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In reply to the discussion: I'm not a big fan of abortion, but... [View all]VA_Jill
(10,008 posts)Perhaps the OP has never had to make the decision someone I am close to had to make some years ago when her ultrasound showed a life-threatening congenital defect in the fetus she was carrying. It was the kind of defect that, if the pregnancy were carried to term and the child survived more than a few days, would have meant a short lifetime full of pain and most likely multiple surgeries. This person did not feel capable of dealing with that, nor did she feel it would be kind to the child. She made the painful decision to undergo a pre-term induction, which was legal in our state since she was only 18-19 weeks pregnant, and since she was single, she asked me to be her support person. I said yes and two days later we were in the hospital for her procedure. I won't go into it all, but 18 hours after admission a tiny female with the expected horrendous birth defect was delivered. It was pronounced by the doctor "the worst of its kind" he'd ever seen, a myelomeningeocele (spina bifida) so high that the baby, had she been born at term, may never have breathed on her own. Clubbed feet and twisted legs. Only her tiny face was perfect. She never breathed. She was whisked away to another room. Mom was semi-conscious due to a morphine drip she was on, but she had previously asked me to baptize the child, so I asked a nurse for some water and went to the room where she was and did as mom asked. The nurses had wrapped the tiny morsel in a blanket and they took pictures for mom, asked her later if she wanted them. She did, but didn't want to look at them then and not for months. She gave them to me to keep for her.
That was not murder. That was mercy. I hope I am safe telling this here. (I have permission.)