From the Australian Christian Lobby
Tragic news from Italy that a baby boy who survived a botched abortion at 22 weeks and was simply wrapped in cloth and left to die by Italian doctors has again highlighted the extreme cruelty of late-abortion practices.
Media reports indicate that the baby was discovered alive last Saturday - 20 hours after the botched termination - when a hospital chaplain went to pray beside the body and noticed him moving. The baby died in intensive care on Monday, with Italian police launching a homicide investigation as Italy’s laws state that doctors have an obligation to try to preserve the life of a child if it survives a termination.
The Italian report – and police action – further expose the distressingly cruel nature of abortion practices which occur legally and no doubt far more frequently in Australia, without repercussions for those involved.
In late 2008 a Senate committee looking into the Medicare funding of second trimester/late term abortions was given shocking evidence of babies being born alive after botched abortions and left to die, as well as the foetal pain experienced during abortions. For example, statistics from Victoria show that 47 of the 309 post-20 week abortions performed in 2005 resulted in the delivery of a live born child who was then left to die.
And yet despite these revelations nothing has been done to help these children and our abortion laws are only becoming more permissive.
However, in some heartening news from the US, politicians in the US state of Oklahoma have voted to pass two abortion Bills that will require women to listen to a detailed description of the foetus and view the ultrasound image prior to terminating a pregnancy.
Doctors will also be permitted to withhold test results showing foetal defects and will be protected from ‘wrongful birth’ malpractice lawsuits brought by parents who would have aborted a foetus had they been informed about its genetic or other defects.
Comments
How can withholding information and lying to a woman and her family about the condition of her baby be heartening news? A woman and her family have the right to emotionally and psychologically prepare themselves for a baby that may have disabilities. To withhold such information is barbaric and cruel and will do nothing but harm. This is not a "win" for the pro life movement and to support such an atrocious Bill is quite shocking.