Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday that a bill introduced in the House of Delegates that would allow “abortion” even during childbirth itself would permit an “infant” to be “delivered” and “resuscitated, if that’s what the mother and the family desired,” until the physicians and mother discuss what to do.

Northam, a Democrat, was elected governor of Virginia in 2018. He is a pediatric neurologist.

In an interview with WTOP-FM on Wednesday, he said the firestorm created by a bill introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates that would allow “abortions” even while the mother is dilating “was really blown out of proportion.”

“When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physician—more than one physician, by the way—and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities,” Northam said. “There may be a fetus that’s non-viable.”

Northam’s response, however, is inconsistent with the actual language of the legislation. HB 2491 specifically eliminates the requirement of more than one physician’s “consent”:

The bill eliminates the requirement that two other physicians certify that a third trimester abortion is necessary to prevent the woman’s death or impairment of her mental or physical health, as well as the need to find that any such impairment to the woman’s health would be substantial and irremediable.

Additionally, research does not support the common pro-abortion rights narrative that late-term abortions are performed primarily in cases of “severe deformities” or when the unborn baby is determined “non-viable.”

A study released in 2013 by the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute, found women seeking both first-trimester and late-term abortions provided the same reasons for delaying their abortions, including “not knowing about the pregnancy,” “trouble deciding about the abortion,” and “disagreeing about the abortion with the man involved.”

For women in the late-term abortion group, the most commonly cited reason for delaying the procedure was ‘raising money for the procedure and related costs.’”

Northam continued:

If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. 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. So, I think this was really blown out of proportion. We want the government not to be involved in these types of decisions.

Democrat Delegate Kathy Tran introduced the bill, dubbed the Repeal Act, fashioned after New York’s Reproductive Health Act legislation – signed into law by Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo – that also permits abortion until the moment of birth.

Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), told Breitbart News such legislation is “undeniably infanticide.”

“It is much safer for the mother to deliver an intact baby than to be instrumented to tear the baby apart or otherwise kill it,” Orient explained, adding:

As for mental health, what case can be made, either by logic or long-term follow-up studies, that a mother that has condemned her helpless son or daughter to gruesome death is happier than one who gave a child a chance to live? Has anyone checked with old people dying alone who might have had a son or daughter or grandchildren to love them?

“There are health reasons for early delivery, but there are NO health reasons to deliver the baby dead rather than alive,” she said. “Late-term abortions involve dilating the cervix and inducing labor. Once a viable baby emerges, it can immediately be placed in the arms of adoptive parents, who may have been waiting for years.”

Dr. Donna Harrison, executive director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) also told Breitbart News, “Human beings killed in utero at 20-weeks gestation and later could have survived outside of their mother’s womb.”

“Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights have introduced laws in many states to not only enshrine abortion state by state, but also to eliminate the ability of medical professionals to practice according to the Hippocratic oath,” Harrison added. “The Hippocratic oath specifically forbids a doctor from performing or referring for abortion or euthanasia.”

Update: Gov. Northam’s office issued a clarification late Wednesday suggesting that he was not talking about killing infants in general:

The clarification also claimed: “Republicans in Virginia and across the country are trying to play politics with women’s health.”