Fifty babies a year are alive after abortion

From The Times (UK) Online:
A GOVERNMENT agency is launching an inquiry into doctors’ reports that up to 50 babies a year are born alive after botched National Health Service abortions.

The investigation, by the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH), comes amid growing unease among clinicians over a legal ambiguity that could see them being charged with infanticide.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which regulates methods of abortion, has also mounted its own investigation.

Its guidelines say that babies aborted after more than 21 weeks and six days of gestation should have their hearts stopped by an injection of potassium chloride before being delivered. In practice, few doctors are willing or able to perform the delicate procedure.

For the abortion of younger foetuses, labour is induced by drugs in the expectation that the infant will not survive the birth process. Guidelines say that doctors should ensure that the drugs they use prevent such babies being alive at birth.

It is a sad commentary that we live in a world where the birth of a living baby after an attempted abortion is seen as a problem instead of a miracle. I hope the fetuses babies are allowed to live. After all, as I understand it, criminals who survive execution are traditionally spared. Surely being a murderer is not a lesser offense than being a baby?

“If a baby is born alive following a failed abortion and then dies (because of lack of care), you could potentially be charged with murder,” said Shantala Vadeyar, a consultant obstetrician at South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust, who led the study.

In other words, you could be charged with a killing for killing a baby. What a concept. Maybe the Brits should come to the good old USA, where you can kill whenever you want to.