My second and third daughters exist because abortion was legal and safe
I would not have risked another child with severe fetal defects, as my beloved first daughter had.
By Jana von Stein
May 28, 2019
Many parents-to-be learn at their 20-week ultrasound whether it’s a boy or a girl. We learned that our baby had severe cardiac defects. As my pregnancy progressed, it became more evident that her disorder affected more than just her heart. It would require multiple operations and might be life-defining. In the 23 months she lived, my daughter Sophie endured seven surgeries, became addicted to morphine and Ativan, and suffered more than most people do in decades’-longer lifetimes. Her dad and I tried, along with heroic nurses and doctors in Michigan, Boston and Stanford, to save her life. We failed. We worked tirelessly to give her a good quality of life, but — particularly in the last few months — it was not one worth living.
The doctors weren’t sure whether Sophie’s defects were a result of random bad luck or something hereditary. Her DNA looked normal, but it was clear there was a programming error at some point early in the gestation.