I recently found
out that an acquaintance of mine who was due two weeks before I am lost her
baby. She was seven months along. Seven months. The news of her loss hit close
to home. Miscarriages and stillbirths have really gotten to me during this
third pregnancy, even more so than with my first two. With my first two, I breathed
a sigh of relief once we were passed 27 weeks. Premature babies born at that
stage have about a 90% chance of survival. The likelihood of losing my baby was
very small by that point and it gave me some peace of mind. But this pregnancy
is different. This time around, at nearly every stage of my pregnancy, a friend
or an acquaintance that was due about when I am has miscarried or delivered a
stillborn baby. It seems that at every turn there is another reminder that
there is no guarantee my baby will survive long enough for me to hold. That’s a
sobering thought, and a difficult one for this third trimester mama to handle.
The news of K’s
loss was upsetting for another reason, too. It was not discovered until after she
passed out and was taken to the hospital that K’s baby had developed outside of
the uterus. He had survived this way for seven months, but by the time they got
to the hospital it was too late to save him. Had they known sooner that K’s
baby was ectopic, they almost certainly would have been able to safely deliver
him prematurely via C-section. And yet, if they had known sooner, nearly everyone would have
recommended an early abortion, because most people believe it is impossible for an ectopic baby to survive long enough to deliver safely. How many more ectopic babies could safely reach this
stage of pregnancy and be delivered healthy if we were not so quick to accept
common medical claims?
Early
last year my husband and I were asked our views on ectopic pregnancies and
whether or not an abortion would be acceptable in such a case. Neither of us
knew much about ectopic pregnancies at the time, so our answer was based on
what we did know – that life is a gift from God and that abortion is murder
regardless of the motives and circumstances surrounding the act. The angry reactions
to our stance were astonishing and prompted many hours of research on the
topic.
In
a normal pregnancy the fertilized egg travels through the fallopian tube into
the uterus and implants in the uterus wall. In an ectopic pregnancy the baby
implants somewhere other than inside the uterus, such as the outside wall of the
uterus, elsewhere in the abdominal cavity, or in the fallopian tube itself
(referred to as a “tubal pregnancy”). Because this is not how a normal
pregnancy is designed to develop, an ectopic pregnancy will often quickly and
naturally end in a miscarriage. Sometimes the baby will continue to grow where
it is implanted. This poses a potentially life-threatening risk to the mother
as it can cause hemorrhaging and the mother can bleed to death.
What
most medical professionals will tell you is that a baby may possibly (though
rarely) survive certain types of ectopic pregnancies, but that a tubal
pregnancy means certain death to the child and almost certain death to the
mother if it is allowed to progress. The fallopian tube is not designed to
stretch as the child grows and is not conducive to sustaining life for nine
months. Most of the time, when a tubal pregnancy is left to itself, the growing
baby will burst the tube. Usually the baby, left unattached to a life-source,
will die and the mother is at risk for severe internal bleeding.
Except, most
medical professionals (usually due to their own ignorance) will not tell you
that this is what “usually” happens. They will tell you that this is what always happens. That a baby cannot
survive a tubal pregnancy. Ever. They will also tell you that the mother will
probably bleed to death if the pregnancy progresses far enough to burst the
fallopian tube. Because the baby will “certainly” die and the mother could "very likely" die, most medical professionals will recommend an immediate abortion.
There is no sense in risking the life of the mother when the child is doomed to
die anyway. Or, so the reasoning goes.
The
“pro-life group” is divided on this issue. There are those who 100% believe
that it is never morally ethical to purposefully end the life of a baby. Then
there are those who believe that in most
cases it is wrong to end a baby’s life, but that certain situations do necessitate
an abortion. During our research I posed the question to a number of my
Christian friends and mentors: In an ectopic tubal pregnancy, is it morally
ethical to end the life of the child in order to save the life of the mother? I
had asked expecting to receive affirmation of my beliefs and perhaps help with
more persuasive ways of wording what I already knew to be true. I was shocked
by the responses I received. The majority of the Christians my husband and I contacted replied
that abortion is usually wrong. But
in the case of a tubal pregnancy, a circumstance in which they believe one
innocent life (the mother) will die if you do not terminate the life of another
(the baby), they argued that aborting the child is morally acceptable.
Wait.
What?
