# Has anyone ever survived an abortion? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 14, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006 "2006-01-14T22:50:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/41 "2006-01-16T04:56:22Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I did and NOT to make this political, but I only got very hardcore anti-choice sites. Well, using a term like “anti-choice” automatically makes it political. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/42 "2006-01-16T05:47:23Z")
Well, sorry 'bout that. Let’s just say some very hardcore anti-abortion sites, or pro-life, or whatever the preferred term was. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/43 "2006-01-16T05:49:20Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > How do you feel about people who survive drowning? > [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Surprised. Why? Drowning is the inhilation or draining of water into the lungs - **NOT** the death from the same. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/44 "2006-01-16T06:10:45Z")
> [@SaintCad](#): > > Why? Drowning is the inhilation or draining of water into the lungs - **NOT** the death from the same. [Yes, it is](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drowning). If you survive, it’s merely a _near_ drowning. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/45 "2006-01-16T07:48:00Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > Given Colibri and Walloon’s posts, it seems in order to be counted the person has to die. And in some cases, people may die and then be resuscitated - So i’d count that as an actual drowning. It doesn’t say in the definition death has to be _permanent_. No, to die, medically and legally, you must be brain dead. Your heart stopping and having your chest pounded upon, isn’t considered “dying.” No one has ever been rescued from brain death. Resuscitation is simple part of on-going treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/46 "2006-01-16T07:56:29Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > No, to die, medically and legally, you must be brain dead. Your heart stopping and having your chest pounded upon, isn’t considered “dying.” > No one has ever been rescued from brain death. > Resuscitation is simple part of on-going treatment. Ah, ok. My ignorance has been fought. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/47 "2006-01-16T08:12:55Z")
So to qualify, you’d have to be not resuscitated but resurrected, right? (The medical forms never ask if you want to be resurrected.) ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/48 "2006-01-16T12:34:54Z")
Before the advent of Mifepristone (RU-486), late term (past 15 weeks or so) therapeutic abortions were sometimes performed by caesarean. Which was carried out just like a term c-section, but the baby wasn’t resuscitated if it showed signs of life. Now most terminations after 24 weeks (about the limit of viability) are medical rather than surgical, mifepristone is used to terminate the pregnancy and 48 hours later or so drugs are given which cause the uterus to contract and the foetus to be delivered. A very early first trimester suction termination of pregnancy will occasionally miss the pregnancy sac, and the pregnancy may contine. The majority of these women will repeat the procedure, some will, of course, choose not to. 5% of first trimester medical (Mifepristone) terminations are unsuccessful, and again the majority of women affected will choose to repeat the procedure (usually surgically). Some will, of course, choose not to, but there is a real risk of serious damage to the foetus from the mifepristone. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/49 "2006-01-16T17:15:21Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > During the congressional meetings regarding late term, partial birth abortions, at least two nurses testified that they had been present when a fetus “slipped out” still alive. It’s theoretically possible, but they were certainly not presenting unbiased testimony. Doesn’t a partial-birth abortion sometimes mean having the head come out and then some sort of procedure done to the brain? Isn’t it possible that with the head out, the rest of the body would slip out easily? I know they aren’t done very often but it certainly seems like this slipping could happen. Is the baby then considered living outside of the womb and not able to be killed? Also, is there any truth to the TV show representation of a disabled person suing for wrongful life, the premise being that the parents could have known of the disability through pre-natal testing and chosen abortion rather than the resulting suffering (the opposite of the woman mentioned who prefers to be alive and disabled)? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/50 "2006-01-16T17:30:54Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Doesn’t a partial-birth abortion sometimes mean having the head come out and then some sort of procedure done to the brain? Isn’t it possible that with the head out, the rest of the body would slip out easily? I know they aren’t done very often but it certainly seems like this slipping could happen. Is the baby then considered living outside of the womb and not able to be killed? The way it’s reported on the websites I could find was that at least sometimes, the baby was killed or left to die on its own. I’m afraid this is now straying far from GQ, however, as there are lots of factual errors on the same websites. I do not know where to find the original congressional testimony, perhaps someone else can find out. It was, in particular, the phrase “right to a dead baby” which stuck in my head from those hearings, and which I googled to confirm my memory. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/51 "2006-01-16T18:54:08Z")
If we accept the general, non-medical definition of abortion as being the artificial termination of any operation or state prior to that state’s natural completion, then even inducing a premature birth to save a baby’s life can be called an abortion. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/52 "2006-01-16T18:59:17Z")
> [@StewieGriffin420](#): > > Has there ever been a case where a baby survived an abortion? Yes, I did. …and I still have a few trust-issues with mom. ---
**Author:** ![StewieGriffin420](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@StewieGriffin420](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StewieGriffin420)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/53 "2006-01-16T20:27:21Z")
> [@Dr. PoopiePants](#): > > Yes, I did. > …and I still have a few trust-issues with mom. WHhhhhhhhhattt? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/54 "2006-01-18T01:56:20Z")
> [@StewieGriffin420](#): > > WHhhhhhhhhattt? He got her back, though, by leaving a time-bomb in her uterus. Happy fiftieth birthday, Mother… (I trust I won’t have to explain that joke) ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006/55 "2006-01-18T02:13:35Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > No, to die, medically and legally, you must be brain dead. Your heart stopping and having your chest pounded upon, isn’t considered “dying.” > No one has ever been rescued from brain death. > Resuscitation is simple part of on-going treatment. Not necessarily a loaded question - What about people who have “come to life” during their wake? Or “come to life” after being buried or entombed? Does modern science know they weren’t ever brain dead? Sorry (slightly) for the hijack - but I’m curious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-survived-an-abortion/340006.md?page=2)