Abortion

[phkrause]

Anti-abortion researchers back riskier procedures when pregnancy termination is needed, experts say

The day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the medical board that certifies OB-GYNs in America released a statement calling legal pregnancy termination and knowledge of abortion procedures “essential to reproductive health care.”

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/07/20/anti-abortion-researchers-back-riskier-procedures-when-pregnancy-termination-is-needed-experts-say/?

[phkrause]

Rhetoric versus reality: Addressing common misconceptions about abortion

Setting the record straight on eight reproductive health-related areas that are rife with disinformation, from ‘partial-birth abortion’ to ‘heartbeat’ bills

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/07/26/rhetoric-versus-reality-addressing-common-misconceptions-about-abortion/?

[phkrause]

Abortion laws

 

A strict abortion law is set to take effect in Iowa today, preventing most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. That's roughly when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, or possibly before many women know they are pregnant. The law passed last year, but a judge had blocked it from being enforced. Iowa is among nearly two dozen states that have banned or limited access to abortion procedures since the Supreme Court's June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which eliminated a constitutional right to the procedure nationwide.

[phkrause]

Iowa now bans most abortions after about 6 weeks, before many women know they’re pregnant

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s strict abortion law went into effect Monday, immediately prohibiting most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

https://apnews.com/article/iowa-abortion-ban-bd8a959fd64fef5914459e9ea4a64294?

[phkrause]

Abortion ads avalanche

By Stef W. Kight

Data: AdImpact; Note: Includes ads paid for as of July 2024; Chart: Axios Visuals Tens of millions of dollars are fueling ads across platforms to push abortion rights measures that are expected to be on the ballot in Arizona, Nevada and Montana this year, according to AdImpact data. Why it matters: Those same states could determine the next president and control of the Senate. Democrats hope having abortion on the ballot will keep the focus on their most potent issue — and turn out much-needed voters. Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom has spent more than $17 million booking ad space starting next month and running through the election, according to AdImpact. Deep-red Montana, where Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is fighting to survive, ranks third in spending on abortion ballot measures. DSCC spokesperson Tommy Garcia told Axios: "The fight for reproductive freedom will once again be at the forefront of the issues landscape in Senate battlegrounds, and Senate Republican candidates' well-documented opposition to women's right to make their own health care decisions is a deal breaker for voters." The other side: Republicans aim to assure voters of their candidates' opposition to a national abortion ban and accuse Democrats of distracting from other issues. The antiabortion Susan B. Anthony group has spent just $3,000 in Montana and its affiliated Women Speak Out PAC has spent less than $9,000 in Arizona, according to AdImpact. Antiabortion groups spent nearly $1.5 million in Minnesota and more than $800,000 in Michigan to fight abortion access efforts this year. NRSC spokesperson Mike Berg told Axios: "Democrats don't want to talk about Kamala Harris' role as border czar, her support for defunding the police, or her embrace of the failure that is Bidenomics, so they are going to run a single-issue campaign on abortion." Go deeper.

[bonnie1962]

Amazing on a  adventist  forum, members predominately adventist considering the mission statement of the adventist chruch that the main interest in abortion is how vital and necessary it is to kill the child. Even those that claim they themselves would not do so abortion and the need for it is heavily promoted.

Fact #8: Less than 1% of all abortions are performed to save the life of the mother.

Home » Facts » Fact #8: Less than 1% of all abortions are performed to save the life of the mother.

 

It is an extremely rare case when abortion is required to save the mother’s life. Of course, when two lives are threatened and only one can be saved, doctors must always save that life. However, abortion for the mother’s life and abortion for the mother’s health are usually not the same issue.

Since every abortion kills an innocent human being, it is morally abhorrent to use the rare cases when abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother as justification for the millions of on demand “convenience” abortions.

While he was United States Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop stated publicly that in his thirty-eight years as a pediatric surgeon, he was never aware of a single situation in which a freeborn child’s life had to be taken in order to save the life of the mother. He said the use of this argument to justify abortion in general was a “smoke screen.”