Let’s back up. Why is abortion
wrong? Because it ends an innocent life, which is murder. God clearly condemns
murder. “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). “Keep far from a false charge,
and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked”
(Exodus 23:7). Electing to end the life of a baby prematurely is murder,
whether you think that baby will die anyway or not. It makes no difference
whether that baby is located in the uterus where most babies safely grow or in
the fallopian tube where it poses a risk to the mother’s life. To intentionally
put an end to the innocent life of a child is murder.
Many of those I contacted argued
that if you know for certain that the baby is going to die anyway, it would be
irresponsible to let the pregnancy take the life of the mother as well. The
mother could survive just fine if the baby were removed. Why should two innocents
die when one can live?
Hold
up. Back up. Why is abortion wrong? Because it ends the life of an innocent
person. “Do not kill the innocent and righteous” (Exodus 20:13).
“But
the baby is going to die anyway. If we go ahead and end its life just a few
hours early, an innocent woman will go home alive.”
“Do not kill the
innocent” (Exodus 20:13).
“But the baby
cannot possibly survive!”
“Do
not murder” (Exodus 20:13).
“But
what if this woman has three other children at home to take care of? We can’t
just let her die!”
“Do
not kill the innocent” (Exodus 20:13).
Whether
that child lives 80 years after birth or whether it dies at 7 weeks gestation
in the fallopian tube, that baby has life.
That baby has a soul. Let’s be honest.
Do we really believe that life begins
at conception? Do we really believe that every life is precious? Do we really believe that God meant what He
said when He commanded us not to take the life of the innocent? Really? Then
why is it okay to end the life of a baby because we are afraid of what will happen
if we allow it to live? A life is a life, no matter how brief. No matter how
short that baby’s life may be, it is still a LIFE. We have no right to end it.
We don’t always
know what we think we know. We are not God and we can never know 100%, without
a doubt, that a baby has no chance of survival. When I began researching I too
thought that it was absolutely certain that all tubal babies die prematurely.
That’s what everyone was telling me. The overwhelming majority are convinced
that there is no way such a baby can naturally survive, and that we do not
currently have the medical advances to intervene and save the child. Even the
Association of Pro-Life Physicians states that, “There are no cases of ectopic
pregnancies in a fallopian tube surviving.”
[i]
But what if we were all wrong? I am so thankful that there was one woman I
contacted who chose to look deeper. She sent me here:
Ectopic
Personhood: Fact Sheet on Ectopic Pregnancy. This enlightening article
corrects several myths surrounding ectopic pregnancies. Let’s look at some of
those myths.
Myth #1: Ectopic pregnancies are not viable
This has been
proven false over and over, in various types of ectopic pregnancies.
Valdir Gabriel – Delivered at 8
months after being carried in an area between the stomach and uterus.
Durga, the "Miracle Baby"
– It was not discovered until the doctors performed a scheduled C-section at 38
weeks that Durga had been growing in her mother’s ovary. Durga was 6lbs 3oz
when she was born in May 2008.
Eva Cawte – It was discovered at a
20 week scan that Eva had implanted outside the uterus. The doctors suggested
aborting the baby, but Eva’s parents decided to continue the pregnancy. In July
2010, Eva was delivered alive at 30 weeks.
“Okay,” you
might be saying, “but those are abdominal
ectopic pregnancies. We understand that a baby can occasionally survive an
ectopic pregnancy in some places outside of the uterus. But, what about tubal pregnancies, the kind where the
baby implants in the fallopian tube? Doesn’t that always mean death to the child?”
Myth #2: There are no cases of ectopic
pregnancies in a fallopian tube surviving
As mentioned
earlier, this is even stated by the Association of Pro-Life Physicians. But
they’re wrong. Some abdominal ectopic pregnancies actually started out as tubal
pregnancies. The tissue from a developing placenta is capable of relocating
from the tube to various other sites in the abdomen. Many abdominal pregnancies
are simply a progression of tubal pregnancies in which the tube burst and the
baby re-implanted elsewhere.
Ronan Ingram – One of a set of triplets, Ronan was a tubal baby. While his
sisters developed normally inside the uterus, Ronan implanted in his mother’s
fallopian tube. As is often the case, the tube ruptured. But to everyone’s
surprise, Ronan survived and reattached to the outside wall of the uterus,
creating his own womb, and there continued to thrive. In September 1999, all
three babies were delivered alive and healthy via C-section at 29 weeks. The
triplets are now 15 years old.
Katie Pratt – In a case similar to Ronan, but years earlier, Katie was a tubal
baby who also burst through the tube and re-implanted on the main blood
vessels.
