17 Babies Were Born Alive in 2025 and Left to Die in Alberta Hospitals
This isn’t a rumour. It’s official AHS policy. It’s time to act.
What does it mean to be born alive... and abandoned?
- 17 babies born alive after failed abortions - in one year.
- No resuscitation. No oxygen. No medical care.
- Permitted under current AHS guidelines.
This isn’t a fringe claim — it’s confirmed by government statistics.
BRIEF OVERVIEW (Click to Expand)
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), the independent, national agency that compiles hospital discharge records across Canada, there were 17 babies born alive following second- and third-trimester abortions in Alberta last year.
Under Canadian criminal law (s.223), any infant born alive, under any circumstance, is a legal person. Their medical care is the duty of the provincial health system, Alberta Health Services (AHS).
Two existing AHS policies urgently require revision because they permit the non-resuscitation and non-intervention of infants born alive:
1. AHS Policy PS-92:
AHS Policy PS-92 “Termination of Pregnancy,” Section 6.4 – explicitly allows a Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) order to be put in place “in anticipation of a possible live birth.” This means a child can be pre-emptively denied care before they exist outside the womb, based solely on the expectation that they might be born alive.
RECOMMENDED UPDATE:
Replace all anticipatory DNR language with: “Any infant born with signs of life must receive immediate assessment and appropriate medical care.” And clarify that DNR decisions must be medically justified, based solely on the infant’s own clinical interests – not parental intent or on the fact that an abortion was sought.
2. AHS Policy HCS-183-01:
AHS Policy HCS-183-01 “Assessment of At-Risk or Actual Preterm Labour,” Section 6.5 – recommends a blanket “non-interventional approach” for infants below a certain gestational threshold. This creates a universal non-care standard that can be applied to infants who are born alive, breathing, and legally protected under Canadian law.
RECOMMENDED UPDATE:
Remove any clause considering non-intervention solely due to gestational age. And mandate an automatic neonatal assessment for any infant born with signs of life, regardless of gestational age or the circumstances of delivery. Active care should be provided unless medically futile, documented by a physician.
The FACTS:
At times, an abortion procedure can result in a child being born alive.
In these situations, Alberta Health Services (AHS) policy currently allows the medical practitioners performing an abortion to deny medical care to the infant and leave the baby to die, sometimes over the course of hours or days—this abhorrent practice of infanticide must end.
Alberta’s UCP government has the authority to rewrite AHS policy to require that infants born alive after a failed abortion receive the same degree of care as any other newborn child.
A baby’s right to life and medical care should not change because he or she was born during an abortion.
Every child – regardless of whether he or she was “wanted” or not – deserves a chance at life and proper medical care, no matter where or why they are born.
Support for this policy revision should be common-sense and bipartisan. Children are not failed procedures—they are human beings. Regardless of party affiliation, every MLA should stand in defense of life and care, and against infanticide.
No newborn’s right to life and care should ever hinge on whether they were “wanted.”
Real Questions. Real Answers. Documented Proof.
Summary
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), the independent, national agency that compiles hospital discharge records across Canada, there were 17 babies born alive following second- and third-trimester abortions in Alberta last year.
Under Canadian criminal law (s.223), any infant born alive, under any circumstance, is a legal person. Their medical care is the duty of the provincial health system, Alberta Health Services (AHS).
Two existing AHS policies urgently require revision because they permit the non-resuscitation and non-intervention of infants born alive:
1) AHS Policy PS-92 – “Termination of Pregnancy” (Section 6.4):
- The policy explicitly allows a Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) order to be put in place “in anticipation of a possible live birth.” This means a child can be pre-emptively denied care before they exist outside the womb, based solely on the expectation that they might be born alive.
RECOMMENDED UPDATE:
- Replace all anticipatory DNR language with: “Any infant born with signs of life must receive immediate assessment and appropriate medical care.” And clarify that DNR decisions must be medically justified, based solely on the infant’s own clinical interests – not parental intent or on the fact that an abortion was sought.
