Multiple infants were born alive after botched abortions in Texas, a new report indicates.
According to statistics from Texas Health and Human Services, abortion facilities and physicians each reported at least six infants were born alive during abortion attempts in the state in 2019 — an increase by at least two from the previous year.
In 2019, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill requiring physicians present during a botched abortion must “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health” of a baby born alive as if it were delivered under normal circumstances. Physicians are also required to facilitate the immediate transfer of the infant to a hospital. Violators of this law risk being fined at least $100,000 and being charged with a third-degree felony.
Texas State Rep. Jeff Leach, who authored the legislation, called for an investigation into the care provided to the 2019 babies born alive despite attempts to abort them, saying that the numbers in the report should “shock the collective conscience of the Lone Star State.”
“I call on the Texas Attorney General and appropriate law enforcement agencies, with the full weight and force of Texas law, to investigate and unleash holy hell on those responsible for these heinous crimes,” Leach wrote.
Leach also called on other legislators to “recommit ourselves to our most fundamental duty — to safeguard the fundamental liberties and freedoms of all Texans, starting with the sacred right to life.”
“Without question, we must fight to ensure the 87th legislative session is meaningful and monumental for the pro-life cause in Texas,” he continued.
In response to today’s alarming Texas HHSC report showing multiple infants “born alive” following botched abortion attempts in Texas, I released the attachment statement: pic.twitter.com/9DOYq8Ug2u
— Jeff Leach (@leachfortexas) December 24, 2020
Other complications of the induced termination of pregnancy procedures in Texas in the report included more than 100 “incomplete abortions,” as well as more than 50 hemorrhages and infections in the women combined.
A large majority of the women who received the abortions were unmarried at the time, with more than 57 percent of the abortions occurring in women between 20 and 29 years old and more than 300 abortions occurring in girls ranging from 11 to 15 years old. 4,788 abortions were carried out in teens aged 16 to 19 years old.
Most of the abortions in Texas were performed in the first trimester, but just under 3000 were also executed in the second trimester.
In total, more than 56,600 babies of Texas residents were killed in 2019.