Democrat lawmakers have repeatedly expressed support for laws that would allow abortionists to end the lives of babies who survive abortions — and voted against laws that protect babies who survive abortions.
That’s a fact that former President Donald Trump highlighted during Tuesday night’s debate, drawing the annoyance of Vice President Kamala Harris and the admonishment of debate moderator Linsey Davis.
“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born,” Davis said Tuesday evening, as Trump argued that some Democrats support executing babies after birth.
Trump was referring to 2019 comments made by former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, as he discussed Democrat Virginia state Rep. Kathy Tran’s House Bill 2491.
“If a mother is in labor…the infant would be delivered,” Northam explained. “The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated, if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and mother.”
Northam did not specify what would happen next, after this discussion.
He continued then: “So I think this is really blown out of proportion. We want the government not to be involved in these decisions.”
VA gov on abortion this morning:
“If a mother is in labor…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 desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians & mother” pic.twitter.com/cc15pVLjIQ
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) January 30, 2019
Tran’s bill, which did not pass, would have eliminated “all the procedures and processes” that are “required to effect a woman’s informed written consent to the performance of an abortion.”
She herself admitted that under her bill, unborn babies could be aborted “through the third trimester,” adding, “I don’t think we have a limit in the bill.”
“So…where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth, would that still be a point at which she could perform an abortion, if she was so certified?” asked Republican Virginia delegate Todd Gilbert. “She’s dilating.”
“My bill would allow that, yes,” responded Tran.
This is the moment that changed everything. It indisputably showed the demonic nature of their movement. pic.twitter.com/xObe6uaOTY
— Courrielche⚡️ (@courrielche) May 3, 2022
Tran later admitted that her bill would not have allowed infanticide when she corrected herself, following heavy backlash, telling the Washington Post: “I should have said: ‘Clearly, no, because infanticide is not allowed in Virginia, and what would have happened in that moment would be a live birth.’”
Democrats Vote Against Protecting Babies Born Alive
As recently as January 2023, almost every single House Democrat voted against legislation to protect babies who are born alive in botched abortions when the House passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The only Democrat to vote for the bill was Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas.
That legislation would have required the health care professional attending the abortion “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”
Harris — who shook her head at Trump on Tuesday night and indicated he was lying as he discussed Democratic abortion extremism — voted against the Born Alive Infant Survivors Protection Act in 2020.
Theoretically, babies who are born alive are protected by federal law under the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, signed into law in 2002 by President George W. Bush.
But that federal legislation does not penalize doctors who fail to provide appropriate care for babies who survive abortions. It merely states that a child born through a botched abortion counts as a person, as National Review’s John McCormack reports.
Babies are also protected under federal law by the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, also signed by Bush.
Under that 2003 law, a partial-birth abortion is defined as one in which a doctor kills a partially delivered, living baby after he “deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a head-first presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the mother’s body, or, in the case of a breech presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the mother’s body.”
Abortionist Kermit Gosnell was infamously accused of snipping the necks of living babies, some older than 24 weeks, with scissors when those babies were partially outside the womb. Gosnell was ultimately convicted of murdering victims named Baby A, Baby B, and Baby C, after trying to argue the babies were already dead when he snipped their necks. He was given three life sentences.
When it comes to born-alive babies or partial-birth abortions, often there are only one or two people who actually witness what happens — and sometimes, the only person who knows how that baby died is the abortionist himself.
Most States Refuse To Share How Many Babies Survive Abortions
Given the controversial nature of abortion in the United States, it would seem that Americans should have access to quality reporting and statistics on the topic. But only eight states publicly report or respond to requests for statistics on babies who were born alive during abortion procedures, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
The states are Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Texas.
A Daily Wire review found that most of these states are not transparent with their reporting on whether the babies were given care after they were born alive through botched abortions. Minnesota appears to be the only state providing reasons — and Tim Walz, the state’s governor, did away with the state’s reporting requirement in May 2023.
