Mother uses her tragic 20-week abortion to advocate for more death

A Wisconsin woman who chose to abort her son at 20 weeks is now attempting to convince the public that killing a preborn child by abortion is simply "health care."

Key Takeaways:

• Gracie Ladd learned at 18 weeks that her son, Connor, had serious health concerns. She was advised to have an abortion.

• At 20 weeks, she traveled to Illinois to undergo a D&E abortion; a D&E involves tearing the limbs from the child's body before crushing his skull.

• She is now sharing her son's diagnosis and death by abortion as a way to increase support for abortion, claiming that the D&E procedure that intentionally dismembers and kills a human being is simply "health care" — even likening it to chemotherapy.

• Before the abortion, she reportedly "felt insignificant," but now she says she has "a reason to speak about how abortion is health care."

The Backstory:

Gracie Ladd told UpNorthNews that in ending her son's life by abortion, she found "a way to get involved and a reason to speak" about abortion.

Ladd's story is heartbreaking.

Pregnant with her second son, Connor Miles, she and her husband learned at 18 weeks that he had Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart condition involving four abnormalities of the heart, causing altered blood flow through the heart and to the body.

Surgery is available after birth for the condition, but Connor was diagnosed with other health concerns as well. Doctors said he had not developed a bladder, and that his kidneys were covered with cysts. The OB/GYN explained that "this, for me, would be a diagnosis of 'incompatible with life.'"

Ladd was sent to a maternal fetal medicine specialist who confirmed the diagnosis and recommended abortion, because "Connor would most likely pass away before birth, which would put me at serious risk for infection," Ladd explained (through the writing of UpNorthNews' Bonne Fuller).

What was not mentioned...

• Infection can be treated with antibiotics.

• A second-trimester abortion also carries a risk of infection. D&E procedures also carry the risk of retained tissue/fetal body parts as well as hemorrhaging and damage to the uterus and cervix.

The Pro-Life Reply to: "Is Abortion Ever Medically Necessary?"

Ladd and her husband decided to have an abortion. "I qualified for a D&E (dilation and evacuation)," she said, adding that she "was shocked to learn only two hospitals [in the state] would do D&Es for someone 20 weeks pregnant." She called the D&E procedure "compassionate" for her son.

But is a D&E (often described as dismemberment abortion) truly compassionate?

• A D&E abortion involves the use of a Sopher clamp to grasp the arms and legs of the baby and then tear them off. This is often done while the baby is still alive (though this does not appear to have been the case with Ladd.)

• Then the clamp is used to crush the baby's skull with the brain inside.

• If a baby with a life-limiting condition is born and is unable to be saved, he or she can receive palliative care (see: perinatal hospice) which will ensure comfort using pain relief, and that child can be held by his or her parents instead of being poisoned or experiencing a violent death at the grasping end of the abortionist's forceps.

2nd Trimester Abortion | Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) | What Is Abortion?

Ladd called it "nonsense" that many doctors are unwilling to do a D&E abortion procedure on a baby — one near 'viability' and capable of feeling pain — and is upset that, under Wisconsin law, she would have had to get a third ultrasound, receive counseling, and wait 24 hours before undergoing the brutal procedure.

However, research shows having an abortion after a prenatal diagnosis frequently leads to worse mental health outcomes for mothers than carrying to term.

The poorest of analogies

Ladd didn't want to have another ultrasound because she "didn't want to watch my baby on screen again," and added that when "a patient needs chemotherapy, they get to decide whether or not to do it."

"Nobody comes in and says, 'You know what? I don't agree with chemotherapy, so you can't have it," she said.

An honest look at what abortion is and seeks to do versus what chemotherapy is and seeks to do should quickly reveal that they are not the same.

Intentionally dismembering or giving a baby lethal poison because he has a health issue is not the same as giving a patient chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells in their body.

Connor was not the equivalent of a cancer. Nor is any child.

Chemotherapy is an attempt to heal a person and/or to preserve life; an abortion's purpose is to destroy life.

Not wanting to undergo counseling, another ultrasound, or a 24-hour wait, the couple went to Northwestern Medicine in Chicago at 20 weeks. The procedure to kill Connor and remove him from his mother's womb took two days.

The abortion

"First, they gave me a pill to stop the baby's heart. Then the doctor inserted thin seaweed sticks into my cervix to dilate it," she said. "It only took 10 minutes, but even with lidocaine for pain, it was more painful than giving birth." She described being unable to sit up during the car ride afterward because the pain was so bad.

It is uncertain what drug the "pill to stop the baby's heart" might have been. (Often, a lethal injection of digoxin is administered for second-trimester abortions, but it appears this was not the case with Connor.)

The next day, before the completion of the D&E abortion, a social worker discussed funeral homes and cremation with the couple. Then the final part of the abortion began, but Ladd did not describe what happened at this point. She said she doesn't remember it because she was put under anesthesia.

"I don’t remember the procedure, but when I was coming out of anesthesia I scared Brian because I kept yelling at the nurses, 'Bring me my baby. Where was my baby?'" she said.

She continued to wake up in a panic for days. "I remember knowing, logically, there wasn't a baby. But my heart and body kept saying, 'He’s not there, so he must be somewhere else.' It was just primal," she said.

But her heart and her body were correct: Connor was somewhere else. He existed, but his mother never got to embrace him or look at him and properly mourn, with some sense of closure.

Eventually, Ladd became pregnant again, but had a miscarriage. She experienced a fourth pregnancy, and her daughter was born a month premature. (Damage to the cervix from prior abortions has the potential to increase risk of future miscarriages and/or preterm birth, though it is not clear that this is what happened in Ladd's case.)

What's Happening:

Prior to aborting her son, Ladd said she "felt insignificant." But now, she is using Connor's diagnosis and death by abortion to tragically advocate for more deaths by abortion.

"I hope that hearing my story could move some people who don't support abortion closer to supporting women's choices," she said. "Once they heard my story, they might think, 'In that scenario, I can see that medical care is necessary.' Maybe we could bring them closer to realizing abortion is just health care. And that this shouldn't be something the government discusses or makes political."

Ladd is working with Free & Just, a pro-abortion group that exploits tragic stories to push for limitless abortion for any reason. During a speech for the organization's Ride to Decide national bus tour, Ladd said:

"I'm angry because only one hospital in Wisconsin would offer the termination procedure for me to give Connor the grace of a painless death and a life that only felt love. I'm angry because there is no guarantee in this state that I would not be labeled a murderer for making the compassionate choice. But mostly, I'm angry that people who weren't in that ultrasound room with me while I received the news that tore my world apart got to decide whether or not I should be allowed to make this medical decision for myself."

Reality Check:

An induced abortion is not a compassionate "medical decision."

A D&E abortion meant Connor was never held by his mother or father.

He was never dressed in an outfit or wrapped in a blanket.

No memory photos of him were taken.

His brother never got to see him.

His parents never looked upon his face.

Instead, the heartbreaking reality is that he was violently destroyed, his body parts likely dropped onto a metal tray before being disposed of. It isn't always a "painless" way to die — not all babies are killed by drug or lethal injection before being dismembered — and it is not an act of love.

His mother woke up countless nights searching for him, wondering where he had gone.

Connor was so much more than his diagnosis, and abortion did not heal him.

He was an innocent baby who deserved to live his life, no matter how brief, without discrimination and with respect. Poisoning and dismemberment are not compassion.

The Bottom Line:

Regardless of how often it is repeated, abortion isn't health care because it does not fit the definition of health care. Induced abortion intentionally kills someone. Yet, because in an abortion the baby is not yet born, people are often more willing to accept brutality they cannot see.