Pro-life advocates hold rally after baby left to die following failed abortion

(Pregnancy Help News) A pro-life rally in response to a baby reportedly left to die after a failed abortion drew thousands in Queensland, Australia, last week, according to organizers.

“Last night thousands rallied in Brisbane in memory of baby Samuel,” South Australian pro-life advocate Joanna Howe posted on social media. “We will stand in the gap for him and fight for him and every baby.”

The image of baby Samuel went viral after Howe posted it Feb. 3, along with details about his situation.

“This is baby Samuel,” she said. “Born alive after an abortion at 16 weeks, he sucked his thumb in the Butterfly Room at a QLD hospital. He lived for over 30 minutes. He was perfectly healthy prior to his abortion.”

Howe went on to explain that babies who survive abortion in Queensland have no right to equal treatment and care under the law.

“He was left to die,” she said of Samuel. “No-one picked him up, wrapped him or gave him any medical care to alleviate his pain and suffering.”

But the tragedy of an abortion survivor left to die wasn’t the only matter prompting the Feb. 9 rally. Freedom of speech was at issue as well.

“Thousands gathered yesterday to demand the freedom to discuss abortion in Queensland, moved by the story of baby Samuel, a fully formed little baby lost to late-term abortion,” the Australian Christian Lobby posted. The group was among the handful of organizations along with Howe that organized the Feb. 9 “Public Gathering for Queensland Babies” at Queensland Parliament House in Brisbane.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli had banned discussion of abortion in state parliament for four years in December 2024. AMember of Queensland Parliament brought a motion to overturn the ban on speech concerning abortion Feb. 10 but was unsuccessful.

“We cannot stay silent” the Australian Christian Lobby post said. “Now is the time to stand, speak, and defend the unborn.”

Howe said in her initial post that the photo of Samuel was given to her by a hospital worker who had been called to look at him by others who were watching him as he sucked his thumb after his abortion. She spoke then and later about efforts to suppress the image of Samuel online.

“Already it is being censored online, and pro-abortion activists are seeking to identify the brave whistleblower who risked their career to give us this photo,” she said Feb. 3.

Howe made subsequent posts about government attempts to push Meta to censor images of Samuel online.

Howe, said in of one her posts about Samuel that between 40 and 50 babies survive their abortion in Queensland and are left to die.

The same MP who had put forward a motion to reverse the ban on discussion of abortion in Queensland Parliament, Robbie Katter, had introduced a bill to protect children born alive after abortions in March 2024, but it stalled in committee in September of that year.

Abortion is legal in Queensland up to 22 weeks under the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018.

Katter’s Termination of Pregnancy (Live Births) Amendment Bill 2024 would amend the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018 to mandate that medical providers give necessary care to children born alive following an abortion and reinforce their legal status and rights to care.