Abortion Advocates Trying to Censor This Photo of a Baby Who Survived Abortion

Abortion advocates and government officials in Queensland are scrambling to suppress a haunting photograph of a baby boy who survived a botched abortion at 16 weeks, only to be left alone to die while sucking his thumb in a hospital room.

The image, shared by South Australian pro-life activist Dr. Joanna Howe on Instagram, depicts the tiny infant, named Samuel, with his little legs pulled toward his visibly ribbed chest, one hand resting on his bottom and the other pulled up to his face as he appears to console himself in his final moments.

“This is baby Samuel,” Howe wrote in the caption.

“Born alive after an abortion at 16 weeks, he sucked his thumb in the Butterfly Room at a Queensland hospital. He lived for over 30 minutes. He was perfectly healthy prior to his abortion. He was left to die. No one picked him up, wrapped him, or gave him any medical care to alleviate his pain and suffering.”

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The photo, provided to Howe by a whistleblower at Townsville University Hospital, quickly went viral, sparking outrage among pro-life groups who argue it exposes the brutal reality of late-term abortions and the denial of care to born-alive infants.

However, there is a concerted effort to censor the image.

Authorities responded swiftly, launching an investigation into the leak and working to remove the image from social media. The Guardian reported that “Queensland Health, the Queensland government, THHS and others are doing everything they can to get the image removed from social media,” framing the incident as a “serious breach of confidentiality” rather than addressing the baby’s treatment.

The newspaper expressed concern that the “distressing picture of a foetus being called ‘baby Samuel’ is now being used by a broad range of anti-abortion activists,” highlighting how the image has fueled global criticism of abortion practices.

Howe emphasized that Samuel’s case is far from unique.

“It happened to 50 Queensland babies in 2022 who survived their abortion and were left to die,” she said.

She cited another incident at the same hospital involving a baby girl named Amira, who was “injected in the heart with poison at 25 weeks. She suffered a cardiac arrest, going into excruciating pain. Her mother was given labour-inducing drugs and baby Amira was born intact.”

Amira, who weighed 726 grams—about “the size of a pineapple”—was healthy, as was her mother, but the child was born dead following the procedure, described as a “social termination.”

“The world needs to see baby Samuel’s face and hear Amira’s story,” Howe told the Guardian. “When we choose to look away from the victims of genocide, the violence continues.”

Australian politician Lyle Shelton, national director of the Family First Party, addressed the distress caused by the image directly: “Yes, of course. The killing of unborn babies is very distressing.”

Similar accounts have emerged elsewhere. A healthcare student in New Zealand, who witnessed a healthy baby left gasping for breath for two hours after surviving an abortion, said: “We wouldn’t do that to an animal. I was horrified.”

In Canada, Ireland, the United States and the U.K., documented cases show hundreds of babies born alive after abortions and denied care.

Abortion survivor Melissa Ohden, who runs the Abortion Survivors Network, reported being in contact with seven hundred survivors worldwide as of 2024.

The photo’s release prompted thousands to gather in Brisbane on Feb. 9 for a rally “for Baby Samuel,” demanding justice and reforms to protect born-alive infants.

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