UNDERSTANDING YOUR DOCTOR

When you receive an adverse prenatal diagnosis, you may be thrust into a world of confusing words.

What is your doctor thinking?

What does your doctor mean?

What is going to happen to you?

To begin to understand what you may be told, let us begin with what you already know.

PREGNANCY "TERMINATION"

All pregnancies end (or terminate).

We generally think of pregnancy ending (terminating) after nine months and resulting in the birth of a living child. How do these pregnancies end (or terminate)?

+ The woman goes into labor naturally and gives birth to a healthy baby. 

+ For a good reason, a doctor elects to induce labor so that the health of both baby and mother will be protected.

+ For a good reason, a doctor elects to perform a C-section so that the health of both baby and mother will be protected.

Despite the best prenatal care and monitoring of the pregnancy by doctors, sometimes a baby grows in the womb and then unexpectedly dies of natural causes before or during birth. We say that the child is still born.

Sadly some pregnancies end unexpectedly before the normal nine months of pregnancy are over.

+ If something goes wrong and the pregnancy ends naturally early in the pregnancy, the mother suffers a miscarriage or a spontaneous abortion of a very small baby who cannot survive outside the womb. The baby either dies in the womb or dies during or immediately upon delivery.

+ If the woman goes into labor naturally a few weeks or months before her due date, the baby may be born alive but struggling. We call these babies premature. Premature babies need special technological assistance to survive.

ABORTION (PREGNANCY TERMINATION)

Sometimes women elect to end (terminate) a pregnancy early so that they can avoid the birth of a living child. We call these procedures induced birth abortions.

The difference between an induced birth abortion and an induced birth procedure is not in the induction or the birth procedure but in whether or not the induction is intended to cause the death of the baby either during labor or shortly after delivery.  

+ The intention of an induced birth abortion is insure that a baby who is alive in the womb is born dead or dying.

+ The intention of an induced birth procedure is to maximize the chances of producing a baby who has the best possible chance at living. 

Remember this:

+ An induced birth procedure is considered a failure if the baby dies.

BUT

+ An induced birth abortion is considered a failure if the baby lives. 

WHAT IS YOUR DOCTOR SAYING?

In order to understand what your doctor is saying, you need to determine what goal he or she has in mind regarding your unborn baby.

+ Is your doctor suggesting procedures that will keep your baby alive as long as is naturally possible?

OR

+ Is your doctor suggesting or insisting on procedures that will hasten or insure the death of your baby?

Your doctor may never use the word "abortion." Instead, your doctor may use words that you associate with pregnancy. He or she may say, "We will induce labor," and "Your baby will be stillborn." Or "We will terminate the pregnancy," and "You will have a miscarriage."

Note the distinction between natural pregnancy termination and abortion.

+ In natural pregnancy termination (either birth, miscarriage, or still birth), neither the woman nor her doctor do anything to end the pregnancy or kill the baby. The pregnancy ends because labor begins naturally. If the baby dies, it happens naturally. The emphasis is to produce a living baby if at all possible.

+ In abortion pregnancy termination, the doctor will intervene to end a pregnancy before its natural time, with the intention of producing a dead or almost dead baby.

Remember this:

+ An induced birth procedure is considered a failure if the baby dies.

BUT

+ An induced birth abortion is considered a failure if the baby lives. 

PREGNANCY TERMINATION PROCEDURES

+++The physician may use any of several different abortion techniques to dismember the child in the womb before extracting the body. In the cases of adverse prenatal diagnosis, however, this technique is not frequently used because parents do not want to think that they are obtaining an abortion.

To mask what is actually happening and to manipulate the parents into thinking that they are having an induced birth procedure, doctors generally elect to do one of two things.

+++If the child is too small to live outside the womb if born alive, the physician may chemically induce labor. However, in most cases when labor is induced between 18 and 24 weeks of pregnancy, the fragile child is killed by the intensity of the contractions and the birth process.

