Compassionate Abortion?

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A few years ago, a friend shared with me that her pastor and his wife were expecting a baby, a blessing that the whole church had celebrated. Then, at an ultrasound scan, the baby was diagnosed with a defect. As an obstetrician, I knew that surgery could easily correct the problem and would not cause suffering for the baby. I had seen children thrive under much tougher medical circumstances. Yet the physician told the parents that the baby was “incompatible with life” and that continuing the pregnancy would cause them and the baby to suffer. After praying, the pastor and his wife concluded that obtaining an abortion would spare the baby and themselves from further pain. To them, it was the compassionate option.

The story has many troubling aspects, not least of which is the parents’ decision based on inaccurate information about the child’s chance of surviving and thriving. But what troubles me most is that I encounter fellow Lutherans who have bought the narrative that it is better for babies with physical imperfections to be aborted rather than embraced and loved for whatever time the Lord allows them to live. I offer four problems with that mindset.

First, we all have imperfections. What degree of physical or genetic imperfection is sufficient to warrant death? Some say “a severe defect.” But severity varies from person to person. I knew a Lutheran ICU nurse who adopted three “severely” handicapped children who had been labeled as “incompatible with life.” She raised them until they died — between 5 and 20 years. These children’s limitations never stood in the way of her love for them. Nothing in Scripture tells us to kill our physically or genetically limited neighbors. Rather, even though our culture might consider the man lying beaten and near death on the road to Jericho to have a life-limiting condition, the Good Samaritan spared no expense in caring for him.

Second, we need to reflect on the concept of “relieving the child’s suffering.” We know from surgeries performed on children in the womb that they exhibit the same kind of responses to pain that we do. They withdraw from sharp objects touching them; they show an increase in heart rate and stress hormones. When doctors operate on patients in utero, they give them anesthesia that is separate from their mom’s. Unborn children feel pain from at least 12 weeks’ gestation. However, children in the womb with “life-limiting” diagnoses do not exhibit the normal signs of pain from those illnesses. In fact, the womb is the most comfortable place for them, as the mother provides for all the baby’s bodily needs. Cutting short these children’s lives to end their suffering makes no sense. In fact, performing an abortion causes intense suffering for the child. In this case, the real driver for abortion seems to be the assumption that it will end the psychological suffering of the parents rather than compassion for the child.

This leads to the third point: Aborting pregnancies with fatal diagnoses does not result in less suffering for parents. Studies comparing the outcomes of aborting such pregnancies versus carrying them to term using a service called perinatal hospice have found that parents who choose to carry the baby to term suffer less complicated grief and have less regret than parents who abort. In fact, overall, women who abort unplanned pregnancies have a greater risk of suicide, drug abuse and major depression than women who carry those pregnancies to birth.

Parents who are encouraged to abort their child with a “life-limiting” diagnosis are being told that this child is an “it,” a disposable clump of cells. But, in reality, women bond to the children in their wombs and grieve their loss. When a woman decides to end her child’s little life, it compounds and complicates grief. In contrast, perinatal hospice acknowledges that the parents of a child with a “life-limiting” diagnosis are parents. And this child in the womb is a son or daughter, a grandson or granddaughter, a brother or sister — a human being in God-given relationships with family members who love them. Giving birth to these little ones also gives extended family members the opportunity to acknowledge that relationship and grieve that tiny life. Why would we cut that life short?

The fourth point: What if the diagnosis was wrong? I had a son with a fatal congenital heart defect; he died at age two and a half. With my next pregnancy, the prenatal ultrasound showed that my second son had the same diagnosis. Two cardiac ultrasounds confirmed that he would share the fate of my first. Needless to say, the pregnancy was difficult. However, when he was born, he did not in fact have the fatal defect. Medicine is not perfect, yet we make life-ending decisions based on imperfect information. Am I against prenatal testing? No. But we must understand that no test is perfect. And perhaps we should recognize that God has given this child as a chance to show the beauty of this human being for as long as it pleases Him to share that baby’s life with us.

This view of all human life as a gift leads us as Lutherans to treat those in the womb as our tiniest neighbors. When we face difficult situations that call for us to lay down our lives for our neighbors, we are strengthened by seeing the meaning behind the suffering that we are asked to bear for one another. That is why killing our neighbor to avoid suffering has no place in Lutheran theology. It is why, for the last 2,000 years, the Christian church has consistently opposed abortion. Click here to continue reading.

 Dr. Donna Harrison, M.D., is a board-certified physician and CEO of The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. This article was first published in and is reprinted here by permission of The Lutheran Witness.

Be Informed
Marriage as God designed and instituted it—between one man and one woman—is one of the sweetest gifts with which He can bless people. Why not ask your spouse a few questions to be reminded of how joyous and good it can truly be?

 Be Equipped
Learn more about God’s marriage covenant and why it matters to you in a recent podcast with Rev. David Shadday, author of “Reclaiming the Heart of Marriage.”

Be Encouraged
“Watch and prepare for Jesus to return. Set your hearts on Him and on your life in Him. He is the beginning and end, the purpose and goal of your life. So there’s no need for tears as you see Him ascend. He is with you always. He will come back for His people soon. Then we will appear with Him in glory.” –Rev. Peter Sulzle