A case study has shown how a woman suffering from preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) and umbilical cord prolapse was saved through legitimate medical care — as was her preborn child. It’s a stark contrast to how similar conditions are being portrayed in the pro-abortion media as reasons induced abortion is “needed” and “health care.”
A group of doctors in India saved the life of a 30-year-old woman after she experienced the dangerous complications. Rita Dharaviya was seven months pregnant when she went into preterm labor and visited the emergency room for help. There, the doctors realized she had umbilical cord prolapse — where the umbilical cord is protruding through the cervix — in addition to PPROM. She was reportedly in “unbearable pain.”
Doctors moved swiftly to intervene.
“The fetal heart rate was 100 as compared to the normal heart rate of 140,” Dr. Rajashri Tayshete Bhasale said in a statement. “Her labor pains began, accompanied by amniotic fluid leakage and protrusion of the umbilical cord. The patient had umbilical cord prolapse, a rare complication where the cord descends into the vagina before the baby. This can lead to compression and reduced oxygen supply to the baby. Immediate delivery is crucial to prevent potential issues such as brain damage or death. Within a few minutes, the mother was transferred from the emergency department to the operation theatre for delivery to address this complication. This is a rare complication occurring in only 5% of the pregnant population. A caesarean section was performed on September 27th and a 1 kg baby was delivered within less than 20 minutes from door-to-incision time.”
The baby spent some time in the NICU, but otherwise is healthy and doing well.
Comparatively, two cases — that of Anya Cook in Texas and Andrea Prudente in Malta — likewise involved PPROM and/or umbilical cord prolapse. The media presented the idea that abortion was medically necessary. Yet the media’s and abortion advocates’ use of the term “abortion” (to mean simply “ending a pregnancy” — including by early delivery or birth) has itself been used to mislead the public in such cases; pro-life laws enacted in various states protect children from being targeted for death in induced abortions, which carry the intent of ending the pregnancy by directly killing the child. There is a vast difference between delivering a child early for a mother’s dire medical emergency (even if that child dies due to extreme prematurity) and intentionally killing a preborn child, ensuring fetal death.
Induced abortion is not the standard of care for either PPROM or umbilical cord prolapse — even in cases where the complications arise earlier in pregnancy.
Professor Yves Muscat Baron, an OB/GYN who chairs the Maternity and Gynecology Department at Mater Dei Hospital in Malta, testified in Prudente’s case; Prudente was 16 weeks pregnant when she experienced both PPROM and umbilical cord prolapse. He explained that a preborn child can survive in as little as two centimeters (2 cm) of amniotic fluid, and that women’s membranes are known to reseal themselves. “As soon as the waters break we give intravenous antibiotics. When they rupture, the membranes overlap and close the tear,” he said, adding that fluid can replenish itself, “because the kidneys are still working and the membranes also secrete water themselves.”
Prudente’s prolapse also resolved itself, which Baron said was not uncommon. “It could be that this happened because we ordered her to rest in bed… many times, this solves the problem,” he testified. He also used another case as an example, except this patient experienced PPROM and umbilical cord prolapse at 13 weeks. She was given antibiotics, and managed to carry her baby for another three months – and safely give birth.
Likewise, Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), previously explained in a statement to Live Action News that in situations like PPROM, the medical standard is careful observation. “There are signs of developing intrauterine infection that any physician who is well-trained in obstetrics can identify long before sepsis develops,” she said. “This is why these patients are monitored very closely and often as inpatients, at least for a few days.”
Women don’t need induced abortion in cases of pregnancy complications. It may not always be possible to save the preborn child’s life, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to intentionally kill him or her before their natural death.
