Abortion is meant to end the life of a preborn child in every single procedure — but occasionally, it fails. When this happens, the preborn child survives — something referred to in the abortion industry as the “dreaded complication.”
Though this is a known complication from attempted abortions, there are numerous myths frequently perpetrated by the abortion industry and its supporters. But what is the reality?
Myth #1: Abortion survivors are not real.
The Truth: Preborn babies do survive abortions.
Abortionists like Daniel Grossman and pro-abortion researchers like Andréa Becker (who works with Grossman at the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health) have claimed that abortion survivors are not real, and the idea of babies surviving abortions is a “misinformation campaign” or an “imagined situation” created by the pro-life movement to discredit the abortion industry. Ron DeSantis was widely mocked for sharing the story of an abortion survivor named Penny, though the story was real — and Penny ultimately came forward to affirm his story. Even then, numerous media outlets still argued that Penny wasn’t telling the truth.
But the truth is, babies do survive abortions. This has happened for as long as abortions have been committed, and it continues to happen today.
In Florida, for example, there were 16 abortion survivors recorded between 2015 and 2018 alone. In another report, 10 babies were recorded as having been born alive in 2015 in just three states: Florida, Minnesota, and Michigan. More recently in Minnesota, five children were recorded as having been born alive in 2021. Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also revealed that over 100 infants survived abortions, at least for a short time, over the course of 12 years. Another report revealed that 100 babies were born alive following abortions in just five states, over the course of about 10 years.
Surviving an abortion may be a rare occurrence, but it does happen, and likely more often than people believe it does. It happens enough that a support organization has been formed for them.
As Live Action News reported in 2023, “Only a handful of states require cases of abortion survivors to be documented, and Live Action News found 220 cases of abortion survivors reported from 1999-2023 in just eight states. Because of a lack of consistent reporting, that number is almost certainly substantially higher.”
Myth #2: Abortion survivors are given adequate medical care.
The Truth: The abortion industry is known to leave infants to die.
Abortionists have claimed that if a baby survives an abortion, he or she is given any and all necessary medical care. Abortionist Jen Gunter has argued that this kind of infanticide simply doesn’t happen, though she illustrated the kind of flawed thinking that is so common within the abortion industry. “Movement or cardiac activity does not equate life, by the medical and the legal definitions,” Gunter said, adding, “The recording of a live birth can be fluid based on parental wishes.”
Yet there is evidence to indicate that infanticide, through leaving abortion survivors to die or actively causing their deaths, does take place. Undercover footage from the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) found that abortionists were willing to commit federally illegal D&X (partial-birth) abortions in which a preborn baby is delivered feet-first, stopping short of the skull. The abortionist then stabs the baby in the neck, inserts a catheter, and removes the baby’s brain, causing the skull to collapse. The deceased baby is then fully delivered.
An undercover investigation from Live Action also found numerous admissions from late-term abortion facilities regarding leaving abortion survivors to die. A staffer from Family Planning Associates Medical Group in Phoenix, Arizona, told the investigator that they would do nothing to help a baby survive, specifically instructing her to return to the abortion facility instead of seeking help at the hospital if she delivered a live baby.
Cesare Santangelo’s late-term Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C., was likewise visited by an investigator who was 25 weeks pregnant; she was told, “We would not help it. We wouldn’t intubate.” A staffer from Emily’s Women’s Center in the Bronx said if a baby born during an attempted abortion was still breathing, they would place the baby in a jar of “solution” to “make it stop” so “it won’t be able to breathe anymore.”
Before beginning her work as a pro-life activist, nurse Jill Stanek discovered a baby with Down syndrome who had survived an abortion attempt, and was going to be left in a soiled utility closet to die. In another horrifying incident, a baby survived an abortion attempt in a Florida facility, and staffers placed the baby girl in a biohazard bag to slowly suffocate to death. In yet another case, a woman named Angele said her son was born alive into a toilet at abortionist James Pendergraft’s facility, and staffers refused to help her or allow emergency personnel inside. The anguished 911 call is here.
The American Medical Association (AMA) voted last year against a resolution calling for the “highest standard of neonatal care” for abortion survivors.
Myth #3: Abortion survivors are already protected under the law.
The Truth: Existing laws do not provide enough protection.
A fact-check from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies claimed that “[w]illfully ending a newborn’s life is illegal in every U.S. state.” When bills are introduced putting protections for abortion survivors into place, they are often derided as unnecessary. Politifact has likewise argued that abortion survivors are adequately protected already.
This misconception is often due to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, passed in 2002, which states that any child who survives an abortion is a person with full citizenship, and is therefore entitled to equal protection under federal law. It does not, however, mandate what kind of treatment abortion survivors should receive — so treatment like neonatal resuscitation, or immediate transportation to the nearest hospital, is not required under this law. Furthermore, there are no penalties for those who violate this law. An abortionist who leaves a preborn child to die will face no jail time, fines, or any other punishment.
Another bill, introduced by Ben Sasse, would have filled in the gaps of the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. Health care providers would be required to “exercise the same degree of care as reasonably provided to any other child born alive at the same gestational age,” and to transport the child to the hospital. The bill contains a mandatory reporting requirement for violations of the law, and violators would be subject to a criminal fine, up to five years prison time, or both. If someone acted to specifically prevent the survival of the abortion survivor, they could be prosecuted for murder. Despite multiple attempts over several years, these protections for abortion survivors still have not passed.
A report from the Family Research Council found that three (3) states have explicitly removed protections for abortion survivors, and 11 states offer no protections. In addition, FRC claims (emphasis added), “Currently, 35 states have at least some born-alive protections. However, only 19 states have the three elements of strong born-alive protections, which are reflected in the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, currently pending in Congress: a requirement that practitioners must exercise professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life of infants who survive abortion; a requirement that surviving infants be immediately transported to a hospital and/or requiring the presence of a second physician during the abortion; and legal penalties for abortionists who do not comply. At this moment, federal law and 31 states do not adequately protect the lives of infants who survive abortion.”
Editor’s Note, 9/16/24: This article was updated with more recent information from the Family Research Council regarding protections for abortion survivors.
