When Kelly Shannon learned her preborn baby had Down syndrome, she was upset to discover she wouldn’t be able to have an abortion under Alabama law. So she traveled to Virginia to have the abortion, and believes that her decision was the correct one — so correct, in fact, that she says since she is “a married, white, straight, Christian, grew-up-in-the-church woman,” pro-lifers should listen to her and change their minds about abortion.
Shannon spoke with the States Newsroom about learning at 16 weeks by ultrasound that her preborn baby girl had Down syndrome along with a buildup of fluid in her head and body, a heart defect, and a tumor in her abdomen. The news outlet reported, “Each abnormality on its own would possibly have been manageable, Shannon said, but the maternal-fetal medicine specialist told her the combination meant she would likely either miscarry at some point during the pregnancy or her daughter’s life would be short and punctuated by multiple surgeries. Shannon and her husband made the difficult decision at that point to terminate.”
She said the fact that the baby had more than one condition “made the decision [to abort] easier because it was like, well now if I know I’m going to lose her regardless, I can lose her on a controlled timeline, protect my health, start the grieving process, get healthy and then still be able to have another child.”
But her daughter wasn’t guaranteed to die; the medical ethics committee did not see her condition as ‘lethal.’
Beyond the failed logic of thinking it’s better to kill your child before they can die naturally, it’s also tragic and inconsistent to act as if, just because a child is still in the womb, it’s acceptable to ‘abort and start over.’ If Shannon’s child had been born and diagnosed with such conditions, it is unlikely Shannon would have rather her child die “on a controlled timeline” than receive proper medical care. She likely wouldn’t have thought, ‘Let’s start the grieving process as soon as possible by killing our newborn before she dies naturally.’
Pro-life, no exceptions
Shannon’s comments to the States Newsroom regarding why she feels people should support her decision are striking.
“I get angry whenever I see people with the ‘choose life’ bumper stickers and license plates, because they’re not thinking about me,” Shannon said. “They’re not recognizing that it’s not a black and white issue, it’s nothing but shades of gray when you’re dealing with pregnancy, particularly high-risk pregnancy.”
She went on to say, “I am a married, white, straight, Christian, grew-up-in-the-church woman who was attempting to grow her family within the bounds of marriage, and I just keep thinking, if anybody is going to be able to change a mind about this issue, shouldn’t it be me?”
But Shannon’s race, religion, sexuality, and marital status don’t make her an authority figure to whom pro-lifers should look as an exception to pro-life laws, and her statement comes across with a narcissistic, elitist tone. Her situation isn’t more significant or worthy of compassion than any other woman’s, regardless of race, religion, or marital status.
In addition, pro-lifers are truly thinking of women like Shannon, who are facing a diagnosis for their preborn child, when enacting laws to protect children from abortion. Those laws also protect women. According to Perinatal Hospice and Palliative Care, which provides resources for parents who are facing such a diagnosis, significant research shows that women who have an abortion following a prenatal diagnosis suffer “physical and emotional pain, with psychosocial and reproductive consequences.”
Additional studies show that aborting a ‘wanted’ baby due to a diagnosis can be a “traumatic event … which entails the risk of severe and complicated grieving.”
Abortion is traumatic, and aborting your baby due to a diagnosis can increase the risk of abortion-related trauma.
Alabama law protected her baby
Alabama’s pro-life law protected Shannon’s daughter and treated her as a valued human being. The law protects most children from abortion but has an exception for children who are expected to die before, at, or shortly after birth. Shannon hoped that the medical ethics committees that determine which babies can be killed would give them the go-ahead, so she scheduled the abortion.
But after the first hospital committee said she could abort, the second committee said she couldn’t. The committee determined that the baby’s condition was not ‘lethal’ as required for an abortion under state law, and therefore, killing the baby prior to birth was not an option within Alabama’s borders. They did, however, say that if the baby girl developed hydrops fetalis, an excessive buildup of fluid, then Shannon could have an abortion.
At 17 weeks, Shannon had an ultrasound to check for hydrops but it was not present. As the pregnancy progressed, the tumor grew .7 centimeters. These were not enough to deem her daughter’s health conditions ‘lethal.’
Shannon was “… angry… that I wasn’t going to get to handle my pregnancy and my termination in the way that made the most sense to me …”
READ: IN MEMORY: After a cancer diagnosis while pregnant, she fought for her life and her child’s
An out-of-state abortion
So, at 19 weeks, unable to abort in her home state, Shannon drove to Virginia with her parents to have an induction abortion.
An induction abortion involves injecting feticide, typically digoxin, into the baby’s head or heart to cause cardiac arrest. The mother then delivers a stillborn child, though there are cases in which the baby survives and is born alive.
“There was so much decision-making and processing, and you’re still feeling the baby kick the whole time,” Shannon said. “And every time she would kick, I was just sitting there like, ‘I’m so sorry. I wish I got to be your mom, but I don’t get to be your mom.’”
Shannon already was her baby’s mother. Many parents find themselves under significant pressure from the medical community in situations like hers, instead of finding the support they need to choose life.
The States Newsroom reported on Shannon’s abortion, “After a long day of waiting, Shannon gave birth a few minutes before midnight and got to hold her [stillborn] daughter.”
“I kept her with me until about 2 or 3 in the morning,” said Shannon. The baby girl was buried in Virginia with other babies who had been miscarried, aborted, or died from premature birth.
Where is the support for life?
It is unclear if Shannon sought the advice of pediatric specialists before having the abortion. Were there treatment options that would have allowed pediatric specialists to provide her daughter with some level of care and possibly help her survive? There are doctors who perform surgeries on babies in the womb to remove tumors. There are doctors who specialize in heart surgery on newborn babies. Was Shannon given the opportunity to talk to even one? This is never mentioned.
Pro-lifers know that every human life is inherently valuable and equal to every other human life. The baby isn’t more important than the mother and the mother isn’t more important than the baby. A baby with Down syndrome isn’t less valuable than a baby without Down syndrome. Every child, regardless of the circumstances of their conception, their health status, their age, their gender, or their mother’s financial or educational status is worthy of life and worth fighting for.