Due to significant medical advances, the danger of pregnancy to the mother has declined considerably since 1967. Yet even at that time Dr. Alan Guttmacher of Planned Parenthood acknowledged: ^[1]

Today it is possible for almost any patient to be brought through pregnancy alive, unless she suffers from a fatal illness such as cancer or leukemia, and, if so, abortion would be unlikely to prolong, much less save, life.

Just for the record, go ahead and re-read that quote again and pay close attention to the source.

To repeat, the person making the quote is Dr Alan Guttmacher of Planned Parenthood.

So, yes, Faye Wattleton, the President of Planned Parenthood, says that abortion kills, and now, just for the record again, we have Dr. Alan Guttmacher of Planned Parenthood acknowledging that it is an extremely rare case that abortion is necessary to save the mother’s life (and he even goes so far as to say that abortion would be unlikely to prolong the mother’s life even in these every extreme cases).

Dr. Landrum Shettles says that: ^[2]

Less than 1 percent of all abortions are performed to save the mother’s life.

When two lives are threatened and only one can be saved, doctors must always save that life.

If the mother has a fast-spreading uterine cancer, the surgery to remove the cancer may result in the loss of the child’s life. In an ectopic pregnancy the child is developing outside the uterus. He has no hope of survival, and may have to be removed to save his mother’s life.

These are tragic situations, but even if one life must be lost, the life that can be saved should be. More often than not, that life is the mother’s, not the child’s. There are rare cases in later stages of pregnancy when the mother can’t be saved, but the baby can.

Again, one life saved is better than two lost.

To be pro-life does not mean being pro-life just about babies. It also means being pro-life about women, who are just as valuable as babies.

Abortion for the mother’s life and abortion for the mother’s health are usually not the same issue.

The mother’s life and the mother’s health are usually two distinct considerations. A woman with toxemia will have adverse health reactions and considerable inconvenience, including probably needing to lie down for much of her pregnancy. This is a difficulty, but not normally a threat to her life. Hence, an abortion for the sake of “health” would not be lifesaving, but life-taking, since her life is not in jeopardy in the first place.

There are other situations where an expectant mother has a serious or even terminal medical condition. Her pregnancy may cause complications, but will not cause her death. If she is receiving radiation therapy, she may be told that the child could have handicaps as a result. It may be possible to postpone or reduce such treatment, but if it is essential to continue the treatment to save the mother’s life, this is preferable to allowing her death or killing the child.

Efforts can and should be made that value the lives of both mother and child.

Abortion to save the mother’s life was legal before convenience abortion was legalized and would continue to be if abortion were made illegal again.

Even under restrictive abortion laws, the mother’s right to life is never disregarded. Contrary to what some pro-choice advocates have said, there is no danger whatsoever that women whose lives are in jeopardy will be unable to get treatment, even if such treatment tragically results in the death of an unborn child.

Even pro-choice USA Today acknowledges: ^[3]

The National Right to Life Committee consistently has maintained that while abortion should be banned, there should be exceptions if an abortion is needed to save a woman’s life.

The vast majority of abortions are elective.

Are there rare cases when abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother? Yes. As mentioned above, these rare cases occur less than 1% of the time. In fact, even if you lump in all NON life threatening health issues that are cited by mothers as a reason for abortion then the total number only increases to 2.8%. ^[4]

Are the overwhelming majority of abortions performed on an elective basis? Yes. The most common reasons for having an abortion provided directly by women are all financial and convenience related. ^[5]

When the mother’s life is at stake then the Doctors should do all they can to save both the life of the baby and the life of the mother. If they can only save one life, then they should save that life.

Since every abortion kills an innocent human being then it is is grossly misleading and morally abhorrent to say that because there are some rare cases when abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother that therefore abortion on demand for any reason whatsoever should be legal.

