British Doctors to Confront Issue of Babies Born After Botched Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 22, 2004
London, England (LifeNews.com) — British doctors will soon discuss the issue of babies who are born alive following botched abortions. The debate comes less than a year after President Bush signed into law legislation that ensures such infants receive proper medical care when similar situations occur in the U.S.
British doctors will discuss the issue at the British Medical Association’s annual conference in Llandudno.
Some doctors will present information about babies who survived chemical abortions that should have killed them. The doctors say some infants are left to die and not given proper medical attention.
Dr. Bryony Dunning-Davis, one of those presenting information at the BMA conference next week, told the BBC that "it seems there have been cases where it has happened, even though it’s against existing guidelines."
Regardless of how they are born, the BMA has said babies should receive proper medical care once born.
However, Dunning-Davis said she was familiar with at least a half dozen cases in recent years where babies had survived abortions. She says the BMA guidelines are not working.
In 1996, a child thought to have a severe abnormality was born healthy, but was not resuscitated when breathing stopped, the BBC reported. The coroner ruled the baby had died after an abortion, rather than after medical neglect.
"These babies should go to neonatal intensive care units, and doctors there should not be allowed to know if a baby was born after an abortion, so there is no chance of prejudice," Dunning-Davis told the BBC.
A midwife told Sky News that she saw one baby, who had Down’s Syndrome, left to die.
"There was an unwritten policy on the unit that babies would not be given assistance," she said.
In a statement, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, a British pro-life group, said, "Surviving an abortion should not be seen as a mistake but as an opportunity. It should bring home in the first place that we should not be carrying out abortions in a civilized society."
