For days, the country has been riveted by the case of death row inmate Christa Pike, who was sentenced to die by lethal injection on September 30 — the first woman in 200 years to be executed in the state of Tennessee. Only Christa didn’t die. For two hours, the team at the prison tried and failed to find a vein, ultimately sending a double dose of the poison into her body, not her bloodstream. The result was catastrophic, but not fatal, and she was rushed to the hospital for “life-saving care,” a shocking twist that’s ignited a global debate about the death penalty. But there’s a much bigger outrage taking place in America than this one botched punishment — and it’s taking countless lives a year.

Pike, who may be the only person in U.S. history to survive two lethal injections, spent several days on a ventilator and woke up Tuesday, extremely confused. Her attorney, Randy Spivey, told CNN, “I was not in the room when she woke up, so I don’t want to speculate too much. Our understanding was the first thing she said was, ‘Where am I and who are you?’” He paused before adding, “There’s still a lot of cognitive confusion, and so I will say that.”

A day earlier, Christa was considered brain dead, and doctors were hours away from removing her from life support. Then, miraculously, she woke up — leaving Tennessee officials with a huge legal mess and public outcry to contend with. “She has wanted to know what’s happened and she’s asked about several people. She’s asked about her team. She’s asked about the victim’s family. I think she is angry and confused about everything,” Spivey shared. Depending on what the state decides, Pike could have a “long road to recovery,” her attorney lamented. “She has a blood clot in one of her arms. She has pneumonia. She is not able to swallow yet, so she has not eaten. She cannot move either of her arms. Both of her arms and hands are tremendously swollen, and we do not know what, if any, function she will regain in her arms,” he told the press.

During a court hearing on Wednesday, Tennessee Assistant Attorney General John Ayers didn’t say whether the state would try to execute Pike again. But we certainly don’t have to guess where the Left comes down on that question, as Democrats and liberal faith leaders fume at the state’s “cruel and unusual punishment.” Helen Prejean, a death penalty opponent best known for her book and movie, “Dead Man Walking,” used the situation as evidence that the practice of execution “is not justice.” “The government is deliberately killing its citizens and masking it as a medical procedure,” she argued, “which the people involved are not trained to do.”

It sounds eerily similar to a practice the Left is all too eager to embrace: abortion. Under this form of government-sanctioned killing, there are hundreds of survivors. And yet, the same blue state leaders who are screaming about Pike’s rights and human dignity are the very ones who refuse to offer medical care when babies live through their own executions — innocent children who’ve committed no crime. 

Amazingly, there’s no sympathy for these tiny victims, no nationwide protest or social media storm. More than 20 states in our country allow abortion until birth, and 15 of them have no laws protecting babies who are born alive after a failed abortion. And the reality for these babies is not only that they’re left to die, but in some cases, “assisted in dying.” 

And while Democrats insist this never happens, remember that even a sitting governor, Virginia’s Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurosurgeon, admitted it, going so far as to explain infanticide as a routine occurrence. “In this particular example, 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.”

But even if he hadn’t pulled back the curtain on this horrifying practice, the number of abortion survivors in this country is so high that they have their own movement, a nationwide network of agonizing stories and supernatural testimonies. It is this group of people, children who barely escaped the womb alive, that the network’s founder, Melissa Ohden, believes “is the most marginalized, silenced population … in our world today.” It’s especially tragic when considering that “the media gets away with … denying our existence when there are not only stories of survivors and the moms who went through it. … But we have research,” she insisted. There’s so much proof, “yet they’re still trying to say this doesn’t happen.” 

Ohden recalled a story of a mom she met years ago who attempted to end her pregnancy. “She was at an abortion clinic in Saint Paul, and that dioxygen shot to the heart did not end her child’s life,” which was discovered through an ultrasound. But “the abortion clinic staff said, ‘In circumstances like this, we would break the baby’s neck.’” 

“This is the reality that people need to face,” Melissa underscored, “and we need to do something with it.” 

Democrats, meanwhile, vehemently oppose giving innocent children the same medical attention they want Christa Pike to have. When Republicans have introduced multiple pieces of legislation to mandate that babies who survive abortions receive life-saving care, Senator Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) party has stood solidly on the side of legal infanticide. As recently as last year, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the effort to end it “Republicans’ latest attack on women’s reproductive freedoms.” “Offensive” even. 

Incredibly, every single Democratic senator voted no to giving newborn survivors medical care in 2025. In fact, all but one Democrat in the entire Congress — Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) — refused to agree that a child crying on the table deserves to live. 

Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) could barely contain his emotion after one of these votes. “This is literally if an abortion is carried out. But the abortion, instead of destroying the child in the womb, the child is actually delivered. What do you do in that case where a child is actually delivered? They’re literally crying and breathing on the table in front of you. Now you have a fully delivered child in front of you. Do they get medical care or not? This seems like a no-brainer.” And yet, “painfully,” he continued, “Democrats said no. … I think that’s abhorrent.” 

What Christa Pike endured is unfortunate. She’s a human being too. But then, so was her victim, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, who she beat to death so violently that a Tennessee Grounds Department employee thought she was the carcass of a ravaged animal. Begging for mercy, Colleen suffered a box cutter through the stomach, kicks to her face, and a rock to her skull, until her throat was ultimately slit. So you can understand why some Tennessee residents are shocked by the outpouring of sympathy for the woman responsible.

“We have paid for Christa Pike, and now we’re paying for attorneys, and now we’re paying for hospital bills, and now they’re talking about lawsuits,” Michelle Nowell, a local woman, told CNN. “And the worst part is that Colleen has been forgotten. Colleen is the one that knew cruel and unusual punishment,” she said solemnly.

None of this excuses what happened to her murderer. But let’s not kid ourselves about the double standard. Too many people who are appalled by this story are willing to grant Christa what they would never give newborn survivors: a reprieve.