It is an extremely rare case when abortion is required to save the mother’s life. Of course, when two lives are threatened and only one can be saved, doctors must always save that life. However, abortion for the mother’s life and abortion for the mother’s health are usually not the same issue. Since every abortion kills an innocent human being, it is morally abhorrent to use the rare cases when abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother as justification for the millions of on demand “convenience” abortions.

 

John C. Willke M.D.

 

[Rahab]

this is always a Hot topic 

when I was in my 20s I was for abortion and was not walking with God as I was in the world 

after seeing an abortion I was changed 

instinctively I knew this was wrong 
 

While I am against killing babies and killing of anyone, whatever the country decides people still have a choice.

If it’s legal, one can still decide not to do it.

 Just wish more people would choose to prevent rather than kill.

of all the women I know who have had abortions, they still have regrets about it and some even remember the dates

adoption is an option too

if they confess and repent God will forgive 

[bonnie1962]

19 hours ago, Rahab said:

this is always a Hot topic 

when I was in my 20s I was for abortion and was not walking with God as I was in the world 

after seeing an abortion I was changed 

instinctively I knew this was wrong 
 

n

 You do not  see a lot of our members ever  openly condemn the practice. It is the tepid,"I don't think it is right,but I want it no matter how wrong to be available to young girls and young men.

19 hours ago, Rahab said:

While I am against killing babies and killing of anyone, whatever the country decides people still have a choice.

If it’s legal, one can still decide not to do it.

But the "perfect" solution found is hard to pass up. Especially where the federal government foots the night of carelessness

[phkrause]

Why We Investigated Matthew Trewhella, the Far-Right Wisconsin Pastor Influencing Republican Politics

Some people said militant anti-abortion activist Matthew Trewhella was a ’90s figure who’s no longer relevant, but our reporting shows he’s influencing policies, bills and movements today.

https://www.propublica.org/article/investigating-matthew-trewhella-wisconsin-pastor?

[phkrause]

US abortion numbers have risen slightly since Roe was overturned, study finds

The number of women getting abortions in the U.S. actually went up in the first three months of 2024 compared with before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a report released Wednesday found, reflecting the lengths that Democratic-controlled states went to expand access.

https://apnews.com/article/abortion-survey-pills-roe-election-2024-7179dda48eae0a764be89c2e0aafd80a?

[bonnie1962]

Not to worry for all of those that are pro abortion  or as some like to define it,pro choice. If Harris and Walz get in . Walz wants MN to be abortion up till birth.

 

 

[phkrause]

Dozens of pregnant women, some bleeding or in labor, are turned away from ERs despite federal law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bleeding and in pain, Kyleigh Thurman didn’t know her doomed pregnancy could kill her.

https://apnews.com/article/pregnant-women-emergency-room-ectopic-er-edd66276d2f6c412c988051b618fb8f9?

[bonnie1962]

It is really sad that Christians are so in favor of abortions that the extreme and rare need for abortion is treated as if that is the only or main interest in abortion.In 1964 I qualified for a therapeutic abortion. I find anonymous reporting suspect but even if true there are remedies for those in peril.  The need for abortion to save a mothers life can easily be safeguarded . Why not just be honest,Christians that believe and vote for abortion on demand have plenty of company. It is not necessary to pretend that the life of the mother is the main concern.  But not to fear,there are Liberals that more than likely will grant personhood to a tree,while denying personhood to a baby in the womb. The cherishished abortion on demand will again be reality

[bonnie1962]

I know it is inconvenient  and doesn't sound as caring as a tragic reason for abortion but it would certainly be almost refreshing to see christians stand up and say, "I am in favor of aborting right up till the moment of birth. It doesnt have to be a medical emergency"

The reasons for abortion: Statistics, safety, and access (medicalnewstoday.com)

Financial circumstances

Around 40% of people in the study mentioned a financial reason for needing an abortion. Most of them had general financial concerns or said they could not afford to support a child.