Myth #3: The mother will almost certainly
bleed to death if the tube ruptures
The actual
danger of a mother bleeding to death in the U.S. due to a ruptured tube is
pretty small. Don’t get me wrong, the potentially severe internal bleeding is a
major concern. However, “Treatment with autotransfusion instead of abortion has
a success rate of 99.84%.”
[ii]
Autotransfusion is basically taking the blood the mother is losing, filtering
it, and pumping it back to her. One study showed that in Israel the
lowest survival rate for women who did
not abort their babies prior to rupture was
88%!
[iii]
In the U.S., some figures suggest that you would have close to a 97.7% chance
of surviving an ectopic pregnancy. Even if you do not have an abortion before
your tube ruptures, you still have an extremely high chance of survival.
Both mother and
baby CAN survive implantation in the fallopian tube. Is it rare for the baby to
survive? That’s a tricky question. More than half of all tubal pregnancies end in
early miscarriage. The ones that don’t are usually aborted upon discovery. So,
perhaps it is rare, but perhaps that is only because we don’t give them a
chance.
It boggles my
mind that there is not more research being done to find ways of preserving the
life of the baby, especially given that in the U.S. the mother has an extremely
high chance of survival even if her tube does rupture. If a baby can detach and
reattach naturally, wouldn’t it be great if we could find a way to successfully
transplant these babies into the uterus? Hmm… That sounds familiar… Oh, that’s
right. It’s been done. And it was done 100 years ago this year.
September 13,
1915, C.J. Wallace, M.D. operated on a 27-year-old woman for a fibroid tumor
and discovered an ectopic pregnancy in her left tube. After removing the tumor,
Dr. Wallace made the quick decision to attempt to transplant the baby into the
uterus. Following the surgery, the patient was carefully monitored for two
weeks and then released. The pregnancy progressed normally and a healthy baby
boy was delivered on May 2, 1916.
In a 1916 issue
of Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Dr. Wallace relates the particulars of
the operation and comments,
“Why have we all these
many years been so willing to deprive these little children of the right to
live just because they were started wrong. In this day of advanced surgery,
with the art of transplanting different parts, and, in fact organs of the body,
I wonder at the escape of so important a procedure, entailing so little danger,
as the transplanting of an ectopic pregnancy from the fallopian tube into the
uterus, thus permitting the child to develop and be born as was its intention
before its progress was obstructed.”
[iv]
His article goes
on to point out that the structure of the tube is practically the same as in
the uterus and that the uterus actually keeps up with the gestation of the baby
for a time, thus providing an excellent environment for transplantation.
“Up to a certain point the tubal
gestation is identical with the intra-uterine gestation. Up to a certain point
the uterus keeps pace with the tubal gestation and actually forms a decidua,
enlarges, softens, grows darker in color, and in fact takes on all the early
features of pregnancy.”
I was only able
to find one other case where such a surgery was attempted:
Tubal Embryo
Successfully Transferred in Utero. In 1980 a 27-year-old woman was found to
be carrying an ectopic baby in her fallopian tube. The baby was immediately
removed, placed in a saline solution, and then successfully transplanted into
the uterus. A healthy infant was born at term.
To me, all of
this is fascinating, remarkable, inspiring. But completely beside the point.
The fact that a baby does have a chance, however slim it may be, of surviving
an ectopic pregnancy does not change the fact that intentionally ending the
life of an unborn baby is murder. Period. It is not wrong to kill the child
because there is a chance he could survive. It is simply wrong to kill the
child!
We humans aren’t
as smart as we think we are. But God in His wisdom gave us a command. You.
Shall. Not. Murder. In the case of a tubal pregnancy, you have no way of
knowing whether or not that baby could be one of the ones to survive. You have
no idea whether the mother would actually bleed to death if the tube ruptured.
You can’t know. But it doesn’t matter. Because you DO know what God has to say
about ending the life of an innocent person. The stakes may seem high to us,
but the consequences of disregarding a law of God are much more grave.
Note #2: I do not necessarily believe that attempting to transplant a
baby into the uterus is the best course of action. The number of babies who
safely grow where they naturally implant makes me think it might be wisest to
leave them where they are while under careful monitoring and then deliver via
C-section somewhere around 29-30 weeks.
[images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net]
[iv] Surgery, Gynecology and
Obstetrics pg. 578, “Transplantations of Ectopic Pregnancy from Fallopian Tube
to Cavity of Uterus”
