Once again, the doctors were wrong

As someone who is pro-life, I have been asked before what I would do if I found out that the baby my wife was carrying was badly deformed or stood no chance of surviving if he or she were allowed to be born. Would I choose a "medical" abortion and terminate a life that would not be considered by most to be viable? My answer has always been "No!" and I have just read an article (link) that reinforces my feeling on this.

A woman in England was informed at 20 weeks that one of the twins she was carrying had an enlarged heart and was way behind in his development compared to the other fetus. Take a look at her story:

At her 20-week scan, doctors had some devastating news. One of the boys was half the size of his brother.

Then doctors said his heart was three times normal size and it was likely he would have a heart attack or a stroke in the womb.

Mrs Jones said: "They told us that if he died, it could be life threatening for his brother.

"We had to decide whether to end his life and let his brother live, or risk them both."

They said it would be impossible to keep him alive afterwards as he was so poorly.

It would be kinder to let him die in the womb with his brother by his side than to die alone after being born.

"That made my mind up for me. I wanted the best thing for him."

At Birmingham Women's Hospital, when Mrs Jones was 25 weeks pregnant, doctors tried to sever Gabriel's umbilical cord to cut off his blood supply and allow him to die.

But the cord was too thick, and they could not cut through it.

As a last resort they divided Mrs Jones's placenta so that when Gabriel died, it would allow Ieuan to survive. Mrs Jones said: "I put my hands on my stomach thinking of Gabriel. It was devastating. I had said my goodbyes."

But the next morning Mrs Jones felt Gabriel kicking. A scan showed his heart was still beating. She said: "No one could quite believe it."

Gabriel hung on, and his enlarged heart started to reduce in size. He also gained weight.

Mrs Jones said: "They thought it may be because the placenta had been divided. Inadvertently, it had evened out the distribution of nutrition between them, allowing Gabriel to survive.'

When Mrs Jones reached 31 weeks doctors carried out a caesarian to deliver the twins. Ieuan weighed 3lb 8oz and Gabriel 1lb 15oz. Both were kept in hospital, but since going home they have thrived. At seven months, Ieuan weighs 15lb and Gabriel 12lb 6oz.

Isn't that amazing? This procedure that was meant to terminate the baby's life "backfired" on itself and now the little boy is a healthy 7-month-old. Those in the medical community would probably attest that if it were not for the doctor's attempts to terminate the child's life then he would not have survived at all, but the irony in all of that is just astounding.

We aren't the arbiter's of life and we can no more give it than take it away. That is God's doing. My wife is carrying our 4th child right now and there is nothing that a doctor could do or say that would cause me to interrupt the divine process that God has created within her womb. And even if we did decide to intervene, I believe all the more now that God can trump any card that I lay on the table.