Around 4% said a lack of employment contributed to their decision, and 0.6% said they terminated their pregnancies because of a lack of insurance or government assistance.

Timing

More than one-third (36%) of study participants cited reasons relating to timing. Some felt they were not emotionally or financially ready to have a baby, while others felt they were too old to have a child.

[phkrause]

Indiana attorney general drops suit over privacy of Ohio girl who traveled for abortion

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s attorney general has dropped a lawsuit that accused the state’s largest hospital system of violating patient privacy laws when a doctor told a newspaper that a 10-year-old Ohio girl had traveled to Indiana for an abortion.

https://apnews.com/article/abortion-indiana-ohio-lawsuit-dismissed-0957e66d6f89d6f0eff9ddc08fbaeade?

[bonnie1962]

August 14, 2024

Abortion and the Constitution

By Bill Guild

 

Let's go back to square one. In spite of any opinion one might hold, ours is a constitutional republic. So the laws that govern abortion must reflect our Constitution or be struck down. That's why the recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson was so significant.

 

The Declaration of Independence states that:

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

 

No one would deny that the Declaration represents the theoretical principles of our government, while the Constitution is the legal embodiment of those principles. In turn, it is the courts that ensure our laws reflect our founding principles.

While it appears that our Constitution and the courts have attempted to follow the principles set forth in the Declaration, it would also appear that a certain portion of the Declaration has been forgotten when it comes to interpreting law -- specifically the right to life. If every man is endowed by our creator with the unalienable right to life, then abortion should be unconstitutional. Period. If you want to quibble that the object growing in a woman’s womb is not human, then this is not the place for that vacuous argument. Our Founding Fathers would never imagine that abortion would be a constitutional issue. Abortion is not birth control. Abortion is not reproductive choice. Abortion is not a state's right. Abortion is the killing of living being because we have not as a people effectively dealt with abortion due to an incomplete understanding of our founding documents. In some ways our country’s past decisions on abortion are understandable but can be amended. And our Constitution tells us how. The Preamble to the Constitution states: We, the people of the United State, in order to form a more perfect union… If something is perfect, how can it ever be more perfect? That’s the beauty of Gouverneur Morris’s words. Through its structure, the Constitution gives us the tools to create “a more perfect union.” While the Supreme Court correctly ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade vis-a-vis the Constitution's 10th Amendment and in the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, it failed to consider the Declaration's insistence on a person's endowed and unalienable right to life.

 

The Supreme Court should have recognized its own limitations when it comes to abortion and could have suggested that Congress consider enacting new legislation that addresses abortion in light of the Declaration and not political posturing. Such legislation would make the Supreme Court’s decisions much easier. Both parties should support such or be considered inhuman.

 

[phkrause]

In new complaint, Texas women say delayed care due to abortion laws endangered their fertility

Two women have filed federal complaints against Texas hospitals they say refused to treat their ectopic pregnancies, leading both women to lose their fallopian tubes and endanger their future fertility.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/08/14/in-new-complaint-texas-women-say-delayed-care-due-to-abortion-laws-endangered-their-fertility/?

[phkrause]

‘Nothing short of barbaric’: Harris’ Florida campaign highlights abortion ban horror stories

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is highlighting women who say their health was harmed because of restrictive abortion bans, hoping to build momentum in Florida where a new poll shows her narrowing the gap with former President Donald Trump.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/08/14/nothing-short-of-barbaric-harris-florida-campaign-highlights-abortion-ban-horror-stories/?

[bonnie1962]

36 minutes ago, phkrause said:

‘Nothing short of barbaric’: Harris’ Florida campaign highlights abortion ban horror stories

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is highlighting women who say their health was harmed because of restrictive abortion bans, hoping to build momentum in Florida where a new poll shows her narrowing the gap with former President Donald Trump.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/08/14/nothing-short-of-barbaric-harris-florida-campaign-highlights-abortion-ban-horror-stories/?

