An Eye-Opening Discovery

I came across a blog post on Facebook the other day. The title caught my attention because of our journey with Layla. I read the post and have been thinking about it for days. I know that I share my opinion often on this blog. I am shocked at the number of people who read this. I don't expect you all the believe in the same things that I do, but something about my openness & honesty or just plain curiosity is intriguing to you. With that being said, I'm going to share my opinion again.

The topic of abortion is heavily debated in today's culture. I don't typically share my opinions on this and I am not a fan of the people who protest at clinics and all that stuff. I don't want to get into a deep discussion with anyone about this. This is merely my take on this particular story that I read. I hope you find that it challenges your thinking and maybe even pushes you to do something about it.

I don't want to share the blog that I read. There is only one post on it. It is a women's story about her pregnancy. The summary is that she had a 21 week ultrasound for her second child. They received a diagnosis that the baby's limbs were short, he had fluid in his brain, and his rib cage was too tiny for lungs to expand. She was given the option to carry the baby, with the prognosis that he would not survive past birth or terminate the pregnancy. She chose to terminate. Hospitals don't allow late-term abortions, so she had it done at a clinic in Chicago. There are more details that are just horrifying and I don't care to share them. Basically, something went wrong during the procedure after they had taken the baby. She was rushed to a hospital and because of the mistake that was made, lost her uterus. Her blog post was written as a speech to Planned Parenthood to plead for them to allow late-term abortions to avoid what happened to her.

She ends her post by saying "No one should have to suffer while trying to do what's right for their children."

I was shocked after I read this. I had to take a few days to process it. So, please bare with me while I try to explain my thoughts.

If you don't know our journey with Layla, please read this post for an overview of the initial diagnosis. It is very similar to what this lady was told. Layla's limbs were short, her chest cavity was too small, there was swelling around her head. We were told it was a lethal skeletal dysplasia. In fact, this lady's baby was diagnosed with a dysplasia in the same category of Layla's. It was listed in our possible diagnoses in the beginning. I looked up her baby's diagnosis. There are 6 people who have lived with it. If you look up Layla's, there are zero.

I know you can see these similarities in our stories. But, there is one major difference. I had my baby. I let my baby live for 34 weeks inside of me. I held and kissed my baby. My daughter met her sister. My family held my baby. My baby made a difference in people's lives and she still is.

This lady is looking for sympathy for what she did. She wants people to feel bad for her. Because she aborted her baby at 21 weeks. And because of that, she lost her uterus. The last sentence in her post says, "No one should have to suffer while trying to do what's right for their children."

What a selfish statement. She is saying that you shouldn't have to suffer for nine months knowing that your child will die. She is saying that it was right and better for her child to not be born. Life shouldn't be hard, right?

Clearly, we have differing opinions on this.

It's ironic that a cell found on Mars is considered life, but an unborn child on Earth is not. I believe this is because there is no expectation of 'life' on Mars. On Earth, one's life is expected to be a certain way. There should not be down's syndrome, or deformities, or chromosomal abnormalities, or skeletal dysplasia's. And, to some people, if the life inside of them will not meet these expectations, they don't keep it.

Until I read this post, I was ignorant about abortion. For me, termination was not even an option. I was shocked to read a story of someone in the same situation as me, who chose the opposite. I don't want to be a crazy "pro-life" person. However, I didn't know that someone had to suggest "keep your baby". Keep your baby, even if the doctors say it won't live. Keep your baby, even though it will be hard. Keep your baby for so many reasons.

I feel like it should be assumed. Like people should instinctively say, "I'm keeping my baby". Little did I know, people make the other choice.