{"id":265457,"date":"2022-04-01T15:39:26","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T20:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=265457"},"modified":"2025-06-20T00:15:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T05:15:22","slug":"infant-bodies-infanticide-attempted-abortions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/infant-bodies-infanticide-attempted-abortions\/","title":{"rendered":"Aborted babies discovered in DC may indicate infanticide after attempted abortions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WARNING<\/span>: This article contains disturbing images.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

UPDATE, 4\/11\/22:<\/strong> Since this article’s original publication, further details about this discovery have been brought to light. Please read here for a timeline of the events<\/a> that unfolded, and here for firsthand testimony of the activists<\/a> who made the discovery of the aborted babies. <\/em><\/p>\n

See a list of other Live Action News articles related to this topic at the end of this article.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

4\/1\/22:<\/strong> Physician experts have told Live Action News that five aborted children recovered from a D.C. abortion facility\u00a0<\/span>appear to have been old enough to survive outside the womb, raising questions about potential legal and serious ethical violations by the abortion facility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Robin Pierucci, a neonatal specialist, told Live Action News: \u201cI can say with confidence that [four of] these babies died at an age when they were viable, premature people.\u201d In her Friday morning comments, she noted that she was going to work in a NICU where she would \u201c<\/span>care for little ones this size and age.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

During a Thursday press conference, D.C. police <\/span>quickly dismissed<\/span><\/a> the possibility that the babies experienced illegal abortions but declined to comment further when asked by Live Action News. Although D.C. doesn\u2019t ban late-term abortions, medical professionals are still bound by federal laws which restrict the method of abortion and require life-saving care for infants born after botched procedures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lifesaving care is something Dr. Cesare Santangelo, who operates the facility <\/span>where the discarded babies were discovered,<\/span> has already said<\/span><\/a> repeatedly that he either doesn\u2019t provide or avoids.<\/span><\/p>\n

A pro-life activist voluntarily informed the D.C. homicide unit of the babies and surrendered them to authorities. Details are forthcoming but the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) group, to which this activist belongs, believes the \u201cl<\/span>ate gestational ages as well as their apparent sustained injuries potentially show violations of the Partial Birth Abortion Act<\/a> as well as the Born Alive Infants Protection Act<\/a>.\u201d The group also announced that a funeral mass and naming ceremony was offered for the babies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Live Action president and founder Lila Rose <\/span>said in response,\u00a0 \u201cThe discovery of these bodies is horrific and disturbing evidence of the infanticide that may be occurring in this clinic within our nations\u2019 capital, and indicative of the violence happening in abortion facilities nationwide.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Baby boy #1 \u2018should have been in a nursery\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

Perhaps the largest and most developed baby found was a boy, whose gestational age has been estimated to be around 28-32 weeks \u2013 well within the third trimester, past the point at which the majority of experts agree that preborn babies can feel pain, and beyond the point many states have restricted abortions for medical and ethical reasons. For example, the Mississippi law that recently came before the Supreme Court limits abortion to just 15 weeks based on concerns surrounding fetal development, pain, and other factors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos and video of the first baby boy reveal that he remained largely intact, raising questions about how his life ended. He also has what appears to be a fully formed face, fingers, toes, and all the primary features normally visible in a newborn.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Baby boy #1 – D.C.<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr. Kathi Aultman, a former abortionist who later became pro-life, told Live Action News that he \u201cappears to be in the 3<\/span>rd<\/span> trimester near term and looks like he should have been in the nursery.\u201d Dr. Patti Giebink similarly said via email that this baby boy \u201clooks close to term gestation \u2026 [a]nd pretty much intact,\u201d adding that she couldn\u2019t \u201cbelieve they would abort a nearly full term baby unless there was something terminally wrong with the baby, but it doesn’t appear so.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe is totally intact, but his skin is somewhat macerated,\u201d Aultman said. \u201cIn other words, it has begun to degenerate, which would indicate that he was probably dead when he was aborted, or he was not well preserved, and his tissues began to deteriorate after the abortion. He appears to be completely normal and was probably aborted using the induction method, which uses medication to induce labor. He looks about the same size as my granddaughter when she was born.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Two neonatologists \u2013 Dr. Kendra Kolb and Dr. Robin Pierucci \u2013 similarly expressed shock at the state of this baby\u2019s body. Kolb estimated a gestational age as late as 32 weeks while medical advances are continually pushing back the age of viability. At the end of last year, a baby in Alabama, Curtis Means, was <\/span>born at 21 weeks<\/span><\/a>, which comes just after the 20-week cutoff that the U.S. senate rejected in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>National Library of Medicine<\/span><\/a> says that at 32 weeks, the baby has lungs, a beating heart, and other major organs. He or she also has the ability to hear, a rapidly growing brain, a nervous system \u201cdeveloped enough to control some body functions,\u201d eyelids that can open and close, and \u201csurfactant\u201d or a substance that helps the lungs\u2019 air sacs fill with air.<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Contrary to popular belief, late-term abortions aren\u2019t always done for medical reasons<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kolb told Live Action News that \u201c<\/span>it is beyond horrific and devastating for me as a Neonatologist to see these images, as these babies are representative of the very same patient population that I care for.\u00a0 To then see these discarded aborted babies, and even try to imagine what they went through during these horrific abortion procedures is infuriating and devastating beyond words.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven if all of these babies were aborted \u2018legally\u2019, it is without question and crystal clear to see that this practice is neither ethical nor empowering to women. This is the American horror story that we call ‘choice’ on full display for all to see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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