The heartrending story of a woman who had to decide to terminate a very-much-wanted pregnancy rather than wait as her baby slowly died in the womb:
I look back, and try to think about what caused the congenital defects, how I could have prevented them. But taking more vitamins was not going to prevent the defects, or the termination. We were just part of that unlucky 1%. I joined many online support groups, and met women who did not have an ‘easy’ option. They had to go out of state, make travel arrangements, financial arrangements. Arrangements for their families and their work. I was a lucky one, with choices and the means available. Given the process took nearly a week, if we had our original Big Ultrasound one week later, I may not have been able to terminate. Because some politicians in our state had decided that no matter the circumstances, my own, personal circumstances, if it was any later in the pregnancy they had decided that my family and I could not make our own decision with input from my own doctors….
….you really do have to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before you know what they are going through. Offer compassion before judgment. Instead, regarding terminations, some people say that you must endure, even if you have been raped. Or if your partner is abusive. Or your life is in danger (mentally or physically). Or your much-wanted baby is dying. You must continue to be a living coffin. You must listen to the heartbeat that you have already listened to every month. You must look at your fetus that you tried so hard for, that you wanted, that you were excited about, that you told the whole world about, before you go through with the already impossible decision to try to save your own sanity, and your own life. If I had carried that fetus to some sort of induced birth, I would not have my beautiful child today. I can not imagine the absolute mental anguish that I would have gone through for another month, two months, 4 months. I would have not been able to imagine a happy and successful pregnancy and birth. Ever.
[emphasis added by me]
Continuing her pregnancy would not have allowed her baby to live. Instead, she would have had to wait, through mental and physical torture, until her fetus finally died in utero. Is that really in the best interests of women, children, and families?
This is one reason we must keep abortion safe and legal. Thankfully for her, it was also accessible. My best wishes for her and her family.
joinhandsus 