Refuting the false claim that babies don’t survive abortions
RH Reality Check’s Andrea Grimes and Sharona Coutts wrote a piece last week deeming it a “myth” that babies survive abortions:
Gosnell was, in fact, a rogue provider, and that there is no evidence of a pattern of infants being “born alive” after an abortion, much less of doctors killing infants in those circumstances….
[T]his notion – that there are multiple cases of fetuses surviving an abortion, only to be killed by a doctor – is a confection of the anti-choice camp, designed to replace fact-based arguments with the lowest form of fear-mongering….
During a state committee hearing in Florida earlier this year, anti-choice legislators ambushed a Planned Parenthood lobbyist with a “born alive” inquiry…. Flummoxed, the lobbyist struggled to answer questions that were largely based on a myth.
Grimes and Coutts based their conclusion on responses 38 attorneys general have provided to the House Judiciary Committee in answer to a letter that in part asked whether they had ever prosecuted an abortionist for murdering abortion survivors.
The authors did acknowledge knowing of one abortionist who murdered abortion survivors (Kermit Gosnell) and one abortionist whose botched abortion resulted in a live birth (James Pendergraft).
But had Grimes and Coutts cared to truly investigate, they would have found much more evidence.
How about 77 annually? Would that constitute “a pattern”? As Americans United for Life reported:
In 2003, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] reports that 40 newborns died as a result of pregnancy terminations in the United States. In another 37 cases that year, abortion was a “secondary” cause of death. In 2005, there were 45 reported born-alive deaths after abortion, with another 21 “secondary” deaths associated with abortion.
Abortion reporting to the CDC is voluntary, with some blue states like California opting not to, so those figures are almost certainly low. As an aside, while the CDC has the mechanism to report these statistics, it has stopped doing so.
When I went public about my experience holding an abortion survivor as a registered nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, the hospital admitted to the Chicago Sun-Times no small number of babies survived abortions there:
In 2001, a perinatal symposium co-sponsored by the Waukesha Memorial Hospital OB/Gyn Dept. and The Medical College of Wisconsin OB/Gyn Dept. reported “Live birth” as a “complication” of a “labor Induction Mid-Trimester,” i.e., abortion:
How rare can post-abortive live births be if spotlighted?
Then there are the abortion survivors. Birth certificates for Gianna Jessen and Melissa Ohden prove they were two of those “complications.” Their stories and those of seven other survivors can be found at theabortionsurvivors.com. Melissa, who runs that website, told me today she is in contact with 157 abortion survivors. The youngest is two years old. (Her adoptive parents reached out to Melissa.)
The RHRC authors failed to note at least one other live birth at a Pendergraft abortion clinic. Listen to the 911 call. Clinic workers told EMTs,”There’s nothing to see here,” and the EMTs inexplicably said, “fine.”
Another abortionist, Pierre Renelique, lost his license in 2009 following the death of an abortion survivor. Nevertheless, that baby’s murder was never prosecuted.
But back to the RH Reality Check story.
Actually, in their rush to carry water for the abortion industry, Grimes and Coutts completely missed the story.
That is, why is there such a discrepancy between the reality of babies born alive after abortions and those AG reports?
For starters, is anyone in state government even looking for them? The Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act was signed into law eight years ago, in 2005. Yet to this day the State of Illinois abortion reporting form doesn’t even ask the question: Did any babies survive your abortion? Click to enlarge…
Furthermore, as indicated on the symposium screen shot above, code language is often used for late-term abortions. In that case they were called “labor induction mid-trimester.” Loyola Hospital called them ”early induction of labor.” Christ Hospital said they were “mid-trimester labor inductions.” When an abortion survivor died, Christ Hospital often listed the cause of death as “extreme prematurity.” So the real cause of death is often hidden.
Before Gosnell was caught, the State of Pennsylvania would never have responded “yes” to a congressional letter asking if it had a problem with a) abortion survivors, b) who were being murdered. What abortionist in his or her right mind is going to report a fixed botch?
The other story here is analyzing the motive for RH Reality Check to go out on such a long limb to claim born alive abortions are “myths” in the first place. Both reasons are found in the story.
“… the anti-choice bogeyman of the soulless abortion doctor, slaughtering newborns in clinics across the country with nary a second thought.”
and
“… it is more than a little misleading for the House Judiciary Committee to suggest that newborn children are being murdered by abortion providers with regularity and abandon; it is the very myth-making and fear-mongering on which they increasingly rely in their push to eliminate safe abortion care.”
The answers are:
1. The prospect of abortion survivors – and abortion survivors being murdered – only humanizes abortion victims in the minds of the public and makes them think worse of the industry. It’s terrible PR.
2. The abortion industry is scrambling to stem the tide of bills among the states creating abortion clinic regulations. It is also desperate to stop investigations that expose its underbelly.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Many years ago I heard about a case of a baby that had survived a saline abortion. The baby’s skin had been badly scalded. As a result, he or she lived for HOURS in SCREAMING AGONY before dying.
I just don’t understand the writers there at RHRC. So willing to ignore reality, and so very bitterly angry. What did unborn babies ever do to them?
“What did unborn babies ever do the them?”
Chris, It gets pro-aborts angry and makes them look bad when babies are born alive.
Is anyone going to be influenced by A. Grimes and RH Reality Check?
For one, “Methinks she doth protest too much.” Having to punt against the evidence of murdered children by calling it a “myth” is worse for their cause than if she said nothing at all. That’s not the sort of thing that would comfort a casually pro-choice reader who has heard of Gosnell.