Interesting isnt it? LIberal Christians become so concerned with isolated incidences where the right goes to far, but as Christians have no problem with abortion on demand, abortion for any reason, abortion up to the moment of birth and don't seem to consider that barbaric

[bonnie1962]

 

Do Late-Term Abortions Really Happen in the U.S.?

Yes. The definition of a late-term abortion is imprecise – and shifting. The gestational age at which an unborn child can survive outside the womb, with medical support, is decreasing, with instances of survival occurring at 22 weeks gestation or slightly earlier. While most states report a gestational age range at which abortions are performed, several jurisdictions that are hospitable to late-term abortions do not collect or publish such data nor do they transmit it to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nonetheless, reports by the CDC suggest that roughly 1% of all U.S. abortions are carried out at or after 21 weeks of gestation – as many as 10,000 late-term abortions per year.

Although the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson has given states the ability to set limits on abortion, and many states have enacted protections early in pregnancy, late-term abortions are perfectly legal in much of the United States. Many state abortion laws adhere to the terms of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which require a “health exception” all the way to birth. This exception, spelled out in the Doe v. Bolton ruling, defines “health” as including mental health, financial concerns, and familial circumstances – in short, abortion on demand. In more than 20 states current law either includes such a wide-open health exception or mentions no limit whatsoever. On January 22, 2019, New York State, which previously had a 24-week limit in effect, lifted that limit and affirmed what amounts to elective abortion until birth. A 2014 study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute found that the United States is one of just seven nations in the world – including North Korea and the People’s Republic of China – to allow elective abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. A 2017 Fact Check by The Washington Post rated this finding “true.”

Aren’t Late-Term Abortions Only Performed When the Baby Can’t Survive Anyway?

Relatively few late-term abortions are performed on babies who have fatal birth defects. Recent research on women seeking abortions in the third trimester shows that many women undergoing late-term abortion are doing so for the same reasons as women who get abortions earlier in pregnancy. Similarly, another study published in 2013 found that women undergoing late-term abortions offered the same reasons as their counterparts who were seeking earlier abortions. Although the study did not include women undergoing abortions due to fetal anomaly or risk to their own lives, a significant limitation, one of the study’s authors is quoted as stating “that abortions for fetal anomaly ‘make up a small minority of later abortion.’” Additionally, research published by a prolific late-term abortion provider shows that abortions performed due to an abnormality in the baby made up a minority of all late-term abortions performed at his practice. Many late-term abortions are performed on healthy babies who could survive outside the womb with proper care.

Are Abortion Survivors a Myth Made Up by Pro-Life Politicians?

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.”

• A Planned Parenthood lobbyist in 2013 opposed the Infants Born Alive Act in Florida, saying, “We believe that, you know, any decision that’s made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician.” Abortion advocates leapt to the lobbyist’s defense, targeting the Infants Born Alive Act’s “fundamentally flawed assumption that this type of situation is a real risk” and asserting that born-alive infants were “incredibly unlikely.” However, since 2013 when the Act was signed into law, 42 babies have been born alive during abortions in Florida.

• In a 2019 interview with WTOP in Washington, D.C., in which he endorsed a permissive late-term abortion bill, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam dismissed concerns about abortions performed while a woman is giving birth, explaining, “The infant would be delivered; the infant would be kept comfortable; the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desire, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

• Abortion survivor Melissa Ohden testified to the House Judiciary Committee in 2015, “You wouldn’t know it by looking at me today, but in August of 1977, I survived a failed saline infusion abortion…. I know where children like me were left to die at St. Luke’s Hospital—a utility closet. In 2014, I met a nurse who assisted in a saline infusion abortion there in 1976, and delivered a living baby boy. After he was delivered alive, she followed her superior’s orders and placed him in the utility closet in a bucket of formaldehyde to be picked up later as medical waste after he died there, alone.”

