WASHINGTON, D.C., April 8, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-life group is asking Planned Parenthood to prove it is committed to protecting babies who are born alive during botched abortions.
Americans United for Life (AUL) has called on the organization's president, Cecile Richards, to support a Florida bill requiring abortionists to provide life-saving care to a living baby outside the womb.
The move follows a national uproar inspired by Planned Parenthood lobbyist Alisa LaPolt Snow, who suggested to Florida legislators that a doctor should be allowed to finish an abortion if a child is born alive during the procedure.
“We believe that any decision that’s made [about the living child] should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician,” Snow told the panel.
AUL has asked pro-life activists to sign on to a national e-mail campaign asking to the nation's largest abortion provider to change its position and support the bill in question.
“I believe that letting born babies live is something we should all be able to agree on,” the message begins. “I call on you to join AUL and pro-life Americans in supporting legal protections for human beings, and demand you lobby in favor not only of HB 1129 in Florida, but also for the passage of AUL's model Infants Born-Alive Protection Act across the country.”
“Cecile, support human rights. Cecile, Let Them Live!” it concludes.
Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus also challenged Planned Parenthood to renounce its lobbyist's comments in a column last week.
Planned Parenthood responded to Priebus by saying that “medical guidelines and ethics already compel physicians facing life-threatening circumstances to respond,” and that “Planned Parenthood physicians provide high-quality medical care and adhere to the most rigorous professional standards.”
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It added that if a child were born alive, “of course” Planned Parenthood would urge its employees to “provide appropriate care to both the woman and the infant.”
Jill Stanek has noted that it is unlikely most Planned Parenthood facilities possess the equipment necessary to care for premature babies.
The statement dismissed legislators' questions as a “vague set of extremely unlikely and highly unusual medical circumstances.”
However, during the hearing Republican Representative Cary Pigman told the chamber, “As of 2010, 1,270 infants were reported in that category, and I emphasize reported.”
In Canada, 491 babies were left to die after botched abortions from 2000-2009. American women have approximately 10-times the number of abortions each year as Canadian women.
Readers may send Richards an e-mail here.