The baby’s heart is terribly enlarged, she was told, filling most of his chest cavity. The Oakwood hospital doctor told her it would be best to kill the baby, in order to avoid future risks and complications.
We did not meet this mother at the abortion mill. She was brought to us by her aunt, whom we did meet at the abortion mill a few years ago. Late Saturday morning we went to her home, where we were welcomed at the door by her grandmother. Mariah came in a few minutes later. We sat together in the livingroom and she poured out her load of pain and confusion. She didn’t know how she would be able to continue carrying a dying child, how she would be able to go through labor and end up holding a corpse.
We reminded her, though, that to a great extent this is the human condition. Spouses commit themselves to each other for years and years. Theirs is a labor of love–yet, eventually, one will end up holding a corpse. Wherever we love, whenever, we put ourselves at risk of pain and loss. Mariah’s own grandmother told the story of her own losses–two sons who met violent, premature deaths. But never would we say, Mariah was reminded, that we wish the loved one had never been conceived or born. When Alicia told of how she had carried a child weeks after she knew it had already died, Mariah’s eyes grew wide with amazement.
At one point, Mariah’s aunt asked her, “Are you still confused?” She smiled and answered, “No.”
