by Frequently, the unborn baby is killed at the start of a late-term abortion procedure, primarily through the administration of a lethal injection into the amniotic sac or baby’s head or heart or severing the umbilical cord so that the unborn child will bleed to death. However, 69% of late-term abortion providers report that they do not induce fetal demise before beginning the abortion, and not all methods are equally effective. The survival of a baby intended for abortion creates a host of potential legal and medical problems for the abortion practitioner. A watershed article that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1981 referred to the survival of a baby after abortion as the “dreaded complication.”
The Inquirer article quoted Dr. Willard Cates, then-director of abortion surveillance at the CDC, as estimating “that 400 to 500 abortion live births” occurred every year in the United States. These numbers “are little known,” the article stated, “because organized medicine, from fear of public clamor and legal action, treats them more as an embarrassment to be hushed up than a problem to be solved.” The numbers were also likely low. Cates added, “It’s like turning yourself in to the IRS for an audit. What is there to gain? The tendency is not to report because there are only negative incentives.”
In the years since Dr. Cates’ admission, more recent testimony to the accidental birth of babies during abortions has come to light, acknowledged by abortion providers, alluded to by abortion advocates, reported by a handful of states, and sometimes shared by the survivors themselves.
- In an undercover video released in April 2013, a D.C. abortionist admitted he would not intervene to save an abortion survivor. When asked about a baby being born alive during an attempted abortion, he said, “usually, at this point in your pregnancy, it’s too early to survive, usually. It will expire shortly after birth…it’s all in how vigorously you do things to help a fetus survive at this point.” Later he said, “we would not help it [the baby]. Let’s say. We wouldn’t—we wouldn’t—uh, intubate, let’s say.”
- In another undercover video released in March 2017, a former Planned Parenthood medical director said that in order to determine whether to provide medical intervention for these babies, “You need to pay attention to who’s in the room.”
How Often Do Late-Term Abortions Result in Live Births?
Because of gaps in national and state abortion reporting, and the continued opposition of abortion advocacy groups to more accurate and detailed reporting, relatively little is known about how often survival now occurs after abortion. The number is certainly not zero. The Charlotte Lozier Institute has engaged in a multi-year effort to obtain abortion data from the 49 jurisdictions that voluntarily provide annual summaries of abortion incidence to the CDC. Only eight states have publicly reported or responded to requests for statistics on children marked for abortion who were born alive during abortion procedures (Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Texas). In just four of these eight states (Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, and Texas), 35 children were born alive during attempted abortions in 2020 and 2021. Additionally, Florida reported eight babies born alive in 2022.
The CDC estimates that between 2003 and 2014, at least 143 babies died after being born alive during abortions, and the CDC acknowledges it is very possible that this undercounts the actual number. Additionally, the CDC report counts only babies who were born alive during abortions and then later passed away – it does not include babies who survived attempted abortions and are still alive.
Babies who survive abortions are not unique to the United States. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has released data to a Canadian researcher showing that at least 1,155 babies were born alive during late-term abortions between FY2014 and FY2021. CIHI has confirmed for CLI and other researchers that these babies were born alive during induced abortions. In fact, Canadian researchers caution that babies who are born during abortions and then die are increasing Canada’s infant mortality rate. With a smaller population, Canada reports far fewer abortions than the United States, so it is likely that even more babies survive abortions in the U.S.
Don’t State Laws Already Protect Babies Born Alive During Abortions?
Only 18 states have laws offering robust protections to babies who survive abortions, although others have recently taken steps to strengthen their laws. However, many of the states with the most extreme abortion laws do not afford such protection to born-alive babies. Alaska, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia all permit abortion at any time for any reason, yet none of these states has established legal protections for born-alive infants. Some states like New York and Illinois have even enacted laws that eliminated previous protections for babies born alive. A strong federal law is necessary to ensure that all infants who survive abortions are protected, not just those born in certain states.
As Melissa Ohden, abortion survivor and long-time advocate of the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, wrote to the Daily Signal, “No one’s life, no survivor’s care, should be dependent upon who is working that day. A law that clearly states that abortion survivors have equal protection and that there are legal consequences for abortionist’s failing to do so is important and necessary.”
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