REPORT: 17 Alberta babies born alive after botched abortions in 2025

Richard Dur, the executive director of Prolife Alberta, recently wrote an op-ed in which he shared the shocking statistic that 17 babies were born alive following botched abortions in the province of Alberta, Canada, in 2025.

According to Dur, none of those babies received medical treatment following their births; instead, all were left to die.

Key Takeaways:

• Reports reveal that 17 babies were born alive following botched abortions in Alberta in 2025.

• According to Prolife Alberta, those babies were all left to die.

• Canadian law states that any child born alive is required to receive medical care, yet Alberta Health Services policy appears to let parents and doctors decide whether or not a baby will be given treatment.

• Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange has promised to look into the matter.

The Details:

The information shared in Dur's exposé is also found on the website lefttodie.ca, which confirms that the numbers were provided by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, a national agency that compiles information from hospital records.

The website also cites Canadian Criminal law (s.223) which states that "any infant born alive, under any circumstance, is a legal person," and therefore that infant is required to receive medical care through the provincial health system, Alberta Health Services.

However, as Dur notes, Alberta Health Services currently has two policies (PS-92 and HCS-183-01) which permit the non-resuscitation and non-intervention of infants born alive, if the parents and doctors so choose.

One of the policies allows parents to sign a Do-Not-Resuscitate order (DNR) before their child is even born, while the other recommends an approach of "non-intervention" for babies born younger than a certain gestational age.

Zoom Out:

Following Dur's report, Alberta's Health Minister Adriana LaGrange responded with a promise to look into the allegations that laws were not being followed.

“As our laws stand, any child who survives birth is a human being and deserves respect. We are having the Alberta Health Services review their policies and procedures,” she said during comments made at the Alberta Christian Leadership Summit last weekend.

According to Todayville, Prolife Alberta responded that LaGrange's comments were "no small statement," but the group noted that they aren't actually a promise that any changes will be made, saying, "a review announced is not a result delivered.”

This is not the first time Dur has brought attention to infants born alive following abortions. In 2025, he called attention to a shocking report revealing that 133 late-term abortions were committed in the province of Alberta between 2023 and 2024. Of those, 33 children survived.

The Bottom Line:

Every infant born alive after an abortion deserves medical care and treatment, even if doctors think it is unlikely that child will survive. As botched abortions like these cases show, there is little difference between a child inside of the womb or out of it — both are full human beings deserving of the full protection of the law.