Quebec stats: ‘One in four babies aborted at 23 weeks born alive’

One in four babies aborted at 23 weeks gestation in the Canadian province of Quebec are born alive, a new study has shown.

Research led by medical statisticians at the University of Montreal found that live birth rates increased most noticeably between 20 and 24 weeks for second-trimester abortions.

Earlier this year, more than 700 medics called on MPs to reduce Britain’s abortion limit from 24 weeks to 22 weeks to better reflect the increasing number of surviving premature babies.

Intensive care

The Canadian study analysed data from 13,777 abortions carried out between 15 and 29 weeks gestation in Quebec hospitals from 1 April 1989 to 31 March 2021.

It reported that live birth rates “were highest at 23 weeks of gestation (27.0 per 100 abortions), followed by 22 weeks (26.7 per 100 abortions) and 21 weeks (22.9 per 100 abortions)”.

“In Quebec, live birth is defined as the presence of any sign of life, including breathing, heartbeat, umbilical cord pulsation, or muscle movement, in a fetus that is removed from a mother, whether or not the cord is cut or placenta attached.”
Study authors: Nathalie Auger, MD, MSc, FRCPC; Émilie Brousseau, MSc; Aimina Ayoub, MSc; William D. Fraser, MD, MSc, FRCSC

Researchers identified a clear trend of increasing live birth rates over the years. Unborn babies had a 4.1 per cent chance of surviving an abortion between 1989 and 2000, which increased to 20.8 per cent between 2011 and 2021.

A quarter of babies born alive following a botched abortion were admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit, while 5.5 per cent received palliative care. Ten per cent of abortion survivors lived for at least three hours.

Hope

An American woman, who was seriously injured in the womb during a failed abortion, now encourages others to speak out against abortion.

In an interview with US pro-life group Students for Life in July, Hope explained: “My birth mum scheduled an abortion appointment when she was ten weeks pregnant with me. She went in scared and unsure, but went through with the procedure.

“What they didn’t tell her was how fully formed my body was, how my body, not pregnancy tissue, would be impacted by the tools the abortionist used that day. What she also didn’t know walking out of the abortion facility was that I survived.”

In sharing her story, she told Students for Life, “I want people to see the living proof that abortion hurts. It hurt my mom emotionally, and it hurt me physically, but we don’t have to keep settling for it.”

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