2) AHS Policy HCS-183-01 – “Assessment of At-Risk or Actual Preterm Labour” (Section 6.5):
- The policy recommends a blanket “non-interventional approach” for infants below a certain gestational threshold. This creates a universal non-care standard that can be applied to infants who are born alive, breathing, and legally protected under Canadian law.
RECOMMENDED UPDATE:
- Remove any clause considering non-intervention solely due to gestational age. And mandate an automatic neonatal assessment for any infant born with signs of life, regardless of gestational age or the circumstances of delivery. Active care should be provided unless medically futile, documented by a physician.
How do we know this is really happening in Alberta?
Because it’s documented in official health records and statistics. The numbers come directly from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) – the independent, national agency that compiles hospital discharge records and reports health data across Canada. These cases are tracked under the official discharge code P96.4 (“Termination of pregnancy, affecting fetus and newborn”).
According to CIHI’s official data, in 2024–25, 17 babies in Alberta were born alive after failed abortions in acute care hospitals. The year before, there were 28. The year before that, 20. These are official health statistics.
CIHI Data Tables Here: 
2024-25, 2023-24, 2022-23, 2021-22
What does AHS policy actually say?
Alberta Health Services’ policy PS-92 spells out how late-term abortions are handled.
The policy recommends intentionally stopping the baby’s heartbeat before labour is induced — to prevent the baby from being born alive. But if the baby’s heart isn’t stopped, or if the attempt fails and the baby is born alive, the policy directs staff to place a “do not resuscitate” (DNR) order and provide only what it calls “comfort care” to the child now born, outside the womb.
“Comfort care” may sound gentle, but in reality it is a sterile phrase masking state-sanctioned abandonment and deliberate neglect. It means: no oxygen. No incubator. Not even an IV. Denied care, the baby is left to die.
Alberta Health Services’ policy HCS-183-01 governs how premature deliveries – whether spontaneous or deliberately induced – are managed in Alberta.
On page 11, section 6.5, AHS gives a directive that determines whether a newborn receives help or is left without it: “A non-interventional approach is recommended.” This is not a medical judgment about an individual child. It is a blanket instruction: infants born below a predetermined gestational threshold are not to receive active care.
A single line in a policy manual decides their fate.
Termination of Pregnancy, PS-92, Page 5 Clinical Assessment of ‘At Risk’ or Actual Preterm Labour for Triage, HCS-183-01, Page 11
Wouldn’t these babies have died anyway due to severe deformities or prematurity?
The issue is not whether every child would have survived long-term, but that every child was denied even the most basic chance to live.
It is crucial to understand that late-term abortions are not performed solely for medical reasons. A Quebec study found that 46.9% were carried out for “other” reasons—meaning not because of fetal anomaly or maternal emergency. While no equivalent Alberta study exists, there is no reason to believe the numbers here would be any different.
In almost any other circumstance—premature labour, an emergency C-section, or an unexpected early delivery—these newborns would have been treated as patients. They would receive oxygen, warmth, fluids, and medical assessment. Under AHS policy after a failed abortion, however, they receive none of this.
So the real question is not whether some might eventually have died, but whether they are recognized and treated as living, breathing human patients at all.
Second-trimester Abortion and the Risk of Live Birth (2024), Table 1 Second-trimester Abortion and the Risk of Live Birth (2024)
Wouldn’t requiring care for babies born alive regulate abortion?
No. This is not about regulating abortion—it’s about protecting newborns. No baby born alive in Alberta should be left to die without care.
Requiring care for babies born alive does not regulate abortion—it regulates what happens after an abortion attempt has failed and a living child is delivered.
At that point, we are no longer dealing with a pregnancy or a “choice,” but with a living, breathing newborn outside the womb.
