{"id":181196,"date":"2018-04-06T12:12:05","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T16:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=181196"},"modified":"2018-04-09T15:28:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T19:28:23","slug":"florida-16-abortion-survivors-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-16-abortion-survivors-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"16 infants in Florida born alive after surviving abortion attempts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Over the past few years, a total of sixteen babies have been born alive after attempted abortions in the state of Florida, according to online reports.\u00a0The information, collected by the state from abortion providers, is compiled in the\u00a0report<\/a>, \u201cITOP Report of Infants Born Alive, By County Where Terminations Occurred, Florida,\u201d on file at the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). According to a spokesperson from the AHCA, ITOP stands for \u201cInduced Termination of Pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus far in 2018<\/a>, one baby has been born alive in Florida during an abortion attempt. In\u00a02017<\/a>, there were\u00a011 abortion survivors. There were none recorded born alive in\u00a02016<\/a>\u00a0or 2013<\/a>, but there were four abortion survivors in\u00a02015<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A previous Live Action News report<\/a>\u00a0noted that in 2015 alone, there were several reports of abortion survivors: one in Michigan, five in Minnesota, and, as already mentioned, four in Florida<\/a> — three in Alachua County and one in Jackson County.\u00a0That same year, 5,132 elective abortions were\u00a0reportedly<\/a>\u00a0committed on women between the 13th and 24th week of pregnancy; that number has since been updated to 5,195 with a total of 5,695 for all reasons, including various “health” reasons.<\/p>\n

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\"abortion

Four babies born alive after attempted abortions in Florida in 2015<\/p><\/div>\n

Now, only a few years later, that number has increased substantially, especially in Alachua County.<\/p>\n

\"abortion

Babies born alive after abortion in Florida<\/p><\/div>\n

Although the documents do not indicate whether the reports of abortion survivors originated from a hospital or an abortion facility, records currently on file<\/a> with the state reveal that there are only two licensed abortion facilities in Alachua County where ten babies have been reported to have survived abortion attempts since 2015. One is an abortion facility called Bread and Roses, and the other is the All Women’s Health Center, a chain which operates multiple abortion facilities in the state — including the only licensed abortion facility in Seminole County, where one baby was reported to have survived an abortion in 2017.<\/p>\n

State records also show that there are six licensed abortion facilities in Hillsborough County, where three babies survived abortion attempts in 2017. Of those six facilities, two are Planned Parenthood centers. In Jackson County, where one baby survived an abortion in 2015, there are currently no licensed abortion facilities.<\/p>\n

In Orange County, where another baby survived an abortion attempt in 2017, there are currently three licensed abortion facilities (down from five in 2016 and six in 2017) including two Planned Parenthood facilities and a late-term facility<\/a> operated by the\u00a0infamous James Scott Pendergraft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Florida’s official definitions<\/a> for how abortion providers are to file their reports define a baby born alive as one that is breathing, has a beating heart, or has voluntary muscle movements after expulsion:<\/p>\n

Was\/were the infant(s) born alive during or immediately after attempted abortion? \u2013 Select the appropriate response. \u201cBorn alive\u201d is defined in 390.011(4), F.S. as: \u201cBorn alive\u201d means the complete expulsion or extraction from the mother of a human infant, at any stage of development, who, after such expulsion or extraction, breathes or has a beating heart, or definite and voluntary movement of muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, caesarean section, induced abortion, or other method.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What happened to the babies who survived the attempted abortions is unclear, as no additional information was available from the\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n

Florida law\u00a0requires<\/a>\u00a0that \u201c[a]n infant born alive during or immediately after an attempted abortion must be immediately transported and\u00a0admitted to a hospital pursuant to s. 390.012(3)(c) or rules adopted thereunder.\u201d The law also\u00a0requires<\/a>\u00a0that any employee of a hospital, physician\u2019s office, or an abortion clinic who is aware of a violation of the born-alive law must report it.<\/p>\n

In 2013, as Live Action News has previously reported<\/a>, during hearings in Florida about protecting abortion survivors, lobbyist Alisa LaPolt Snow (representing the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates),\u00a0admitted<\/a>\u00a0to the Florida legislature that Planned Parenthood takes issue with allowing infants born alive after failed abortions to be transported to a hospital.<\/p>\n