In modern Australia “Today at the public inquiry in the Queensland parliament into the Termination of Pregnancy (Live Births) Amendment Bill 2024 introduced by MP Robbie Katter, a courageous midwife, Lou Adsett gave harrowing oral evidence of her experience of babies born alive and left to die at her hospital. There is evidence of increasing numbers of live births following abortion at both pre- and post-viable gestations in Queensland. In 2018, the year before abortion up to birth was legalised in Queensland, there were 28 babies born alive and left to die and in 2022 this had grown to 49 babies in this plight. In fact, between 2019 and 2022 there were 179 babies born alive in Queensland hospitals and left to die without a legal right to care. The Bill does not seek to prevent an abortion from happening. It merely provides a right to equal protection for all babies born alive in Queensland, irrespective of the circumstances of their birth. This means that if a live birth occurs after an abortion, the baby would be provided with either life-saving treatment or palliative care, whichever is the most appropriate given the clinical circumstances. We are fighting for birth equality: the simple notion that every child born in Australia deserves an equal right to medical care and the protection of the law.”