Newborns should not be killed or deliberately neglected because of the circumstances of their birth. Protecting them would in no way regulate or restrict abortion but it could save a newborn child’s life.
What should be done with the children who survive a failed late-term abortion?
The same thing that should be done for any newborn child: provide immediate medical care, comfort, and protection. No baby born alive should ever be left to die.
From there, the child’s future could follow the same pathways available to any vulnerable newborn in Canada:
- Medical care: Stabilize and treat the child just as doctors would for any premature or medically fragile baby.
- Safe surrender: In Alberta, a mother can hand over her newborn at a hospital or to authorities without penalty. The child will be taken into government care and placed in safety.
- Ward of the state: If adoption is not immediately available, Alberta Child and Family Services can assume guardianship to ensure the child’s protection.
- Adoption: There are hundreds of pre-approved couples waiting to adopt, yet in Alberta fewer than 100 newborns are placed for adoption each year—even as babies born alive after failed late-term abortions are left to die.
Care first, always. These babies are not disposable—they are children, and they deserve the same protection, recognition, and dignity as every other child.
How can a province act without federal law?
Under Canadian criminal law (s.223), any infant born alive, under any circumstance, is a legal person with the right to medical care.
A live-born child is, in law, a person – and their medical care is the duty of the provincial health system.
Alberta already decides which procedures are publicly funded, what clinical standards of care apply, and how live births must be treated across the province.
Your humanity isn’t determined by the location of your delivery room – and neither should the care your receive. That means updating AHS policies that currently allow these infants to be left without active care.
Living, breathing human beings outside the womb deserve care, not abandonment.
Why hasn’t Danielle Smith done anything?
Support for this policy revision should be common sense and bipartisan.
In 2000, as a columnist for the Calgary Herald, Danielle Smith exposed the horror of babies being born alive after failed abortions and left to die – a “horrific practice,” in her own words. Today, as Premier of Alberta, she is in a position not just to write about this injustice – but to end it.
For 25 years since she first condemned this practice, she has not acted to end the abandonment of newborns in Alberta hospitals. Every day adds to 25 years of silence since the article was published. Her silence—and that of her government—sustains the policy.
It is time for Premier Smith to act by directing AHS to end this practice and guarantee that every child born alive in Alberta receives care, not abandonment.
Your voice can make the difference. Be a voice for the voiceless. Advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. Contact your MLA today and demand that Alberta end the policy of abandoning babies born alive. Tell them every child deserves a chance at life.
Calgary Herald Article: Danielle-
What specific AHS policies need to be updated to stop infants from being left without care?
Two existing AHS policies urgently require revision because they permit, in writing, the non-resuscitation or non-intervention of infants born alive:
1. AHS Policy PS-92 – “Termination of Pregnancy” (Section 6.4)
CURRENT PROBLEM:
- The policy explicitly allows a Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) order to be put in place “in anticipation of a possible live birth.”
- This means a child can be pre-emptively denied care before they exist outside the womb, based solely on the expectation that they might be born alive.
RECOMMENDED UPDATE:
- Remove all anticipatory DNR language.
- Replace with: “Any infant born with signs of life must receive immediate assessment and appropriate medical care.“
- Clarify that DNR decisions must be medically justified, based solely on the infant’s own clinical interests – not parental intent or on the fact that an abortion was sought.
2. AHS Policy HCS-183-01 – “Assessment of At-Risk or Actual Preterm Labour” (Section 6.5)
CURRENT PROBLEM:
- The policy recommends a blanket “non-interventional approach” for infants below a certain gestational threshold.
- This creates a universal non-care standard that can be applied to infants who are born alive, breathing, and legally protected under Canadian law.
RECOMMENDED UPDATE:
- Remove any clause considering non-intervention solely due to gestational age.
- Mandate an automatic neonatal assessment for any infant born with signs of life, regardless of gestational age or the circumstances of delivery.
- Provide active care unless medically futile, documented by a physician.
