In the quiet corners of New Zealand's hospitals, a heartbreaking pattern has emerged since 2020: approximately one baby every month survives an attempted abortion, only to be denied the life-sustaining care that any other newborn would receive. This isn't speculation or exaggeration, it's drawn from official government data released under the Official Information Act, covering 2020 to 2025. Around 80 infants, born alive at gestations between 20 and 30 weeks, gasped their first breaths in a world that had already deemed them disposable.
These are not anomalies. They are the direct result of policies that treat human life as conditional, based on whether a child was "wanted." In some health districts, resuscitation is reserved only for babies after 22 weeks and 5 days, and even then, only if they are desired. In others, the decision is left to parental whim. One district's protocol is particularly chilling: "wrap the baby in a blanket and hold it until it passes." This is not compassionate end-of-life care; this is passive infanticide, sanctioned by the state.
New Zealand is not alone. The Abortion Survivors Network documents similar cases worldwide, where infants emerge alive from procedures meant to end them, only to face neglect. A 2024 peer-reviewed study in the Swiss Medical Weekly, analyzing Canadian data from 13,777 second-trimester abortions (15–29 weeks), found that 11.2% resulted in live births, a rate that skyrocketed with gestational age. At later stages, the "failure" rate of abortion to achieve death is alarmingly high.
Meanwhile, medical advancements tell a different story about viability. A 2025 JAMA analysis shows that survival rates for 22-week preemies receiving active treatment have jumped from 25.7% in 2014 to 41% in 2023. These tiny fighters, with proper intervention, are beating the odds. Yet in abortion survivors, that intervention is deliberately withheld. The line between late-term abortion and infanticide isn't just blurring, it's being erased by policy.
In 2020, New Zealand had a chance to draw a clear ethical line. An amendment to the abortion law would have mandated life-sustaining care for any baby born alive, regardless of the circumstances. It was rejected by nearly two-thirds of Parliament. As Bob McCoskrie, CEO of Family First New Zealand, rightly says: "This is not about politics—it's about having a heart."
What does it say about a society when its lawmakers vote to allow newborns to die slowly in a blanket, simply because their existence was unintended?
These statistics have faces. The Abortion Survivors Network supports dozens of individuals who survived abortion attempts, people like Melissa Ohden, who was born alive after a saline infusion abortion at what was thought to be 31 weeks, and left to die. She was rescued by a nurse who heard her cries. Or Claire Culwell, surviving a late-term abortion that killed her twin, only to be adopted and thrive.
Their mothers' stories are equally profound. Many women coerced into abortions later grieve the child they were told "wouldn't survive anyway." When that child does survive, and is then allowed to die, the trauma compounds.
This isn't about reopening the abortion debate in its entirety. It's about the bare minimum: if a baby is born alive, they deserve the same medical care as any other newborn. No exceptions. No discretion. No "comfort care" that masks neglect.
Governments and medical bodies must:
Mandate immediate, active treatment for all live-born infants, regardless of gestational age or abortion intent.
Require transparent reporting of born-alive cases, ending the secrecy that shields these practices.
Train healthcare workers to prioritize life over ideology when a child draws breath.
The question isn't whether these babies are human, they undeniably are. The question is whether we have the moral courage to protect them when they need us most.
In the words of the report: When a baby survives abortion, the question should never be whether that life deserves care — it should be how quickly we can provide it.
New Zealand's 80 survivors, and countless others worldwide, are counting on us to answer correctly.
https://www.lifenews.com/2025/11/07/one-baby-every-month-survives-an-abortion-in-new-zealand/