Pregnant woman diagnosed with cancer chooses life after pressured to abort

A woman in Missouri is sharing her story of being diagnosed with breast cancer during her pregnancy with her second child, and how one doctor encouraged her to abort her baby. Instead, she sought a second opinion and was able to receive treatment and give birth to a healthy little girl.

Key Takeaways:

• Reggie Hong was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 15 weeks pregnant.

• Her doctor immediately advised her to abort her preborn child. Hong refused, seeking a second opinion at the University of Kansas Health System. There, doctors told her she did not have to abort her baby in order to receive treatment.

• Hong continued her pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy little girl.

• Research has shown that many women can receive chemo while pregnant, but unfortunately, many doctors still recommend abortion after a cancer diagnosis.

The Details:

Reggie Hong, of Blue Springs, MO, was 14 weeks pregnant with her second baby when she discovered dimpling on her breast. She talked to Fox 4KC about the cancer diagnosis she received at 15 weeks, shortly after her baby's gender reveal.

“By this point, we had the results of our gender reveal, so we’d had a cake two days before the scan from hell and they found a 4.2 centimeter tumor and a lymph node that was affected, too,” she explained, adding that the first advice she received from her doctor was to kill her preborn baby.

“So we went to our OB for our next appointment and he said, ‘We think you should terminate because chemo, which is the only thing you can do in this situation, kills rapidly dividing cells. So it will most definitely kill your baby,’ and we were devastated,” Hong said.

Thankfully, Hong and her husband were unwilling to follow that doctor's advice. They found a new medical team at the University of Kansas Health System who were willing to work with both mom and baby. The Hongs were told that a cancer diagnosis does not mean a mother has to have an abortion. 

“Our surgeon, who we had spoken to earlier that day, said, that’s not true, there are chemos that are safer for babies, tons of women get through this. That’s when we moved to KU to a different doctor; they said, ‘Yeah, I think we can get you through this.’ So I’ve been on chemo, a pretty harsh chemo,” she said. 

Hong continued her pregnancy and gave birth to a little girl who is now thriving.

“My baby’s fine and we made it through. And it’s just incredible to be here,” she said.

“We decided to name her Elaina because Elaina means a light in the darkness and that’s what she was for us,” she added.

Hong said she is still in treatment, but her prognosis is good.

Zoom Out:

Sadly, some mothers — and doctors — remain misinformed when it comes to pregnant women navigating cancer. Many doctors continue to encourage mothers to choose abortion after a cancer diagnosis, despite research showing that cancer treatment is safe for the baby.

Live Action News has compiled research debunking the idea that pregnant women with cancer need abortion, as a previous article noted:

The American Cancer Society specifically reported that studies have shown that abortion does not improve outcomes for breast cancer patients, and also noted that abortion is no longer routinely recommended when a pregnant woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. According to Healthline, when abortion is recommended, it is because those doctors don’t know how to safely treat the mother while protecting the preborn child. “Today more women are choosing to treat their cancer while they’re pregnant,” it explained, adding, “Treatment choices for pregnant people with cancer are the same as treatment choices for nonpregnant people with cancer. How and when treatments are given might be different during pregnancy.”

Dr. Marc Parrish, a maternal fetal medicine doctor who was part of Hong’s treatment team at the University of Kansas Health System, told WCAX that many people are misinformed about pregnancy and cancer treatment.

“I think the biggest misconceptions are you can’t carry a pregnancy if you’re on chemotherapy, and if you do, you’re causing harm to your baby. And I would say those are not true,” Parrish explained.

He said that though it may be recommended to avoid chemotherapy in the first trimester, any effects to the preborn baby after that time are usually minimal.

“We know that it can make babies immunocompromised and it can cause them to be anemic,” Parrish said. “Both of those are correctable outside of the womb.”

The Bottom Line:

Hong had a message for pregnant women who may be faced with a cancer diagnosis.

"If you're pregnant, you don't have to terminate," she said. "You can go through it, and you can do the chemo, and come out on the other side."