Posted on 01/11/2024 11:35:02 AM PST by Morgana
(LifeSiteNews) — While mainstream media continues to promote the so-called “necessity” of abortion access for women expecting babies with severe disabilities, parents who have lost children to such conditions are speaking out about how they “don’t regret” choosing life in the face of death.
The inspiring testimony of parents whose babies have died from Trisomy syndromes was sparked by a Texas woman seeking an exception for the state’s near-total abortion ban due to her 20-week-old child being diagnosed with Trisomy 18 (Edwards’ syndrome). The condition causes delayed development of the unborn baby and, if the child survives through birth, severe disability that often leads to death within the first few years of life.
Kate Cox filed a lawsuit against the state and was granted a temporary block on the law that prohibits elective abortion unless deemed “medically necessary” to save the mother’s life. The next day, the Texas Supreme Court blocked the order. Shortly after, it was announced that the 31-year-old Cox planned to seek an abortion out of state.
While mainstream media and abortion advocates are using Cox’s tragic situation as a case for abortion access, pro-life parents who have chosen life for disabled children and later lost them are countering the pro-abortion argument with testimonies of how the short time with their babies was “worth every minute.”
During a December 13 interview with Catholic Family News editor-in-chief Brian McCall, Claudia Linton shared the story of her daughter, Josephine, who was diagnosed with Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome) at 20 weeks. Her parents refused to abort and embraced the nearly four years they had with her before she died.
“It was very surreal,” Linton said about the diagnosis. “It didn’t really sink in initially. The thing I heard the loudest when they [doctors] were reading off this list of problems was that she would have cleft lip and palate because that can be a little bit frightening, to see something like that.”
“She had cleft lip and palate, congenital heart disease, she had a very mild form of epilepsy, she had cataracts and club feet and all sorts of things.”
When meeting with a consultant after the diagnosis, Linton explained that she and her husband “were going to have the baby” and that it “wasn’t a question” if they would consider aborting. Even though the doctor was “very insistent” about informing about abortion, they remained firm in their resolve to choose life.
Linton described how difficult it was to reconcile the probability that her daughter would die young and be severely disabled with the reality that “she was so active in my womb.” Baby Josephine “was having a great time,” according to her mother, but the medical professionals “were very dismissive that there was something living in there.”
“It was all about my care and how they were going to take care of me and there was no consideration of the baby,” which she said was “very frustrating.” During their journey, Linton explained that her family received “lots of support” from pro-life doctors for which she considered them “very lucky.”
“She was amazing, and she touched everyone, anyone who came in contact with her,” Linton recalled. Even though doctors said she wouldn’t “have any recognition” or “be able to communicate,” her family was thrilled that “it was the complete opposite.” Josephine would “reach her arms out and get you close enough to her [so] she’d be kissing your face” and loved to laugh and play with her older sister, who “adored her.” The “huge effect” of the little girl’s life was evident at her funeral when “the church was full.”
“When you’ve got the unknown aspect there, it is very frightening,” Linton empathized with Cox and other parents facing similar diagnoses. “You’re scared of what you don’t know. But once you’re in the middle of it, it just becomes your new norm and it’s not scary at all because you just get on with it… It’s not a chore at all, it’s just life.”
Josephine died on the Feast of the Ascension — a “great comfort” to her mother — just six days after the fourth Linton child was born. Her mother explained that parents who choose life for disabled babies “never, ever regret that,” emphasizing that “their lives are so short and so precious and they’re worth every minute.”
She also encouraged parents facing similar situations that there is “a huge amount of help” for disabled children and supporting their families.
On December 12, Tim Jackson shared a public message to Cox urging her to reconsider her plan to abort her baby. Jackson explained that he and his wife lost a son named John Michael after 37 weeks of development. He also had Trisomy 18, but his father expressed that he doesn’t “at all regret for a second” their decision to choose life, no matter how short that life may be.
“I’m sending this today, posting it on social media, because I have no other way of contacting you, and I hope you’ll see this before you go through with the abortion,” Jackson said. “I know how difficult it can be, contemplating the fact that your child might not live for long after birth or pass away during birth or pass away before.”
Jackson encouraged Cox to “reconsider” aborting her child because of what could be the most “meaningful moments of your life that you can have with your child.” If her baby is born alive, he pointed out, “you might get to hold a child of your own that you’re the mother to and make memories with that baby that will last a lifetime and beyond.”
“I’m sending this message because I really don’t want you to miss out on the opportunity that lies before you, of being able to hold your own baby,” Jackson said. “Our [son] was born in a hospital here in Brazil and the moment I got to hold that child, just after he had been born, is a moment I’ll never forget.”
“I don’t regret for a moment the fact that we carried the baby for as long as he lived, despite the fact that we met lots of doctors who were telling us to have an abortion.”
Amazing that some parents find joy in a child while others seek to kill the same one at a moments notice.
A good friend had a Down Syndrome daughter: The sweetest, happiest kid I’ve ever known. My friend refused to terminate her pregnancy; she refused to give up her child to adoption.
She said her sweet little girl was a gift from God. And she was right.
I’ve read stories where a couple would have a down syndrome child then go adopt another one with downs just because the first one was such a joy.
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