Queensland babies that survive late-term abortions are legally left to die by the doctors and midwives who deliver them.
Traeger MP Robbie Katter introduced the Babies Born Alive Bill earlier this year to protect these newborns under the law.
However, a parliamentary committee recommended that the government reject the bill this week.
Under the current law, health practitioners are not obligated to provide care to unwanted, though otherwise healthy babies.
From 2018 to 2022, 161 Queensland babies past the 20-week mark were abandoned to die after surviving their abortion.
If you include babies born alive after abortion who are younger than 20 weeks, the number of abandonments leading to neonatal deaths expands to more than 200.