+++In the later weeks of pregnancy (generally 24 weeks until 40 weeks), two procedures are used. The procedure depends on the age of the baby and whether or not the baby's disability is imminently fatal (that is, the baby has a medically uncorrectable condition that will cause death within minutes, hours, or days).

********If the baby has an imminently fatal disability such as anencephaly, doctors will induce labor and allow parents to cradle the child until the baby, if born alive, dies.

*********However, if the baby has a disability that is non-fatal such as Down syndrome, or not immediately fatal such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the physician will perform a procedure that insures that the baby will be born dead. Generally this is chemical stopping of the baby's heart before labor is induced. The baby will be monitored during the induction and a second injection, and sometimes a third, administered until the heartbeat ends. This is done because if a baby is born alive, the doctors must legally try to save his or her life.

Ask yourself these questions:

+ Do doctors routinely induce labor at 18 to 24 weeks after conception for babies who have no disabilities, when they know that babies born at that stage of gestation will not survive? NO.

+ Do physicians routinely inject babies with chemicals to stop their heartbeats before delivery? NO

These procedures are done only when doctors want to ensure the delivery of a dead baby. Calling these procedures nice sounding names does not change what they are. These are abortion procedures.

Remember this:

+ An induced birth procedure is considered a failure if the baby dies.

BUT

+ An induced birth abortion is considered a failure if the baby lives. 

IMPLYING ONE THING BUT MEANING ANOTHER

A new language has developed around adverse prenatal diagnosis. Most physicians will now tell parents that they will "induce labor early" (or "end the pregnancy early") and that the baby will be "still born" or that the parents will experience a "miscarriage." Parents are encouraged to take photos of the baby, to invite family into the "delivery room," and to conduct baptisms, memorial services, naming rites, and funerals for their children. All of this sounds very much like what would happen if a baby were naturally miscarried or still born. But the difference is that, in cases of adverse prenatal diagnosis, the baby would still be alive if the doctor had not intervened with chemical pregnancy induction or other procedures. The baby's death did not come from the diagnosed condition or any other situation but from the medical procedure.

Parents need to be quite clear about what the doctor is actually proposing. While the doctor may say that the medical team "will bring on an early birth," or that parents "will say good-bye early," they are really saying that a procedure will be performed that will kill the child before the child would have naturally died. The doctors are proposing an abortion, no matter what they call it or how it is done. An abortion intentionally ends a pregnancy to produce a dead child. Isn't that what is happening even if doctors use words like "induction," "early birth," and "still born?"

Do you, as parents, want to abort your baby?

Or do you want to nurture your baby as long as he or she naturally lives? 

Remember this:

+ An induced birth procedure is considered a failure if the baby dies.

BUT

+ An induced birth abortion is considered a failure if the baby lives. 

In researching material for My Child, My Gift, the author interviewed several parents who regretted their pregnancy terminations following an adverse prenatal diagnosis. But she did not find one parent who regretting continuing the pregnancy until its natural end. My Child, My Gift will guide you into doing all you can to keep your baby alive as long as is naturally possible. You do not have to shorten the gift of time you have with your baby. You do not have to intervene to end your pregnancy before its natural time. In the weeks and months ahead with your baby alive within you, you will learn the fullness of the gift of your child. May you have the courage to not shortchange yourself.

My Child, My Gift: A Positive Response to Serious Prenatal Diagnosis

To contact publisher, please email New City Press

To contact author, please email Madeline Pecora Nugent

Would you like to have a copy of this book mailed to a particular physician, health care provider, geneticist, member of the clergy, place of worship, educational institution, library, pregnancy counseling agency, friend, relative, or other individual? Or can you give them a copy of this book? The Confraternity of Penitents supports the distribution of this book to such groups and individuals and offers a $5 discount on each book so ordered through the CFP Holy Angels on-line gift shop. See this link for more information.