Americans Ready to Protect Infants That Survive Abortion

The Democrats in control of the House would be well-advised to follow up with a vote of their own because Americans are finally waking up to the every-day reality of late-term abortion. We have New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to thank for igniting a national conversation that is long overdue.

When Northam accidentally told the truth about what happens to a newborn who survives abortion, the nation gasped. When Cuomo and his Democrats in the New York legislature cheered the signing of a new law that allows these newborns to die alone on a trash heap — and had One World Trade Center lit up in pink in celebration — he convinced even abortion supporters that we as a nation have lost a part of our human decency.

Since then abortion — so often ignored by the media — has been in the news every day, with New York-style laws proposed for Vermont, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and elsewhere. Democrats are behind every one of these bills.

The stated goal in every case is to ensure that abortion remains accessible in these states in the event that Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. But explicitly spelled out in each bill is a disturbing new trend: infanticide.

In Massachusetts, a proposed law called the Remove Obstacles and Expand Abortion Access Act would repeal language requiring that abortionists “take all reasonable steps […] to preserve the life and health of the aborted child.”

Vermont’s bill would strip away all rights of the child and allow abortion for any reason through the ninth month.

In New Mexico, which is already the late-term abortion capital of the nation, a bill under consideration would even force medical professionals to perform abortions against their will.

Abortion advocates insist that babies will not be born and left to die once these laws are on the books, but the fact is that babies sometimes do survive abortion, and without laws to protect them, they will be left alone, shivering and gasping for air, until they die. It’s not a pretty picture but it is an accurate one. We know it happens. Melissa Ohden was in the Oval Office with President Trump when he held a conference call in which our Priests for Life team and thousands of other pro-life activists joined last week. (Priests for Life was represented in the Oval Office by the presence of Alveda King.)

Melissa Ohden, whom we have known for many years, survived an abortion attempt at five months and a nurse couldn’t bear to watch her die. Other babies are not so fortunate.

Polls indicate that Americans do not support these efforts to expand abortion access. A survey by the firm Cygna found that 73 percent of Rhode Islanders, where two late-term bills are under consideration, oppose legalizing abortion through the ninth month, with 64 percent “strongly opposed.”

A survey performed by YouGov/Americans United for Life found 79 percent of all respondents opposed to third-trimester abortions. And some 66 percent of people who describe themselves as “pro-choice” oppose third-trimester abortions.

Dr. Doreen Ciancaglini, who testified at the hearing for the Rhode Island bills, posed a question that every American should be asking: “What is driving the need to make abortion even more common?”

Knowing, as we do, that abortion hurts women, men, and society in general, shouldn’t we be looking for ways to make abortion an unthinkable choice?

And knowing what we know about the child in the womb, shouldn’t we summon the compassion to make sure no child dies in this violent and barbaric way?

Americans are ready — at the very least — to protect children from late-term abortion as they are protected in nearly every other nation on earth. Now someone just has to tell the Democrats.

Fr. Frank Pavone is one of the most prominent pro-life leaders in the world. He became a Catholic priest in 1988 under Cardinal John O’Connor in New York. In 1993 he became National Director of Priests for Life. He is also the President of the National Pro-life Religious Council, and the National Pastoral Director of the Silent No More Campaign and of Rachel’s Vineyard, the world’s largest ministry of healing after abortion. He travels to about four states every week, preaching and teaching against abortion. He broadcasts regularly on television, radio, and internet. He was asked by Mother Teresa to speak in India on abortion, and was asked by then-candidate Donald Trump to serve on his Pro-life and Catholic advisory councils. He has served at the Vatican as an official of the Pontifical Council for the Family, which coordinates the pro-life activities of the Catholic Church. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.