WASHINGTON, D.C., February 11, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A former nurse testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today that some babies are born alive during failed abortions and left to die, something that would be remedied if an anti-infanticide bill becomes law.
The Judiciary Committee also heard from an expert neonatologist and Patrina Mosley, Director of Life, Culture and Women’s Advocacy at the Family Research Council. The trio of witnesses made the case for passing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
If passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate and signed by the president, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would require that the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence be given to babies who survive abortions as to any other newborn. Additionally, the law would establish criminal consequences for practitioners who fail to act accordingly.
Jill Stanek, now the National Campaign Chair to the Susan B. Anthony List, recounted her own experiences from her time as a nurse at a hospital that committed abortions.
“I could not bear the thought of this suffering child dying alone, so I rocked him for the 45 minutes that he lived. He was 21 to 22 weeks old, weighed about half a pound, and was about the size of my hand,” Stanek said of an abortion survivor who had been left to die in the Soiled Utility Room.
Referring to a fellow nurse at the same hospital, Stanek told the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee how a live aborted baby had accidentally been thrown in the garbage.
“When she realized what she had done, she started going through the trash to find the baby, and the baby fell out of the towel and on to the floor,” she explained.
In a particularly horrifying episode, one mother “was not only shocked when her little boy was aborted alive, she was also shocked that he didn’t appear to have the external physical deformities she had been told he was going to have. The mother screamed for someone to help her baby, and my colleague rushed to call a neonatologist over from the unit.”
The baby died within half an hour.
Stanek described in graphic detail the procedure known as labor-induced abortion. According to her testimony, the goal of that procedure is simply “to cause a pregnant mother’s cervix to open so that she will prematurely deliver a baby who dies during the birth process or soon afterward.”
Dr. Robin Pierucci, a physician and neonatologist with decades of experience, said that a newborn’s first diagnosis is always that he or she is a baby. “All other diagnoses (prematurity, respiratory distress, sepsis, etc.) are secondary and never negate the first one. Because of their preeminent diagnosis (human baby), we are always obligated to care, whether or not we have the ability to heal.”
Pierucci stated that the physicians should apply the medical standard of care to every human being. “There is no ethical reason why this medical standard of care should be abandoned for a subgroup of people because they might be less ‘wanted’ than others; wantedness does not determine humanness,” the doctor, who also holds a master’s degree in bioethics, clarified.
She spoke of the example of Mother Teresa, who went out to the poor and abandoned dying in the streets of Calcutta, India, in order to care for them, regardless if there was any hope for them to be cured.
“We too should never allow a baby, especially a baby, to die anywhere but in the warmth of our arms, nestled securely against our hearts,” added Pierucci.
The Family Research Council’s Mosley pointed out that the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 only recognized that all babies born alive are persons. However, this recognition was not combined with a “federal criminal statute against taking the lives of born-alive infants.”
For that reason, Mosley explained, between 2003 and 2014 at least 143 babies were born alive and died after failed abortions, according to official data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC’s report admits that this number is “almost certainly an underestimate,” due to a gap in state reporting. Some of the babies died within minutes of birth; others lived longer than a day.
Mosley concluded her testimony, which was heavy on statistics, by telling the stories of premature babies who went on to live full lives “by simply receiving adequate care.”
One of the babies Mosley highlighted was recently featured by President Donald Trump at his State of the Union address.
“Ellie was born at just 21 weeks and six days. She is one of the youngest babies to survive in the United States. Today, Ellie is a healthy 2-year-old girl,” Mosley said.
She also pointed to the world’s smallest surviving baby, “Saybie” from San Diego. Saybie only weighed “the same as a large apple at just 245 g (8.6 oz), when she was born at 23 weeks and three days in December of 2018.”
Mosley called the senators at the hearing to be “morally and logically consistent” by passing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. If the new baby born alive “is a full person under federal law, then they are worthy of humane care and protection under federal law,” argued Mosley.
Some of the witnesses also referred to comments made by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam last year, during which he seemingly endorsed infanticide. Northam had said, “So in this particular example, if the mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen: 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.”
“So, whether a newborn gets the chance to live or not is a matter for ‘discussion,’ while precious moments slip by as the infant is fighting for her life on the delivery table. At this point, we are no longer talking about abortion or a woman’s body. We are talking about a child who has clearly become the patient,” Mosley responded to that statement in her testimony.
Democrats currently running for their party’s presidential nomination all support taxpayer-funded abortion on demand. Last week, during an appearance on The View Pete Buttigieg refused to condemn infanticide or say at what point during pregnancy he thought late-term abortion ought to be restricted.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, meanwhile, was asked about a litmus test during a recent presidential debate and responded: “Is there a litmus test for those of us up here? For me there is. I will never nominate any person to the Supreme Court or the federal courts in general who is not 100 percent pro- Roe v. Wade . Number two, we have got to codify Roe v. Wade into legislation. Number three, we have to significantly expand funding for Planned Parenthood.”
Planned Parenthood commits more than 300,000 abortions annually.
On Wednesday, the Democrat-controlled U.S. House Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a hearing on the pro-abortion “Women’s Health Protection Act” of 2019.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, referred to the bill as the Abortion on Demand Act.
“This radical and egregiously misnamed bill would strike down democratically enacted state and federal protections for unborn children and their mothers nationwide, expanding abortion on demand through birth. It would sweep away even the most modest pro-life protections, such as popular limits on late-term abortions after five months of pregnancy, health and safety standards for abortion facilities, informed consent, and conscience protections,” Dannenfelser said ahead of the hearing.
The painting of for-profit baby-murder centers as “reproductive health clinics” that are a “woman’s right” is a massive lie. Atrocities are surely the norm in those slaughterhouses.
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Absolutely sickening and upsetting. People can be real monsters.
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If you want to listen to the entire hearing here it is:
Absolutely sickening stuff that makes me certain that (fedpost redacted) would be justified in the eyes of God.
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The evil mindset that took over in America, is the cause of the increase in depression, suicide, family destruction, failing education and many other things, as well as the manifestation of a natural punishment of cause and effect.
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Notice how the GOP only brings out abortion during the campaign season then quietly tucks it away once elected.
