Is it true that babies are being aborted after they’re born?
Yes – but that’s not stopping repeated, false claims it’s not happening in the United States.
Focus on the Family president Jim Daly pointed this out back in September, criticizing presidential debate moderator Linsey Davis for claiming, “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”
“[Democrat VP nominee] Walz [signed] a bill in 2023 that took away the protections for a baby that survived an abortion,” Daly explained, “In that case, there has now been [at least] eight children that have survived an abortion. Five have died there on that tray, breathing their last breath.”
“Folks, that is infanticide,” he concluded.
Yes, it is — and it happens far more often than the abortion industry would have you believe.
Only eight states disclose the number of children born alive every year after a failed abortion. Of those eight, only Minnesota reports whether those children survived and what measures doctors took to save them.
Between 2015 and 2022, 24 babies survived abortions in Minnesota.
None lived past their birthday.
None, including the eleven viable babies born without lethal abnormalities, were given life-saving care, though Minnesota law required all physicians take “all reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice…to preserve the life and health of [a child that survives an abortion]” until 2023.
Seven were given “comfort care measures…as planned,” apparently indicating doctors kept the babies comfortable until they passed away, completing the attempted abortion.
One was born with a low chance of resuscitation. According to the annual abortion report from the Minnesota Department of Health, “No measures were taken [to preserve life] and the infant did not survive.”
One was born with a heartbeat, which the report referred to as “residual, transient cardiac contractions.” But “no measures were taken to prolong these cardiac contractions, and the infant did not survive.”
One was born with “residual cardiac activity.” The baby, referred to as “the fetus,” was “transferred to the second medical doctor” but “no measures taken to preserve life were reported and the infant did not survive.”
One was born with no reported abnormalities. For unexplained reasons, “no specific steps taken to preserve life were reported and the infant did not survive.”
Merriam Webster defines “execute” as, “To put someone to death, especially in compliance with a legal sentence.” Though these children committed no crime, they were, by definition, executed.
Between August 2017 and today, at least 135 other babies survived abortions in Arizona, Florida, Indiana and Texas. We do not know if they lived or what, if any, measures doctors took to save them. If Minnesota is any indication, all died.
In 2023, vice presidential candidate Tim Walz eliminated state law requiring doctors to report whether a baby survives an abortion, what actions were taken to preserve their life and whether they survived.
In the same bill, Walz lowered the standards of care doctors must provide babies who survive abortion. Instead of taking “all reasonable measures … to “preserve [their] life and health,” doctors can now simply “all reasonable measures…to care for [them].” The edits bear frightening symmetry to the so-called “comfort care” Minnesota doctors used under the original law.
There are plenty of boldfaced lies going around, but babies being executed after birth isn’t one of them.
