491 Babies Born in Canada & Left to Die (2000-09)

One of the best reasons for Christian cultural engagement is that we might know what actually is happening in this sinful world. Cultural engagement does not allow us to live with blinders on; it forces us to confront the raw data of evil.

What follows took my breath away. According to LifeSiteNews, almost 500 babies were born in Canada from 2000-09 as the result of failed abortions. These babies were not cared for but were left to die. Here’s some of the coverage from the original article. Force yourself to read this:

The 491 deaths reported to StatsCan are listed in CANSIM table 102-0536, under code P96.4, which is titled “Termination of pregnancy, affecting fetus and newborn.”

In an e-mail, StatsCan’s Owen Phillips explained that this code indicates the cause of the born child’s death was an abortion. He said these are not stillbirths, which have a different table.

“These are included in national cause of death statistics because when the aborted fetus is born alive and subsequently dies, each event must be registered,” he wrote in an e-mail. “If the aborted fetus is born dead but meets the provincial requirement (birth weight and/or gestational age) it must be registered as a stillbirth.”

“Live birth,” according to StatsCan, applies when, after proceeding from his mother’s womb, the child “breathes or shows any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached.”

Here’s an actual example of a documented live birth:

An example of the type of case that would be classified among these 491 deaths is offered by the Canadian Institute for Health Information in its Coding Standards.

It describes “a patient presented at 20 weeks gestation, requesting a therapeutic abortion. She was started on misoprostol, intravenously. The fetus was successfully expelled. A heart beat and respirations were detected at birth.”

“The outcome of the intended termination was delivery of a liveborn fetus,” it states.

According to Canada’s Criminal Code, a child is guaranteed legal protection when he “has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother.”

This is just too horrible for words. The fact that Western societies are accepting and not policing such crimes, such displays of evil, is shocking. We must continue to pray and work for the defense of the unborn. We cannot turn back the curse of sin; only Jesus can. But we are called to work while there is still time. Pray, work legislatively, do sidewalk counseling at abortion clinics–do whatever you can to get involved.

And of course, part of our involvement is this: not turning away when we are confronted by the specter of sin.

(Image: Michael Clancy–more info here)