• Gianna Jessen, another adult survivor of abortion, also testified to the House Judiciary Committee in 2015, stating, “I was delivered alive in an abortion clinic in Los Angeles on April the 6th, 1977. My medical records state: ‘Born alive during saline abortion’ at 6 am. Thankfully, the abortionist was not at work yet. Had he been there, he would have ended my life with strangulation, suffocation, or leaving me there to die.”

• Many young survivors have grown up and chosen to go public with their stories. The testimonies of individuals who were born alive during abortions are featured on https://abortionsurvivors.org/. A Fox News interview with Ohden and two other abortion survivors, one of whom testifies he lost an arm in the process, aired on February 11, 2019.

• Late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell flouted Pennsylvania law for years before suspicion of the illegal sale of drugs caused the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration to raid his “House of Horrors” in 2010. Most disturbing among what they found was evidence of the intentional killing of babies who had survived Gosnell’s abortion procedures. These “snippings,” as he called them, involved using a scissors to sever the spine of babies who survived his brutal abortions.

• In 2005, a mother delivered her 23-week-old baby in the toilet at EPOC Clinic in Orlando, Florida, and was shocked to see him move. Abortion staff not only refused to help but turned away paramedics, whom her friend had notified by calling 911. Angele could do no more than helplessly sit on the floor rocking and singing to her baby for 11 minutes until he died.

• In 2006, Sycloria Williams delivered her 23-week-old baby on a recliner at A Gyn Diagnostic Center in Hialeah, Florida. When she began breathing and moving, abortion clinic owner Belkis Gonzalez cut the umbilical cord and zipped her into a biohazard bag, still alive.

• In 2013, Jill Stanek testified before the House Judiciary Committee about her experience as a registered nurse in the labor and delivery department at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, where she discovered babies being aborted alive and shelved to die in the department’s soiled utility closet. She said, “I was traumatized and changed forever by my experience of holding a little abortion survivor for 45 minutes until he died, a 21/22-week-old baby who had been aborted because he had Down syndrome.”

Isn’t This Just Anecdotal Evidence?

While much of what we know about born-alive abortion survivors comes from admissions by abortion providers and accounts from the survivors themselves, multiple peer-reviewed papers have documented that abortion has the potential to result in live births and that these births really do occur. One study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology in 2018 reviewed 241 late-term abortions on unborn babies with abnormalities between 20-24 weeks gestational age and reported that unless the unborn baby was killed first, more than half the babies were born alive. A 2005 case report in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology documented the medical history of a little boy who survived an abortion, and a paper published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2005 reviewed 31 cases in a six-year period in which babies died after being born alive during abortions.

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.”

Don’t Children Rescued After Abortion Do Poorly – at Great Medical Cost?

Objections to saving the life of any person, particularly a child victimized by abortion, are cruel and ultimately an argument against inducing the abortion in the first place. The intrinsic value of human beings of all abilities is a key American ideal, enshrined into law in the Americans with Disabilities Act, and babies who survive abortions are just as much a part of the human family. As such, all babies born alive should be assessed and then receive the appropriate degree of interventions. Even if a baby is born too early to survive outside the womb, or suffers from life-limiting abnormalities, perinatal hospice and life-saving treatments may be available to provide care for the child. No baby should be abandoned to die alone in a cold utility closet, no matter his or her gestational age, ability, or level of development.

Babies continue to be saved at earlier gestational ages, and medical specialists are continuing to improve treatment protocols and to save lives with lower rates of impairment. Over the last few years, doctors report increasing rates of survival of very pre-term babies at 22-23 weeks of gestation and younger. Now, e.g., 60% of infants born at 22 weeks who receive active hospital treatment will survive, and if properly cared for, these babies not only survive but thrive, without neurological impairment. Little Micah Pickering, who was born in 2012 at 22 weeks of gestation, received national attention when he traveled to Washington as a five-year-old to advocate for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to safeguard 20-week-old unborn babies. In 2014, Lyla Stensrud became one of the earliest premature babies ever to survive when she was born at 21 weeks of gestation. In 2020, healthy six-year-old Lyla attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a museum exhibit featuring her amazing story. In 2021, Curtis Means became the current world record setter, born at 21 weeks 1 day.

