A woman is blaming Texas law for her decision to twice travel to Colorado to abort baby boys she and her husband conceived by IVF, after receiving diagnoses of bilateral renal genesis for each of their preborn sons.
In her article, “Texas law forced me to choose: Watch my baby die or flee my home for medical help,” published by Courier Texas and reprinted by Ms. Magazine, Megan Bond described the abortions as “medical care,” and presented abortion as the couple’s only option and as her own self-sacrificial choice. Bond also blamed Texas’ pro-life laws for the couple’s suffering.
The Backstory:
Bond explained that she met and married her husband, Kevin, in her early thirties. After trying to conceive naturally for a year, the Bonds met with medical professionals in the fall of 2023, who told them the only way they would conceive children was through IVF.
Bond doesn’t mention whether any of the medical professionals offered Restorative Reproductive Medicine to heal Bond so she could conceive naturally. Instead, like so many American couples hoping for children, it appears the Bonds were directed straight to the IVF industry, which commodifies children from the moment of fertilization and is fraught with health risks for mothers — and the babies who manage to survive the process.
The Details:
The Bonds’ first son, Kevin, conceived via IVF, was diagnosed with bilateral renal agenesis at 17 weeks gestation. This is a condition in which the kidneys do not form, preventing the preborn child from urinating. This causes a low amount of amniotic fluid, which leads to underdeveloped lungs and other concerns (Potter syndrome). Without kidneys or fully functioning lungs, most children with these complications die at birth or very soon after.
Learning the diagnosis was devastating for the couple. Bond described that moment:
Not surprisingly, when we were at our first anatomy scan at 17 weeks, Kevin and I were very excited. We were watching our baby move around and we were looking at his heartbeat. We didn’t know that anything was wrong until our maternal fetal medicine specialist came in and told us.
She explained that our son had no kidneys, which meant that there was no amniotic fluid around him, and with no amniotic fluid his lungs couldn’t develop.
This meant that he would be crushed in utero without the amniotic fluid, and then if he did survive until birth he would suffocate because his lungs wouldn’t work, and it would be incredibly painful for him.
A Fatal Decision Based on Incorrect Information
Bond related that she immediately made up her mind to end her son’s life after receiving his diagnosis.
Abortion was not offered by the Texas medical staff, and the medical professionals also didn’t advise the Bonds on how to obtain an abortion out of state. Bond recounted that all the doctors who consulted the couple said, “No baby with this diagnosis ha[s] ever survived.’” But this claim is false. Cleveland Clinic notes:
Until recently, a newborn with no kidneys and underdeveloped lungs had little hope of surviving outside of the uterus for more than a few hours. But new experimental treatments offer a reason to have hope.
The treatment involves injecting saline (saltwater) solution into the uterus during pregnancy to restore amniotic fluid levels. The fluid allows the fetus’s lungs to develop. After birth, the baby receives dialysis until a kidney transplant procedure can take place.
This treatment is still experimental and not widely available.
Live Action News has reported the stories of multiple children who were able to survive birth without kidneys and went on to survive with kidney donations, thanks to dedicated medical professionals and the generosity of their parents and organ donors.
In 2020, Andi Mahoney of Florida faced a diagnosis of bilateral renal agenesis for her baby girl, Emmie Hope, at 20 weeks; doctors told her family there was no chance of Emmie’s survival. Mahoney tracked down a medical team that would help her, underwent amnioinfusions during pregnancy, and after Emmie was born, cared for her on dialysis for two years before she was able to donate her own kidney to her.
Former U.S. Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler’s daughter was also diagnosed with bilateral renal agenesis and survived thanks to a kidney transplant from her father.
Killing to ‘prevent suffering’
Bond framed her decision to have an abortion as a way to suffer so her son wouldn’t have to.
“I knew immediately that the decision I would make was to terminate the pregnancy with an abortion. I could take on my baby’s pain so he wouldn’t have to do it,” Bond wrote.
Bond seems to believe that the abortion spared her son from pain because he did not have to experience suffocation shortly after birth. However, the two-day, second trimester abortion that Bond described is most likely the dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion, a horrific procedure in which the unborn baby is dismembered, torn limb from limb, and taken from the uterus in mangled pieces. The abortion procedure is also difficult on the mother and father.
Bond related that her husband witnessed the abortion.
Bond chose not to let the pregnancy take its natural course, which could at least have spared her son dismemberment, even if he passed away naturally in the womb. She ultimately refused to give her son a chance at life, and travelled to Denver with her husband and parents (the baby’s grandparents) for an abortion.
Bond described how her father found the abortion clinic that would end his grandson’s life.
More IVF, another diagnosis, and another abortion
Three months after the Bonds aborted baby Keith, they decided to implant another of the seven embryos they had made, at the urging of IVF specialists. Shockingly, this second son, whom the Bonds named Teddy, was also diagnosed with bilateral renal agenesis in the second trimester.
Again, the Bonds traveled to Colorado for an abortion.
Surprisingly, at the end of her article, Bond expresses a desire to try IVF again, though she thinks Texas law makes pregnancy dangerous.
Reality Check:
Bond implied that Texas pro-life laws prevented her from obtaining real medical care — but Texas law prohibits the direct and intentional killing of preborn children, which is not legitimate health care.
Texas law has abortion exceptions for when the pregnant mother’s life is in danger – even when danger of death is not imminent.
However, Bond claimed, “My state doesn’t love me,” adding that she believes “It is getting more and more difficult to safely have a family” in Texas. But it appears Bond’s own health was not endangered by her pregnancies; Bond’s fear was the possibility of having to observe the death of her babies shortly after birth.
Bond echoed the popular media narrative that pro-life laws harm women — but as outlined above, pro-life laws exist to protect preborn life–and not at the expense of women’s well-being.
Tragically, Bond seems to have allowed this natural and understandable fear to drive her to seek the abortions.
The Bonds’ experiences and losses are truly heartrending and tragic, and may have been so even if Bond had carried her sons to term. However, the premature and intentional killing of their boys before birth only made the situation more painful and tragic – especially for their sons.
Throughout her article, Bond referred to her sons by their names and calls them her babies, refusing to dehumanize them. However, she also believes ending their lives intentionally was a merciful — even sacrificial — act. And perhaps tellingly, she chose to simply refer to Keith’s intentional killing by abortion as his “death.”
The Bottom Line:
Like so many couples facing adverse prenatal diagnoses, the Bonds were told by medical professionals that their babies had no chance of survival, and society told them abortion was the most compassionate choice.
Couples like the Bonds deserve to know the truth about the value of life and about all possible medical options available to them to help save their children’s lives.
Tragically, the stories of Keith and Teddy are now being exploited to promote more death.
Parents should receive compassion and real medical help when experiencing complicated pregnancies. Their preborn children also deserve compassion and medical care–not the violent and senseless taking of their lives by abortion.
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