by Jessica Westfall
The allegations against Planned Parenthood have stirred up a frenzy of commentary online. I want to address one issue that has been gaining more and more of the spotlight. That is when an aborted baby lives.
I had no idea this could happen or how often it does happen, but according to the article here (http://liveactionnews.org/babies-born-alive-after-abortions-part-3-nurses-tell-their-stories/) babies 22-23 week formed can still survive. This article outlines heartrending stories of nurses who could do nothing but watch these babies die. One nurse remembers a child that had been scalded by a saline abortion, this little girl was left in a bassinet outside the nursery, no one came to comfort the crying child and she died. Another nurse recalls a perfectly formed baby boy, 23 weeks formed. The nurse tried to argue for the babies life but lost, she held the little boy until his heart beats slowed and finally stopped. Sadly, another premature baby also died that night, in the same room. The difference was that one baby had been wanted and the doctors worked hard to save the baby’s life, while the other was ignored because the doctors didn’t want to interfere with an incomplete abortion. Another Nurse shared her feelings of powerlessness as she held an alive, 22 week formed baby, surrounded by medical technology, and could to nothing but watch him slip away.
Here is another article (http://liveactionnews.org/mother-shares-heartbreaking-photo-aborted-child/) about a mother who came forward with her story about her abortion. She was 24 weeks into her pregnancy when she went to an abortion clinic and was given tablets to induce labor. She was supposed to return and give birth at the clinic. She started going into labor at home and her mother (who didn’t know and thought her daughter had appendicitis) called an ambulance. At the hospital she gave birth. Instead of taking the baby’s body away to be disposed of (like at an abortion clinic) the hospital photographed and mourned her loss. It outlines the alarming differences in the attitude and treatment of a baby.
On Tuesday, September 15, Congressman Trent Franks from Arizona introduced the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 3504) to congress. Friday, September 17, the bill passed the House vote.
This bill will require health care practitioners to exercise the same degree of care for aborted babies born alive as for any other child born at the same gestational period. It also requires aborted babies that are born alive, defined as a child completely extracted from the mother and with a beating heart, breathing lungs, pulsing umbilical cord, and/or movement of voluntary muscles, to be immediately admitted to a hospital. Health practitioners are required to report any failure to follow these requirements. More information on this bill can be accessed here (https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/3504).