1,270 Babies Born Alive After Failed Abortions in the U.S.

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 5, 2013   |   1:02PM   |   Tallahassee, FL

A shocking figure from a hearing on a bill in Florida should capture the attention of people across the country: hundreds of babies are born alive following botched abortions every year.

Most of the attention that has been focused on a controversial statement by a Planned Parenthood lobbyist has centered on the abortion business’ opposition to a bill to require appropriate medical care for any baby who survive an abortion. But the state representative who sponsored the bill told members of the Florida committee that held a hearing on it a shocking number.

Florida Rep. Cary Pigman, an emergency medicine physician and the sponsor of the Florida “born-alive” bill, says national data reveal that hundreds of babies die after failed abortions. His response to a question (beginning at about 2:30 in the below video) provides additional information on the situation.

“We do have some sense in that with perinatal infant mortality data it is recorded,” Rep. Pigman told legislators on the panel. “In 2010, there were 24,586 perinatal deaths in the United States. Perinatal defines as being from the 22nd week of gestation to seven days post delivery.”

“Those are all coded by international classification,” he noted. Regarding babies who die after a botched abortion: “As of 2010, 1,270 infants were reported in that category — and I emphasize reported,” Pigman explained.

In other words, more than 1,200 babies died following a failed abortion and their whose deaths were reported as “mortality subsequent to an abortion.” As the representative emphasized, those are only the number of reported deaths following botched abortions, and the actual figures could be higher.

Those numbers follow an outcry in Canada where, last year, figures from Statistics Canada, a federal government agency, show 491 babies were born alive following botched abortions during the period from 2000-2009 and left to die afterwards.

According to the numbers, “there were 491 abortions, of 20 weeks gestation and greater, that resulted in live births. This means that the aborted child died after it was born. These abortions are coded as P96.4 or ‘Termination of pregnancy, affecting fetus and newborn’.”

P 96.4 is the same classification Rep. Pigman referred to in is testimony.

SIGN THE PETITION: Stop Infanticide! Stop Abortions Up to Birth!

UPDATE 4/6/2019: A top Democrat has admitted his party will not allow a vote on a bill to stop infanticide. Congressman Steny Hoyer, the number two Democrat in the house, admitted there are no plans by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats to bring up the Born Alive Abortion Survivor’s Protection Act for a vote. That’s the bill that would require medical care and treatment for babies who survive abortions.

Democrats have blocked the anti-infanticide bill for the 28th time.

This past week, Republican Whip Steve Scalise and Representative Ann Wagner moved forward with a discharge petition to force Speaker Pelosi to schedule a vote. That’s a petition any member of Congress can sign to allow legislation to move out of committee and to the House floor when the party controlling Congress refuses to allow a vote on it.

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Mary Spaulding Balch, J.D., director of the National Right to Life Office of State Legislation, says the issue is still a concern both in the U.S. and worldwide.

Balch said a Feb. 23, 2012, article entitled “After Birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?” promoting after-birth abortions and published in the international Journal of Medical Ethics shows where medical ethic is headed.

“The fact that they put an article in this kind of a journal means the issue is on the rise,” Balch said. “It used to be whispered. Now it’s out there in black in white.”

In the Journal article, the authors argue that “killing a newborn should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is [permissible], including cases where the newborn is not disabled.”

States like Florida are looking at passing their own versions of the federal law to provide for better enforcement and oversight — also, babies have been left to die before at abortion clinics — such as this one in Florida.