A baby diagnosed with a congenital heart defect will receive surgery to save his life after the surrogate carrying him refused to have an abortion like the biological parents wished.
After the doctor discovered 16 weeks into pregnancy that the baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), the parents asked the surrogate — who requested to remain anonymous — to abort according to WFAA Tuesday. “I was completely in shock. I truly didn’t have the slightest idea that would be asked of me,” she said.
The surrogate told WFAA that the parents had indicated they were against abortions, so when they asked for one she was completely surprised. “This was, of course, a difficult decision, especially because he’s not my baby. I understood how scared the biological parents must have been,” she said, explaining the enduring and complicated battle fought with the biological parents over the unborn baby’s future.
“I did not consider an abortion even if, at that moment, it would have made things a lot easier,” the surrogate said, saying she found incredible joy in motherhood and ached for those struggling with infertility. Her role as a surrogate then, was to care for and protect the life inside her, not to end it she explained.
It is not uncommon for unborn babies with defects of some kind be aborted. As of 2015, France had a 77 percent termination rate and Denmark had a 98 percent termination rate for unborn Down syndrome babies. In the United Kingdom, 90 percent of pregnant women with a positive Down syndrome test receive an abortion, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation. (RELATED: CBS Says Down Syndrome Is Disappearing In Iceland, But Here’s What’s Really Happening)
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