Arizona
In Arizona (where 11,530 babies were aborted in 2022) the state department of health reported that seven “abortion reports involving” a baby delivered alive “were submitted” to the Arizona Department of Health “along with the physician’s statement documenting the measures taken to preserve the life of the fetus or embryo.”
The Arizona Department of Health did not immediately respond with more information clarifying what steps were taken to preserve the lives of these seven babies.
Arkansas
In Arkansas (where 1,621 abortions were reported in 2022) no babies survived abortions in 2022. The Arkansas Department of Health did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment on what steps it takes to ensure that doctors are providing care to babies who do survive.
Florida
In Florida (where 84,000 abortions were reported in 2023) 14 babies are reported to have survived abortions in 2023, while 16 babies survived abortions in 2022, according to data from the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Indiana
In Indiana (where the state reported 4,673 abortions) one baby was reported born alive during an abortion in 2023, recorded by the Indiana Department of Health as “failure to terminate the pregnancy.”
The Indiana Department of Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire.
Michigan
In Michigan (where 31,241 babies were aborted in 2023) 122 babies were involved “failed abortions” in 2023, according to the state’s department of health, which defines “failed abortion” as “an abortion attempt that results in an ongoing pregnancy after an attempt at either surgical or medical abortion.” It is unclear what becomes of babies who survive “failed abortions” in Michigan.
The Michigan Department of Health, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, does not specifically mention any babies survived abortions in the state. It also notes that “in recent years, the number of failed abortions grew to be the most common subsequent complication reported.”
Texas
In Texas, the state department of health reported two instances where physicians reported “failure to terminate the pregnancy” between January and April of 2024, and in 2023, the state reported 11 babies who survived abortions.
The state doesn’t provide more information on what happened to those babies, and it is unclear how many babies were aborted in 2023 and 2024 thus far: in 2022, the state reported 22,232 Texas abortions.
The Texas Department of Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Oklahoma
In Oklahoma, where the state department of health reported 5,950 abortions in 2021, no babies were reported born alive that year.
Minnesota
In Minnesota, where Harris’s vice presidential pick, Tim Walz, serves as governor, Minnesota Department of Health data shows that at least eight babies who survived abortions were left to die.
Minnesota law formerly required the state to report whether abortions resulted in the live birth of a baby, what steps physicians took to preserve that baby’s life, and whether the baby survived.
Though Walz eliminated the law in May 2023, the state’s old data shows that there were five abortions resulting in a live baby birth between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2021.
No efforts were spent preserving the life of the first baby, who reportedly had “fetal anomalies” but also had “residual cardiac activity” for two minutes. “The infant did not survive,” the Minnesota Department of Health data shows.
The second and third babies died while they were given “comfort care measures,” the data shows.
No efforts were spent saving the lives of the fourth and fifth babies, who were reportedly previable.
Minnesota appears to be one of the only states that actually discloses at least minimal steps that were taken to preserve the life of the baby — or whether any were taken at all.
Nine States And D.C. Allow Abortion At Any Time, For Any Reason
In Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., abortions are permitted at any time, and for any reason, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.
None of these states have any protections for babies born alive in botched abortions, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, which notes that “some states like New York and Illinois have even enacted laws that eliminated previous protections for babies born alive.”
In Washington, D.C., an undercover pro-life activist recorded abortionist Cesare Santangelo in 2012 allegedly discussing how he would allow babies to die if they were accidentally born alive in an abortion.
Pro-life activists alleged again in 2022 that the premie-sized aborted baby bodies they had recovered from his abortion clinic were signs that Santangelo had been illegally aborting babies in the nation’s capital.
Because D.C. has no laws restricting abortion, D.C. police said the babies were “aborted in accordance with D.C. law” — and authorities have refused to autopsy the babies for years, though they have become relevant to DOJ Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act cases against pro-life activists.
In another undercover video taken by pro-life activist David Daleiden, former medical director of Planned Parenthood of Arizona DeShawn Taylor allegedly says: “You need to pay attention to who’s in the room” when asked, “Is there any standard procedure for verifying signs of life?”
WATCH:
