Children Born Alive Post Abortion.

My fellow Senators Alex Antic, Matt Canavan and I have come together to fight for children born alive post botched abortions.

One example from Dr Joanna Howe - Jessica Jane was born alive and placed on a metal kidney dish in an empty room for approximately 80 minutes until she died. According to Nurse Williams who delivered her, Jessica Jane, although premature, was apparently healthy, had no apparent abnormalities and her vital signs were relatively good. Nurse Williams weighed the baby and she was 515 grams.

She called the doctor who had authorised the abortion to inform him of the live birth and that the baby’s Agpar scores were strong.

According to the Coroner, the doctor’s only response was to say ‘so?’ and then he abruptly hung up the phone on her. He gave no instructions to give the baby medical care, and the baby was left to die where she lay.

She checked on Jessica Jane every 10-15 minutes and observed crying and movement. According to the Coroner’s report ‘after about an hour her heartbeat and breathing slowed until death at 4.05am'.

Nurse Williams informed the Coroner, ‘I desperately wanted to do more, but felt my hands were tied’.