Advances in science and medicine do not occur when judgments are made that pre-emptively consign certain children to medical neglect. Babies who survive abortions can defy the odds – if they are only given a chance.

“Horrific crimes are taking place in abortion facilities around the country. Children born alive are denied medical care and left to die – cold, alone, abandoned and discarded like medical waste.” – SBA List’s National Campaign Chair Jill Stanek, a former nurse who witnessed late-term babies born alive during abortion procedures and left to die

 

 

[phkrause]

Nearly 30% of Florida women don’t know what the state’s abortion restrictions are, survey finds

Florida’s six-week abortion ban went into effect three months ago, but 29% of women remain unsure about the legality of abortion in the state, according to a new survey from KFF, a health policy research and news organization.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/08/14/nearly-30-of-florida-women-dont-know-what-the-states-abortion-restrictions-are-survey-finds/?

[bonnie1962]

6 hours ago, phkrause said:

Nearly 30% of Florida women don’t know what the state’s abortion restrictions are, survey finds

Florida’s six-week abortion ban went into effect three months ago, but 29% of women remain unsure about the legality of abortion in the state, according to a new survey from KFF, a health policy research and news organization.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/08/14/nearly-30-of-florida-women-dont-know-what-the-states-abortion-restrictions-are-survey-finds/?

When they find themselves pregnant with a unwanted something,at times referred to as an unborn child they will become knowledgeable pretty quick

[phkrause]

Missouri Outlawed Abortion, and Now It’s Funding an Anti-Abortion Group That Works in Other States

On a recent Saturday outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois, a woman wearing a reflective orange vest and body camera flagged down a car pulling into the facility.

https://www.propublica.org/article/missouri-anti-abortion-tax-credits-pregnancy-crisis-centers-coalition-life?

[bonnie1962]

8 hours ago, phkrause said:

Missouri Outlawed Abortion, and Now It’s Funding an Anti-Abortion Group That Works in Other States

On a recent Saturday outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois, a woman wearing a reflective orange vest and body camera flagged down a car pulling into the facility.

https://www.propublica.org/article/missouri-anti-abortion-tax-credits-pregnancy-crisis-centers-coalition-life?

Send all those wanting a abortion to the DNC, abortions on demand free of charge if you show up to inflate our attendance.

[phkrause]

Abortion rights questions are on ballots in 9 states. Will they tilt elections? Ballot measures on abortion access could attract voters to polls in November who otherwise might sit out the election — and even a small number of additional voters could make a difference in close races for offices from the state legislature to president. Read more.

Why this matters: Scholars and ballot measure experts are divided on the impact ballot measures have previously had on candidate elections. But in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, which ended the nationwide right to abortion, if any ballot measures have major effects on candidate elections, it’s expected to be those regarding abortion.    Ballot measures are most likely to drive voter enthusiasm and alter outcomes in races that are tight. For example, in a Montana race that could be crucial to determining whether Democrats keep control of the U.S. Senate, incumbent Jon Tester, a Democrat who supports abortion rights, is in a tight race against Republican Tim Sheehy, who has criticized the ballot measure.   In New York, a judge last month declined to require the word “abortion” to appear in the ballot measure. Democrats were pushing for it to be included in a state where congressional races could be close. There are also measures on the ballot in Nevada and Arizona, presidential battleground states where control of the state government is split between the parties.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ America is trying to fix its maternal mortality crisis   New Mexico starts building an abortion clinic to serve neighboring states   Alaska law saying only doctors can provide abortions is unconstitutional, judge rules