For another, I’d like to know how many hits RH Reality gets in a typical week. Are there many pro-abort advocates who check the news every day? Are they nearly as many as the pro-life advocates who check the news daily? Somehow, I doubt it.
Apparently I didn’t get the memo, but it turns out that the new definition of myth is a fact that happens to be inconvenient for one’s cause.
According to a 2008 report, 66 babies survived abortion in Britain in one year (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-512129/66-babies-year-left-die-NHS-abortions-wrong.html). Of course, there must be far more infants born alive in the US each year than this.
Do babies survive abortions? Like Sarah Palin would say “You betcha”. Like I’ve said before some babies are natural fighters and will beat the odds. I am sure it happens more than we will ever know but the “defender-in-chief of PP” will never allow them to be taken to task for committing genocide, he agrees with genocide. Remember BAIPA? Jill was there to hear him say “it’s too much of a burden on the mother” translation “if a woman pays for a dead baby she deserves to get one no matter what and how dare you let that baby live”. Abortion-on-demand before birth or after birth it doesn’t matter.
Those pesky, human beings that were SUPPOSED to be murdered in abortion!! How dare they be all alive and speaking out against it??
I would pay to see any one of the abortion survivors smack down with Cecile Richards!!!
I’m just not sure why it’s such a difficult concept to grasp that abortionists would kill the same baby outside the womb that they just tried to kill inside the womb.
Can someone explain why this is even questionable? Of course they’re willing to kill the baby. What difference does a few inches make to anyone except legislators?
Many years ago I heard about a case of a baby that had survived a saline abortion. The baby’s skin had been badly scalded. As a result, he or she lived for HOURS in SCREAMING AGONY before dying.
Denise, they’re called “candy apple babies” because their skin is so burned by the saline solution that its bright red. The mother can feel the baby thrashing around as he dies. My brother was one. My mother saw him thrown in a bucket, badly scalded. This procedure is so barbaric its banned in some countries, including Japan. It’s rarely used today in this country.
WARNING: graphic image
http://www.pregnantpause.org/abort/saline.htm
I love how saline abortion is illegal just because it’s dangerous to the mother (not that safety for her isn’t important), not because these babies can sometimes die after hours of agony. We’re far more humane to people who get the death penalty.
MST, saline abortion is truly one of the most barbaric, inhumane abortion procedures imaginable but ALL ABORTIONS ARE BARBARIC AND INHUMANE. I am so sorry about your brother. Did your mom have post-abortion syndrome afterward (nightmares, panic attacks, depression, suicidal tendencies, etc.)if so how long? Did she ever get healing or did she think it was necessary? Jack, I agree with you about the disconnect regarding saline abortions. Duh? I have seen babies struggling for every breath working in healthcare it is the most heartbreaking thing you could ever imagine but I forgot the hardened pro-aborts don’t have a heart.
Can you imagine the outrage the PETA people would have if someone did this to unborn puppies and kittens? Can you imagine the commercials they would be pumping out? I like dogs (cats not so much) but I cannot even imagine doing something like this to an animal let alone a human being. Some people are more outraged by what Michael Vick did than what abortionist do for a living thousands of times a year. Some of the same people who called Vick a “monster” think Gosnell was just doing his job protecting a woman’s “right to choose”. God help us! This is so schizophrenic. Talk about “moral relativism” and ”situational ethics on steroids”. What did they chant at the Democratic National Convention something like “Abortion on demand no restrictions without apology”. (Somebody correct me if I got the chant wrong-I’m paraphrasing)
According to Statistics Canada data, 491 abortions, of 20 weeks gestation and later, resulted in live births in the 10 year span from 2000 to 2009. These babies subsequently died or were perhaps killed. (http://run-with-life.blogspot.ca/2012/10/late-term-abortions-statistics-born.html) There has as yet been no investigation to determine the cause of death.
With a US population 10 times that of Canada, one could reasonably extrapolate that if every year 50 Canadian babies are born alive after abortion, that 500 babies are born alive after abortion in the US.
Jack, my mother has lived with mental illness all her life and the abortion probably made it worse. I really don’t think she wanted it, it was my father’s idea. and she very rarely talks about it. But I know it must have affected her. Not long ago I heard my father say “we could have had that baby.” Yes, they could have. It would have been hard, but it’s too late now.
Prolifer L, I agree with you (except about cats)! Let someone kill a dog fetus the way human fetuses are destroyed and there would be an outcry. I think that what Vick was wrong, but some idiot said he should have gotten the death penalty. Uh, no.
Hi MST. I am sorry about your mother. I think you are right that the abortion probably made your mom’s mental health issues worse. I have a friend who had a sister who committed suicide after her abortion, he remembers before the abortion she was the light of his life, his best friend and a beautiful young woman. After the abortion she was never the same she fought depression and suicidal attempts for a couple of years, eventually suicide won the battle. He remembers her having nightmares, waking up screaming about her baby, panic attacks, etc. Before his sister’s abortion he was on the fence about being pro-life or pro-choice after her abortion even before she committed suicide he became devoted to the pro-life cause. I have post-abortive family who received healing through the support group and Bible studies at PCCs or through their churches and are now doing pretty well. One of them has been a counselor at a PCC. I am so glad that God is a God of second, third or more chances.
RH Reality Wreck.
They asked Attorneys General for cases and found none. Conclusion … babies aren’t born alive?! What? That conclusion doesn’t belong.
Their conclusion, I think, ought to be that these crimes aren’t happening. Instead they conclude babies aren’t being born in abortion rooms.
RHRC has some dumb people writing over there.
When “live birth” is considered a “complication”, you know there’s something wrong with the “medical procedure”.