New Canadian Study Uncovers Disturbingly High Rate of Live Births Following Late-Term Abortions

 

A recent study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology has revealed alarming statistics about second-trimester abortions in Quebec, where one in four babies aborted at 23 weeks are born alive. This discovery challenges previous assumptions about the rarity of such occurrences and further enhances the significant ethical concerns regarding late-term abortions that the pro life community has been always warning about.

The study analysed data from 13,777 abortions performed between 15 and 29 weeks of gestation in Quebec hospitals from 1989 to 2021. It found that 11.2% of these abortions resulted in live births, with the likelihood significantly higher at later gestational ages. Notably, at 23 weeks, 27 out of every 100 abortions led to live births. The implications of this finding are profound, highlighting the potential for viable life even in the context of abortion.

Fetal anomaly was the most common reason for termination, accounting for 48.1% of the cases. While the majority of abortions were performed through labour induction, the use of feticidal injections—such as intracardiac or intrathoracic injections—was shown to reduce the risk of live birth by up to 98%. However, the absence of such injections greatly increased the chances of a baby being born alive.

The ethical implications of these findings are difficult to ignore. In some cases, live-born infants survived for several hours post-abortion, drawing attention to the complexities of these procedures and the suffering involved. The study’s results call into question the protocols surrounding late-term abortions and the value placed on human life at its earliest stages.

These findings emphasise the need for a reevaluation of abortion practices. The growing frequency of live births following second-trimester abortions challenges the perception that these procedures are purely a matter of medical necessity. This study calls attention to the reality of what can occur during late-term abortions and and the pain and inhumanity inflicted on the child.