Posts distort former Virginia governor’s comments on third trimester abortions

CLAIM: A video shows Virginia Governor Ralph Northam during a 2019 radio interview speaking in support of infanticide, or “after-birth abortions.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Northam was giving a hypothetical example of what could happen if a mother whose fetus had severe deformities, or wasn’t otherwise viable, requested an abortion while in labor. His comments came in response to a question about whether he supported state legislation that would have loosened restrictions on abortions later in pregnancy. Experts told The Associated Press that abortions in the third trimester are extremely rare.

THE FACTS: Social media users are misrepresenting years old comments Northam made about abortion in Virginia on WTOP, a news radio station serving the Washington Metropolitan area.

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Northam says in a video from the 2019 interview being shared online. “The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”