The Daily Mail reports that a mother says she gave birth to
a perfectly healthy daughter despite doctors advising her to terminate her
pregnancy because the baby was ‘brain damaged’.
Liane Stooke, 38, says it was only her mother’s instinct
that saved baby Miley, two.
Mrs Stooke said: ‘We were told Miley was probably severely
brain damaged and wouldn't be able to communicate with or recognise us.
The Daily Mail article Continues,
‘It was a terrible decision to have to come to. We agonised over what we should do right up until the last minute.’Mrs Stooke, and her husband Iain, 38, were delighted when they discovered they had conceived their third child.But their joy turned to despair when an MRI scan revealed a shadow on their unborn daughter's brain.‘The doctors said she might never walk, talk, or recognise our faces,’ said Mrs Stooke, a bank administrator. ‘It was also possible she'd be physically and facially deformed. There were a lot of unknowns.’Although Mrs Stooke was, at 30 weeks pregnant, beyond the normal limit for abortion, doctors advised termination as an option because holoprosencephaly would prevent the child from enjoying a meaningful quality of life.Holoprosencephaly is a condition in which the front part of the brain of an embryo fails to form two hemispheres.The condition varies in severity but about 80 per cent of children with holoprosencephaly have facial abnormalities.Almost all children with the condition experience developmental delays and many have seizures.
Most babies with the condition do not survive infancy.The condition affects about one in 10,000 live-born babies.‘The doctor said it wasn't too late if we wanted to abort the baby - he made it sound almost as if there was no other option,’ said Mrs Stooke.WHAT IS HOLOPROSENCEPHALY?Holoprosencephaly is a condition in which the front part of the brain of an embryo fails to form two hemispheres.The condition varies in severity but about 80 per cent of children with holoprosencephaly have facial abnormalities.Almost all children with the condition experience developmental delays and many have seizures.Most babies with the condition do not survive infancy.The condition affects about one in 10,000 live-born babies.Source: National Centre for Biotechnology Information‘I was shocked - it was as if I was having an out-of-body experience. I thought I was watching someone else getting the news. It was a dreadful experience.’Mrs Stooke added: ‘It was a waking nightmare. We agonised every minute over what to do - and every time I felt her kick inside me, my heart broke.‘We didn't know whether we could face aborting our baby, but at the same time we wondered how we would cope with a disabled child.’Six weeks before her due date the couple arrived at the hospital for a meeting where they would give their final decision.‘Driving to the hospital, even at that late stage, we still didn't know what to do,’ said Mrs Stooke.‘I just couldn't let go of my child, but I also had to think of the baby's quality of life.‘My instinct was that if the child would one day be capable of recognising us and of knowing who we are, we couldn't go through with it.‘We were told there was still a very slim chance that the baby would recognise us. We exchanged a look and both knew instantly that we couldn't agree to the termination.’The couple braced themselves and Mrs Stooke delivered her daughter by Caesarean section in October 2011.After the birth, the couple, from Bristol, were amazed to discover that, far from being physically deformed, their daughter was perfectly well.
COMMENT
Ireland is currently under pressure from national and
international pro-abortion organizations such as the Irish Family Planning
Association, which is affiliated to the International Planned Parenthood
Federation (IPPF) the largest abortion provider in the world and the Centre for
reproductive Rights (CRR) to introduce abortion in the case of foetal
abnormality. Additionally Socialist TD Clare Daly has introduced a private
members bill in the Dail (Irish Parliament) toe amend the recently approved
Government legislation for abortion to include abortion in the case of fetal
abnormality.
Every human being has the right to life and to survive as
long as he or she is capable of so doing. Mothers and their babies deserve the best
possible care in these sad circumstances nevertheless doctors often suggest
termination when a diagnosis of foetal abnormality is made. It should be
remembered that a diagnosis can be wrong and this report is a cautionary tale
for anyone who is bent on the termination of life given a diagnosis of this
kind.
