Abortion survivors to Democrats: We are people, and we have a right to live

Monday morning on "Fox & Friends," a panel of three abortion survivors weighed in on the debate surrounding the legalization of late-term abortion in New Yorkand similar bills being put forward in Virginia and other states.

Melissa Ohden, founder of the Abortion Survivors Network, Josiah Presley, and Claire Culwell were each adopted and shared their stories of learning they had survived an attempted abortion.

The panel was asked about Virginia Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam's comments suggesting that a mother and her abortionist will have a "discussion" about what to do with a child that survives an abortion attempt and is delivered alive.

"It's really sad to hear that, but it's not surprising to hear that when we live in a country that has arbitrary criteria for what defines personhood," Presley said. "Abortion's legal in the first trimester, the second trimester, I mean, the next step is why not the third trimester? Why not right after they're born?"

Asked about New York Democrats cheering the legalization of late-term abortions, Culwell, whose mother attempted to have an abortion at five months and later learned that only one of her twins was killed, called the Democrats' applause "shocking."

"It's shocking to me that people no longer in our country care about what is true and right," Culwell said. "We know that a baby is what is inside of the mother's womb based on medical technology and science, and so we just hope that because people can see our faces and see that we are people, we are human, we do grow up to be someone someday, that people will realize that those women do not speak for women like me."

"This is a human rights issue," Ohden said. "In a world that decries women's rights, where were Claire's rights? Where were mine? Where are the rights of those little girls that are going to have their lives ended by abortion today?"

"Without the right to life, there is no other right that comes," she added.

Last week, Senate Democrats blocked a bill sponsored by Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., that would protect infants born alive after an attempted abortion. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act requires that a child delivered alive after an attempted abortion be given medical care, essentially banning the infanticide of children who survive abortions so that they can grow up to live their own lives.

There are no rational grounds to oppose that legislation, and the stories told on "Fox & Friends" today re-emphasize the need for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to move forward with a vote on Sasse's bill to put Democrats on record on infanticide.

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