UPDATE, 2/25/21: Governor Kristi Noem signed House Bill 1051 into law on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, stating, “The pro-life cause continues even after a child is born, and this bill will guarantee the right to life for every baby that is born alive.” The Christian Post reports that the South Dakota chapter of the ACLU objected to requiring protection for infants born alive because it would put “politicians between a person and their doctor.”
A press release from the Susan B. Anthony List stated in response, “Under Governor Noem, South Dakota is a national leader in protecting innocent children – born and unborn. The overwhelming majority of Americans agree: babies who survive abortions deserve the same compassion and care as any other infant, regardless of the circumstances of their birth.”
2/18/21: A South Dakota bill aimed at protecting the lives of infants who survive abortions has passed the Senate and House and now awaits the signature of Governor Kristi Noem.
House Bill 1051, “An Act to maintain the life of any child born alive,” would require that an abortion practitioner provide abortion survivors the “same available means and medical skills that a physician would render to any child born alive…” The child who survives an abortion must be given care and immediately admitted to the hospital. A doctor who fails to follow the law would face a $10,000 fine and the loss of his or her medical license.
The bill lists born alive as meaning that the baby breathes, has a beating heart, has pulsation of the umbilical cord, or shows definite movement of his voluntary muscles.
On January 28, the South Dakota House approved the bill in a 59 to 8 vote. It passed the Senate by a vote of 32 to 3 on Tuesday.
“Once that baby is out on the table, they’ve gained the right to life,” said Sen. Al Novstrup (R). More accurately, from the moment a human being begins to exist — at fertilization — he or she has the right to life, and that right should not be stripped away.
Abortion proponents claim that babies do not survive abortions, however, reports from just five states revealed in 2020 that more than 100 babies were born alive following abortion attempts in recent years.
A European report detailed the eyewitness testimony of a midwife who shared what happens to babies born alive during abortions due to a prenatal diagnosis such as Down syndrome:
A midwife for almost 9 years, I can testify that babies born from late abortions (case of abortion on medical grounds) without feticide, usually between 20 and 24 weeks gestation, may be born alive.
The medical team is then often uncomfortable and either puts the baby in a tray in a separate room until he stops showing signs of life, or asks a gynecologist, anesthetist or pediatrician for a morphine injection in the cord that some accept … or not.
For my part, I have already proposed to concerned couples that if the baby was alive at birth, to lay him on the woman’s stomach for him to die with dignity. Two couples agreed.
READ: Former nurse recalls ‘comfort room’ where abortion survivors were taken to die
One abortionist testified in 2019 that babies are “no question” being born alive in order for their organs to be harvested for scientific research. He said that if feticide is not used, babies are definitely born alive, and when the abortionist has the intention of selling the baby’s organs and tissues to researchers, feticide is not used.
Yet, even when feticide is used, it doesn’t always guarantee the baby dies before birth. One in ten babies who are victims of induction abortion, which is used after 24 weeks of pregnancy up until full term, actually survives the feticide injection meant to kill them, making it possible for them to be born alive. In some cases, the baby is not given feticide before labor is induced because doctors believe the baby will not survive after birth.
Babies born as early as 21 weeks have survived outside the womb with medical assistance.
Infants who survive abortions are persons under the law and deserve protection. Their mothers also deserve the chance to save their child rather than be traumatized by watching their child struggle to survive as Angele did. When her 22-week-old son Rowan was born alive, she begged medical staff to help him. They refused. She watched her son struggle and die as she spoke to him and told him how sorry she was.
Born alive infant protection bills with legal penalties will hopefully help to ensure no other mother and child goes through such an ordeal.
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