Considering that the unborn are consistently referred to as “not human” or a “clump of cells” in the postmodern age, one would likely assume that performing a complex operation such as brain surgery on a fetus would be impossible.
Many pro-abortion advocates argue for access to abortion up until (and sometimes even beyond) birth, implying that they view that fetus as a lesser form of life until the arbitrary point of birth or later on. If a fetus is truly “not viable”, then it should be incapable of responding to the same incredibly complex surgery that other “viable” human beings receive.
If a fetus were to not only survive but also benefit from something like a brain surgery, it would imply that said fetus may be more human than what the media narratives want to let on.
The logic is simple: if a fetus were able to receive a successful brain surgery in the same way an infant would, which side of the womb the baby is on becomes an increasingly arbitrary criterion for classifying it.
In no other area of society is physical location used to determine the identity of an individual. Imagine if an individual’s citizenship was only granted when he or she was physically present in that country, and it was immediately revoked/reinstated every time said individual leaves/returns to the country.
Unfortunately for pro-abortion advocates, this hypothetical brain surgery has become a reality in recent months (see this report).
When Kenyatta Coleman was 30 weeks pregnant, doctors informed her that her baby, Denver, had an extremely rare neurological condition known as Vein of Galen malformation. See this excerpt from Stroke, a medical journal, detailing Denver’s specific situation:
“Despite decades of technique refinement of transarterial embolization and the establishment of specialty referral centers, fetuses diagnosed with vein of Galen malformation continue to have high mortality, with survivors facing high rates of severe neurological and cognitive morbidity.”
Other sources reportedly state that one in three babies with this condition will not survive longer than a month.
When doctors informed Kenyatta of the diagnosis, they also offered to perform a trial surgery on Denver that had the possibility of curing the condition. The procedure would be an attempt by doctors to repair the blood vessel in Denver’s brain that was responsible for the abnormalities.
Kenyatta agreed to have the procedure performed, and fortunately it was successful. Doctors reported an observed “43% reduction in total cardiac output was seen on fetal echocardiography.”
While interviewing with NBC, Kenyatta said, “I remember crying out to God the night before [the surgery] to give us the strength we needed to get through the unknown…We were believing in God for a miracle.”
Baby Denver was delivered at 34 weeks and her neurological exams returned normal results.
Her story not only serves as a supremely sound case for the humanity of a fetus, but also as a reminder that it is impossible to foresee the future of an individual, no matter what direction the current circumstances may seem to point in.
Oftentimes, pro-abortion advocates will argue that babies that will be born in “less than ideal” circumstances would be better off aborted, since their lives are likely to be “miserable” and, in the pro-abortion movement’s eyes, death may be a superior alternative to impending hardship.
Though this line of thinking is flawed enough when applied to an individual making his or her own decisions, it becomes even more vile and sinister when others make that decision for that individual. Yet, the logic of aborting a baby without its knowledge because it will likely be born into unfavorable circumstances is widely accepted in pro-abortion circles.
Ultimately, it is the Lord who gives and takes away, and it is impossible to predict what even tomorrow may bring. So then, if humanity cannot definitively predict what the next 24 hours may entail, whose place is it to assert what a child’s entire life outcome will be? It exposes yet another flaw in the pro-abortion movement’s line of thinking, which is why the pro-life movement speaking up is more necessary than ever before.