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.I hope and pray that you willchoose to open your ears and truly listen.I was born and raised here in.I was raised in thechurch and I was raised a Republican because my family believed insmall government, that had no place in our private lives.I was raisedto be pro-choice for the same reason.I was a straight-A student andathlete throughout school, and I graduated fromUni-versity.I have a gold medal from the State Track Championships andI even attended Girl’s State.In short, I am the girl next door.I amyour daughter, or your granddaughter.I am as all-American as applepie.And I am the face of late-term abortion.In June 2002, on the first anniversary of our marriage, my hus-band and I conceived our first child.We spent the next five monthsattending uneventful doctor’s appointments, debating names, anddecorating the nursery as we watched my belly grow.In November, when I was 22 weeks pregnant, we received newsthat would forever change our lives.A sonogram at the perinatolo-gist’s office revealed that our son, Thomas, had a condition knownas arthrogryposis.The doctor’s face spoke volumes when he re-turned from fetching a medical book to confirm the rare diagnosis.He explained that arthrogryposis was a condition that causes per-manent flexation of the muscle tissue.The condition could becaused by over 200 different diseases and syndromes, with a widearray of severity.He asked for permission to do an immediate amniocentesis, andfor the first time he used the word “termination.” It was then that Ifirst realized the gravity of our situation.My husband and I were shocked and struggled to comprehendwhat we were being told.It would take two weeks to receive the re-sults of the amniocentesis, which might reveal the cause of thearthrogryposis, but we already knew that the prognosis was not good.The Moral Majority Is Us127The ultrasound showed that Thomas had clubbed hands andfeet.His legs were fixed in a bent position and his arms were per-manently flexed straight.He had a cleft palate and swelling onhis skull—a condition that would likely kill him in and of itself.Due to his inability to move, Thomas’s muscles had deterioratedto 25% or their usual size, and his bones to 25% of their usualdensity.My husband and I were sent home to grapple with the news andface an unwelcome decision: Whether or not to continue with thepregnancy.We talked a lot.We met with a genetic counselor, we met withour pastor, we called our parents, and we read the stories of othercouples who’d faced this decision in a book called Precious LivesPainful Choices: A Prenatal Decision-Making Guide.By the time the amnio results came back, we had two days left tomake a decision before hitting the 24 week mark—after which, nodoctor in Texas would terminate a pregnancy.The results were devas-tating.Our son had no chromosomal disorder.There was no expla-nation at all for his condition, and as such, no way to predict thescope of his suffering.We would have to make our decision basedstrictly on what the ultrasound had revealed.My husband and I decided that we would have to use the goldenrule.We would do for Thomas what we would want done for us inthe same situation.We tried to look at the evidence as honestly as we could.Even thebest case scenario was abominable.Thomas would lead a very shortlife of only a few years at the very most.During those years he wouldbe in constant pain from the ceaseless, charley-horse-type cramps thatwould rack his body.He would undergo numerous, largely ineffectivesurgeries, just to stay alive.He would never be able to walk or stand;never grasp anything, never be able to hold himself upright.Hewouldn’t even be able to suck his own thumb for comfort.And this128Soullesswas only if we were lucky.The more likely scenarios tended towardfetal death and serious health complications for me.We made our decision with one day to go and left for Houstonwhere we would end Thomas’s suffering in one quick and painlessmoment.Though we wanted to stay at home,wasno longer an option, as all of the hospitals were religiously backedand there was no time to convene an ethics committee hearing.In Houston, God graced us with some of the most compassion-ate people we’d ever met.The first was our maternal-fetal medicinespecialist, who confirmed that the prognosis was even direr thanoriginally thought.In a procedure very similar to an amniocentesis,Thomas’s heart was stopped with a simple injection.In that moment,as I held my husband’s hand, I met God and handed him my pre-cious boy to care for, for all eternity.Over the next 17 hours I labored to deliver Thomas’s body.Itwas a painful experience, but the only option given to a woman at24 weeks gestation.Thomas Stephenwas born into thisworld just after 6:00 A.M.on November 27, 2002—the day beforeThanksgiving.The loving nurse who’d helped us through labor cleaned hisfragile body and brought him to us.We held our boy for the nexthour as we said goodbye.Our own eyes confirmed what our heartshad already come to know: That Thomas was not meant for thisworld.The hospital’s pastor joined us and we christened Thomas inthe baptism bonnet I’d worn as an infant.Thomas’s life and death have changed our lives in ways we willnever fully comprehend.I know he made me a better mother, a bet-ter friend, and a less judgmental, more compassionate human being.I know he is the reason I have the courage to stand in front of youtoday.Through him, I’ve grown closer to God, who understands whatit is to sacrifice your only begotten son in the name of mercy.The Moral Majority Is Us129During the summer and fall that followed Thomas’s death, myhusband and I lost two more children during first trimester miscar-riages [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.I hope and pray that you willchoose to open your ears and truly listen.I was born and raised here in.I was raised in thechurch and I was raised a Republican because my family believed insmall government, that had no place in our private lives.I was raisedto be pro-choice for the same reason.I was a straight-A student andathlete throughout school, and I graduated fromUni-versity.I have a gold medal from the State Track Championships andI even attended Girl’s State.In short, I am the girl next door.I amyour daughter, or your granddaughter.I am as all-American as applepie.And I am the face of late-term abortion.In June 2002, on the first anniversary of our marriage, my hus-band and I conceived our first child.We spent the next five monthsattending uneventful doctor’s appointments, debating names, anddecorating the nursery as we watched my belly grow.In November, when I was 22 weeks pregnant, we received newsthat would forever change our lives.A sonogram at the perinatolo-gist’s office revealed that our son, Thomas, had a condition knownas arthrogryposis.The doctor’s face spoke volumes when he re-turned from fetching a medical book to confirm the rare diagnosis.He explained that arthrogryposis was a condition that causes per-manent flexation of the muscle tissue.The condition could becaused by over 200 different diseases and syndromes, with a widearray of severity.He asked for permission to do an immediate amniocentesis, andfor the first time he used the word “termination.” It was then that Ifirst realized the gravity of our situation.My husband and I were shocked and struggled to comprehendwhat we were being told.It would take two weeks to receive the re-sults of the amniocentesis, which might reveal the cause of thearthrogryposis, but we already knew that the prognosis was not good.The Moral Majority Is Us127The ultrasound showed that Thomas had clubbed hands andfeet.His legs were fixed in a bent position and his arms were per-manently flexed straight.He had a cleft palate and swelling onhis skull—a condition that would likely kill him in and of itself.Due to his inability to move, Thomas’s muscles had deterioratedto 25% or their usual size, and his bones to 25% of their usualdensity.My husband and I were sent home to grapple with the news andface an unwelcome decision: Whether or not to continue with thepregnancy.We talked a lot.We met with a genetic counselor, we met withour pastor, we called our parents, and we read the stories of othercouples who’d faced this decision in a book called Precious LivesPainful Choices: A Prenatal Decision-Making Guide.By the time the amnio results came back, we had two days left tomake a decision before hitting the 24 week mark—after which, nodoctor in Texas would terminate a pregnancy.The results were devas-tating.Our son had no chromosomal disorder.There was no expla-nation at all for his condition, and as such, no way to predict thescope of his suffering.We would have to make our decision basedstrictly on what the ultrasound had revealed.My husband and I decided that we would have to use the goldenrule.We would do for Thomas what we would want done for us inthe same situation.We tried to look at the evidence as honestly as we could.Even thebest case scenario was abominable.Thomas would lead a very shortlife of only a few years at the very most.During those years he wouldbe in constant pain from the ceaseless, charley-horse-type cramps thatwould rack his body.He would undergo numerous, largely ineffectivesurgeries, just to stay alive.He would never be able to walk or stand;never grasp anything, never be able to hold himself upright.Hewouldn’t even be able to suck his own thumb for comfort.And this128Soullesswas only if we were lucky.The more likely scenarios tended towardfetal death and serious health complications for me.We made our decision with one day to go and left for Houstonwhere we would end Thomas’s suffering in one quick and painlessmoment.Though we wanted to stay at home,wasno longer an option, as all of the hospitals were religiously backedand there was no time to convene an ethics committee hearing.In Houston, God graced us with some of the most compassion-ate people we’d ever met.The first was our maternal-fetal medicinespecialist, who confirmed that the prognosis was even direr thanoriginally thought.In a procedure very similar to an amniocentesis,Thomas’s heart was stopped with a simple injection.In that moment,as I held my husband’s hand, I met God and handed him my pre-cious boy to care for, for all eternity.Over the next 17 hours I labored to deliver Thomas’s body.Itwas a painful experience, but the only option given to a woman at24 weeks gestation.Thomas Stephenwas born into thisworld just after 6:00 A.M.on November 27, 2002—the day beforeThanksgiving.The loving nurse who’d helped us through labor cleaned hisfragile body and brought him to us.We held our boy for the nexthour as we said goodbye.Our own eyes confirmed what our heartshad already come to know: That Thomas was not meant for thisworld.The hospital’s pastor joined us and we christened Thomas inthe baptism bonnet I’d worn as an infant.Thomas’s life and death have changed our lives in ways we willnever fully comprehend.I know he made me a better mother, a bet-ter friend, and a less judgmental, more compassionate human being.I know he is the reason I have the courage to stand in front of youtoday.Through him, I’ve grown closer to God, who understands whatit is to sacrifice your only begotten son in the name of mercy.The Moral Majority Is Us129During the summer and fall that followed Thomas’s death, myhusband and I lost two more children during first trimester miscar-riages [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]