states that number is 1.3% of abortions. Based on Guttmacher numbers, this means that estimated abortions after 21 weeks are just over 10,000 annually.
And despite the fact that Tapper expressed ignorance and skepticism that infanticide is occurring, CDC data reveals that over the course of 12 years, over 100 infants survived for at least a short time after abortions, though it’s not known how many received medical care versus how many were left to die. Several other states in the U.S. (as well as areas in Canada) have reported abortion survivors — and some receive no life-saving care. Minnesota, despite having reported abortion survivor statistics since 2015, passed a law in 2023 that will discontinue the reporting of abortion survivors.
That law was signed by Kamala Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz.
And though Kermit Gosnell is the most notorious example of an abortionist who either allowed abortion survivors to die or actively murdered them, he is far from alone. Numerous abortion staffers or supporters have gone on record in support of infanticide. Planned Parenthood lobbyist Alisa LaPolt Snow testified against a bill requiring medical care for abortion survivors before the Florida House, where she argued that the fate of babies who survive abortions “should be between the patient and the healthcare provider,” basically saying that a baby should be left to die if that’s what the mother and abortionist want.
Abortionist Cesare Santangelo’s late abortion facility, the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C., was visited by a Live Action investigator who was 25 weeks pregnant as part of an investigative series; she was told that if her child would happen to survive the abortion, “we would – we would not help it. We wouldn’t intubate.” At the Emily’s Women’s Center in the Bronx, a staffer discussed what would happen if a baby survived an abortion and was still breathing. She said they would place the baby in a jar of “solution.”
The solution will make it stop. It’s not going to be moving around in the jar … that’s the whole purpose of the solution. It’ll automatically stop. It won’t be able to… not with the solution…. It won’t be able to breathe anymore.
Recent bills in Maryland, Colorado, and California also were phrased in a way that legal experts believe could potentially create legal loopholes allowing infanticide. Bioethicists, including the notorious Peter Singer, have unabashedly argued in favor of infanticide. Even the Presbyterian Church USA has refused to issue a vote denouncing infanticide.
Late abortion and infanticide are horrific atrocities that seem like they could never happen somewhere like the United States. But the sad reality is they can… and do.
Editor’s Note, 8/12/24: An incorrect number of annual abortions past 21 weeks was originally given; this has been corrected. We regret the error.
