Hundreds of babies have been left to die after abortion according to Professor Joanna Howe of the University of Adelaide Law School. “Signs of life in a baby which may be present following a failed abortion include the presence of a heartbeat, limb movement, pulsation, breathing and crying,” Professor Howe wrote in a submission to an inquiry into proposed changes to Queensland law that would provide the same care to aborted babies that premature births receive.
According to Howe known instances of babies borne alive after abortion include:
- 27 in Western Australia
- 328 in Queensland
- 396 in Victoria
- 54 in South Australia
- 1 in NSW
- 1 in the Northern Territory
References for these figures, and the timespan involved are listed in Professor Howe’s submission to the Qld Parliament inquiry into the Termination of Pregnancy (Live Births) Amendment Bill 2024.
“The catalyst for this amendment was recognising that between 2010 and 2015 more than 30 babies per year were born alive [in Queensland]” MP Rob Katter the State leader of Katter’s Australian Party who introduced the bill into the Queensland parliament,
“This legislation will remove the ambiguities and ensure that healthcare practitioners provide appropriate medical care and treatment that every newborn is entitled to as a basic human right,” Rob Norman, Queensland Director for the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) old the inquiry.
If the Bill becomes law, it will put Queensland alongside NSW and South Australia in providing that all babies born prematurely have equal treatment. Queensland Health department stats supplied in response to a Katter question in parliament give a recent snapshot of the Queensland situation.
“This Inquiry has shockingly revealed that live births during an abortion procedure is not a rare occurrence”and according to Dr. Broom [a medical expert at the inquiry] are to be expected,” Norman said in a ACL press release.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) oppose the bill as “unnecessary in that health professionals already owe a duty of care to all their patients, including babies born alive whether this happens following an abortion or otherwise. There are well- established guidelines and professional standards to guide clinical practice in this area. Further legal regulation will be confusing and unhelpful.”
RANZCOG states that “Feticide is a routinely offered practice when contemplating abortion of later gestation (post 22 week) fetuses. Scenarios envisaged by the Bill are uncommon in practice. In rare cases, parents may choose not to have feticide because they want to hold their (non-viable) baby while it dies. In such cases, they should be supported through this intensely emotional and difficult time without there being any fear of legal consequences for the health professionals involved.”
Opposing additional laws on abortion on the grounds that it will reduce access to abortion, particularly for vulnerable communities “RANZCOG supports that the decisions regarding care of a child born alive, independent of the circumstances, should be a matter between the woman/ pregnant person and their treating health practitioners. To this end, RANZCOG opposes “abortion exceptionalism”, namely, the creation of laws that treat abortion differently from any other medical procedure. This amendment falls clearly into the category of abortion exceptionalism.”
Professor Howe appeared at an inquiry session this week, and pointed to research about the inciudence of live births. “I would like to bring to the attention of the committee a study from the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, which studied 241 late term abortions between 20 weeks and 24 weeks. Over 50% of those children were born alive and the average survival time was 32 minutes. One child in that study survived for 267 minutes. So that’s over four hours.”
Appearing with ACL, Louise Adsett, a clinical midwife told the inquiry of a case of a boy baby surviving for hours. “To give you a first example, a mother made a decision to abort a baby at 21 plus weeks gestation. The process began in the morning with misoprostol given throughout the day. The process took all day and the baby was only delivered during the early hours of a night shift where skeleton staff was on duty. This baby moved vigorously, gasp for breath and had a palpable heart rate. To make it clear this baby was alive, it was over 400 grammes, so the baby was a good weight. The parents of this baby did not desire to see or hold this baby. Midwives and doctors were left holding this little life while it continued to, while they continue to provide cares for other women who are birthing and welcoming their babies into the world, this baby boy fought for his life for five hours before taking his final breath.”
Adsett told the inquiry of a second case. “Just recently, a mother decided to have bought her baby At 19 weeks the same misoprostol regime was started and this little baby was born alive again, moving, gasping for air and having a palpable heart rate and once again over 400 grammes. This was a busy shift and the midwife who took over care for the bereavement midwife. When this baby was delivered, I was distressed and shocked that the baby was alive at 19 weeks and could not hold it. The baby was taken to the pan room and as the mother declined to hold that baby, even knowing it was alive, the midwife who was providing care for this baby and mother who was terminated was also providing care for another lady who had decided to terminate her baby at a later gestation and had a feed aside. As this was a busy shift and we were short-staffed, it was suggested that this little baby put into the dirty pan room and covered and be left on its own to take his spinal breaths alone as the baby kept on breathing for longer than anticipated.
“Thankfully another midwife was able to hold the baby while doing work until the baby took its final breaths. This baby was alive for almost three hours. These are just two of many examples that occur not only in birth suites that I work in, but birth suites cross Queensland.”
Professor Howe told an earlier hearing of the inquiry in April about a couple of instances of live births.
“I think it would be important to recognise a couple of the instances where this has occurred. The statistical data shows us the scale of the issue, but there are a couple of known reports, one of which is from Queensland. The Courier-Mail last year reported the instance of baby Xanthe, born at 19 weeks at Queensland’s Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Her parents went in for the abortion at 19 weeks after a diagnosis of Down syndrome. It was not expected that a live birth would occur so it was an unintended live birth after an abortion.
“The parents were not informed when Xanthe came out alive and Xanthe was placed in an
empty hospital room separate to her parents and lay there alone for seven minutes until she passed.
After that, at some point there was an off-hand comment made by a hospital staff member, and that
was actually how her parents found out that she was born alive and then left to die. She is an example, a concrete example, of what this is like. It is not always the case that a child is left alone to die after an abortion, but the case of baby Xanthe, which happened in 2020, shows how it can happen and the circumstances under which it happens.
“There are other cases from other states. The coronial report of Greg Cavanagh, the NT coroner
at the time, gave the case of Jessica Jane. She was a baby girl. Again, the mother went in for an
abortion, for a socio-economic reason this time. She had given a gestational age for the child that did not appear to be accurate so when Nurse Williams delivered the child—again it was an unintended live birth—she saw Jessica and, on the coroner’s evidence, it seems like Jessica was aged about 22 to 23 weeks. She came out with good Apgar scores, she was wriggling, making noise, crying et cetera.
“Nurse Williams did not know what to do and, according to the coroner, rang the doctor who ordered the abortion or gave the green light for it. He did not give any further advice to her about how to
proceed so she wrapped Jessica in a blanket, put her on a metal kidney dish in an empty room and
left the room for 80 minutes.”
A demonstration was held in Canberra last week, featuring booties in the shape of a cross to support similar legislation in the federal parliamnet. the Human Rights (Babies Born Alive Protection) Bill moved by three cionservative senators, Matt Canavan, Ralph Babet and Alex Antic.
“Over 5,000 pairs of booties were sent in from all around Australia – from Year 9 and 10 girls in Albany, Western Australia; from brave women who have experienced their own sadness through abortion and from social groups,” Wendy Francis, ACL’s National Director of Politics said. “Some booties were sent in by prize winning knitters, and some from first-time knitters, moved by the tragic reality of unwanted Australian babies.”
Image: Baby Booties forming a cross at a canberra protest in support of the Human Rights (Babies Born Alive Protection) Bill. Image Credit: ACL