At Tuesday’s State of the Union address, numerous people were invited as guests due to their alleged inability to obtain purported “medically necessary” abortions. In reality, induced abortion (which intentionally kills a preborn human being) is not medically necessary — and one mother’s story, in particular, stood out as a glaring example of a medically unnecessary, eugenic abortion of a child with a disability.
Anabely Lopes, a Florida woman who sought an abortion after receiving a prenatal diagnosis of Trisomy 18, was the guest of Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The Miami Herald features Lopes’ story, explaining that she and her husband consulted with doctors, and decided that an abortion was necessary. So she flew from Florida to Washington, D.C., to undergo the procedure.
“We felt it was our duty to protect our daughter from neglectful suffering if she were to make it to term,” Lopes said in a press conference. “We made the painful decision to end our very wanted pregnancy.”
Florida law does allow abortions in case of a fatal fetal abnormality, but Trisomy 18 — like Down syndrome before it — is increasingly becoming a survivable condition. One of the largest issues with Trisomy 18 today is not that it is inherently fatal, but that doctors refuse to give children with the condition medical care that will allow them to live.
“The state of Florida has put so many hurdles in the path of women to be able to address their unique, potentially dangerous healthcare situations, that it made it impossible for her to be able to do what was best for her own health,” Wasserman Schultz said, adding, “They have put doctors who are simply trying to take care of their patients and make sure they can give them the best possible healthcare, they put them and their licenses and their freedom — because it’s a criminal prosecution — at risk, and they have put women like Anabely at risk.”
Yet Lopes’ life was not at risk. A Trisomy 18 pregnancy is not dangerous for the mother.
Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, for example, is proving that children with Trisomy 18 are able to survive if they’re given comprehensive medical care, instead of being written off as a lost cause. “Most physicians view this as a hopeless diagnosis – but there is always hope,” Dr. James Hammel, division chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, said in a previous interview. “Yes, these kids have functional limitations, but there is plenty of room to make their life better… I’ve always said if I can improve a child’s chance of survival from five percent to 10 percent, I’m perfectly happy to take that on if that’s what the parents want to do.”
“In the end, we will be judged by how we treat the most vulnerable people in our society,” he concluded.
UK Healthcare’s Kentucky Children’s Hospital likewise has prepared multi-disciplinary teams to help children with Trisomy 18 survive, such as the Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT).
“While there is no cure (for Trisomy 18), there are some medical things that we can do to help support their body,” Dr. Lindsay Ragsdale, director of PACT, said in a previous interview. “Most people think palliative care is end-of-life care, but really, it’s about kids with serious illness and how we help them live each day the best they can. So, it’s really about living.”
And though children with Trisomy 18 may live with disabilities, that doesn’t mean their lives aren’t worth living. “I hope that her life and her journey, and the fact that she is here at almost five and doing very well, that her legacy will help pave the road for kiddos with her condition in the future to receive fair care, to be given a chance to have this kind of life with their families,” one mom of a child with Trisomy 18 said. “To have a chance at life and be treated as equal human beings.”
