Source: Family First
MEDIA RELEASE – 4 November 2025
Family First says that according to official government data, every month on average an unborn child is surviving an attempted abortion but is not being given life-sustaining treatment.
These shocking numbers may be well underestimated because some districts couldn’t or wouldn’t provide the data.
According to Official Information Act requests to Health New Zealand, it reveals that since the beginning of 2020, approximately 80 attempted abortions have resulted in a child being born alive but not given life-sustaining care. Gestation periods range from 20 – 30 weeks.
Disturbingly, Te Tai Tokerau district said that life-sustaining care is considered only for “wanted babies at 22 weeks + 5 days”. At Waikato, there is “parental discretion to opt in or opt out of resuscitation”. Canterbury have previously advised that the “baby is wrapped in a blanket and held until it passes”.
Some larger districts including Waitemata, Counties Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Capital Coast & Hutt Valley refused to provide the data.
“We are not surprised by this data – but it is still truly shocking. Whether the unborn child is 15, 20, 30 or 40 weeks in the womb, it will naturally be fighting for its life. That is our human instinct. We should be protecting the lives of innocent babies who survive attempted abortions. We should be making abundantly clear that this is an obligation on medical professionals,” says Bob McCoskrie, CEO of Family First NZ.
This shocking data comes at the same time as recent studies reveal that active treatment and survival rates for babies born at 22 weeks and 23 weeks are increasing. Between 2014 and 2023, survival among 22-weekers who received active treatment rose from 25.7% to 41%. Rates of survival rose from 7.4% to 32% for babies born at 22 weeks who did not receive active treatment.
A 2025 study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has revealed that both active medical treatment and the survival rate of babies born as early as 22 weeks are increasing.
In 2020, an amendment to the Abortion Legislation Bill (requiring the care of a child born after an attempted abortion) was only supported by 37 MPs (less than a third). The amendment clarified that a qualified health practitioner who performed an abortion that results in the birth of a child after an attempted abortion has a duty to provide the child with appropriate medical care and treatment, no different than the duty owed to provide medical care and treatment to any other child born.
“The vote against such a provision was actually just confirmation of how extreme and radical Jacinda Ardern’s abortion law was – and the agenda of its supporters.”
At the time of the debate in Parliament, then-Minister of Health & Labour MP Andrew Little said “I would like to see the science about a child being born after an abortion.”
“Here is the evidence. This is not about politics – this is about having a heart,” says Mr McCoskrie.
Based on this disturbing evidence, Family First is calling on the Government to immediately introduce and pass legislation which requires life-sustaining care of any child born alive after an attempted abortion.
Family First is also questioning why this data is being withheld from some districts, and is calling on the Ministry of Health to keep more accurate and transparent information about these occurrences.
