I read a column on the Wall Street Journal online this week penned by Jaime Herrera Beutler on the New York and Virginia bills that were proposed to amend the state-level medical authorization process for late-term abortions.
In the column, titled “We overcame a grim diagnosis,” she presented her experience having (and fighting for the life of) her first child — Abigail Rose.
Jaime Herrera Beutler and her husband had gone to a routine obstetrical visit for a 20-week anatomy scan ultrasound — traditionally the ultrasound that reveals the gender of a baby. What should have been a joyful appointment turned to terror when the anatomy scan revealed that unborn Abigail Rose had no kidneys.
Without kidneys, a developing fetus doesn’t have the necessary amniotic fluid for their lungs to develop or expand properly. It was considered a 100 percent fatal diagnosis by doctors.
Herrera Beutler made the decision to go public with the diagnosis and it caught the eye of a man who knew of an experimental treatment that had worked as a solution for a similar condition — injecting a saline solution directly into the uterus.
He reached out to Herrera Beutler. But the battle was just beginning for Abigail Rose’s life.
Hererra Beutler spoke with numerous physicians. None of them wanted to perform the procedure. There were likely a lot of reasons for this. One, it’s a flat out risk anytime you pass a needle thru a uterine and placental wall. Secondly, it had never been done for this particular syndrome. It was experimental.
According to Herrera Beutler, doctors told her that due to the lack of kidneys (Potter syndrome) that her unborn child would likely “either miscarry or suffocate at birth because lungs wouldn’t develop.”
But Herrera Beutler finally convinced a doctor on the east coast to perform the procedure. She flew across the country for multiple procedures in a fight for her daughter’s life.
Herrera Beutler likened that medical conversation to a “sales pitch.”
The shot-in-the-dark procedure was a success. Abigail Rose was born crying and eventually received a kidney transplant from her dad.
When asked by a reporter back in 2017 if she thought they would have been able to convince doctors to do the procedure had she not been a congresswoman?
In response, Hererra Beutler admitted that she didn’t know for sure.
Now, the truth is that I was incredibly inspired by Herrera Beutler’s fortitude and courage to fight for her child. It’s a precious story. One that Herrera Beuter published in opposition to the New York and Virginia bills that she descibes in the first line as “radical.”
But we have to remember that for every Abigail Rose, there are tens if not hundreds of families grieving for other children who were desperately wanted but who were without obtainable medical fixes.
In fact, in online searches, there are other families who have been able to obtain similar procedures for unborn babies with similar conditions that have been a mix of successful and unsuccessful.
What if the treatment hadn’t been successful? Would Herrera Beutler still be against all options being presented? Would she have been forced to birth a child and watch her suffocate to death?
What if the mother who received this diagnosis was not a congresswoman? What if a married couple with fast food and retail jobs were to receive the same diagnosis that Herrera Beutler did? Would they have the same access to these experimental treatments? Maybe. Maybe not. There are so many factors that have to be wieghed on a case-by-case basis.
Herrera Beutler is fortunate to have access to the DC Health Link exchange, which allows her to choose her health insurance from a nationwide pool of providers, with premiums covered around 70-75 percent by her employer (unless she has other private insurance).
What about parents with nothing but state-provided healthcare like (in Washington State) Molina? Molina barely provides basic medical, let alone experimental treatments. Heck, most private insurances don’t cover experimental treatments.
Two parents with a fast food job aren’t likely going to be able to fly across the country to get a second opinion. Let’s say they have a successful GoFundMe effort — could two parents with basic insurance obtain the same approval Herrera Beutler did?
Until there is a medical fix for every severe fetal abnormality, we can’t say.
Just as we have compassion for parents who choose to take terminally ill children home on hospice care, respecting their right to make that decision for their child, so should we have compassion for these families facing the decision to accept and grieve a pregnancy loss.
Are there miracles? Yes. But until we have a medical fix for every unborn child, “terminations after 24 weeks” in the case of “severe fetal anomalies” is an option that needs to exist for families to consider among their medically-available options.
Herrera Beutler’s single experience — while incredible and inspiring — does not give her the right to decide what options are available to other women facing even more grim circumstances.
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Brittany Voie is a columnist for The Chronicle. She lives south of Chehalis with her husband and two young sons. She welcomes correspondence from the community at voiedevelopment@comcast.net.
