After unconfirmed prenatal screening results, doctors repeatedly pressured us to abort

It was a simple Saturday morning. My husband was out picking up coffee for us with my toddler, and I was home scrolling through my emails. I was 11 weeks pregnant at the time, and opened an email from our prenatal testing center.

Scary results

At just seven weeks, we got genetic screening for our little one because we wanted to find out the gender early, and this was one way to do it.

As I opened the email, I immediately got a sinking feeling; I saw red markings everywhere with “HIGH RISK” in all caps, and other scary and uncertain language.

Trying not to panic, I scrolled down to the explanation, which said there were a large amount of chromosomes detected in our little one — extra ones that shouldn’t be there — and that this could signal “Triploidy.”

I immediately googled that word, because I had never heard it before. And what I found made me feel light-headed:

"Prenatal demise: Most babies with triploidy are stillborn or miscarry early in pregnancy.

The prognosis for babies with triploidy is very poor. Most babies do not survive beyond birth, and those who do typically have severe health problems and a short life expectancy."

As I continued to scroll, I heard my husband walk through the door. I burst into tears as I told him what I was reading, and he started doing some research.

“There’s no way this is true,” he said. “You’re healthy, baby has a healthy heartbeat, there have been no signs of this… why don’t we call the doctor?”

Abortion as the First Suggestion

Since it was the weekend, we only were able to talk with a nurse over the phone. She explained that they would need to do an ultrasound, but first we would need to meet with a genetic counselor to discuss our options.

My husband and I looked at each other, confused. “Didn’t you say, though, that nothing was confirmed? That we need to do an ultrasound to see if our baby even has what the test says she might have?" we asked the nurse.

She replied that, yes, we were correct, but we still needed to meet with the genetic counselor first to see if we wanted to continue the pregnancy.

My husband and I were shocked. This lady was actually suggesting abortion before we had any conclusive results on anything!

We assured her that we want to go through with the pregnancy regardless, and she pressed that we still must meet with the genetic counselor.

High Pressure

I scheduled the meeting, hoping to gain some clarity on what the tests might mean. Instead, I was met with a barrage of questions about my family history, trying to find anything that might suggest that our baby might have some sort of genetic abnormality.

As the counselor was going through the questions, I interrupted her. “I appreciate you trying to find more information about why the test might be reading this way, but my husband and I love our baby, and are going to carry our baby to term regardless of what any testing might read," I said. "I just want to know: what can we do to find out accurate results to see what we could do to help our baby?”

She sighed and began talking to me about the “maternal mortality rate” of mothers who choose not to abort their preborn babies who have triploidy, saying that it would be very, very risky for my health to carry to term and that she wouldn’t recommend it. I assured her I was confident in our decision.

Fast forward to our ultrasound: we went in and saw our beautiful baby girl on the screen, moving around and sucking her thumb, and after a long analysis the doctors assured us that all looked to be well, but they couldn’t be 100% sure without an amniocentesis.

As that has a high risk of miscarriage, we refused.

Prenatal Testing Shouldn't Be Used to Destroy

Through all of the different appointments and phone calls, almost every single doctor and nurse we spoke with offered abortion. This was based on a very early blood test that has a high rate of inaccuracy. In fact, the New York Times just recently reported that they can be wrong up to 93% of the time! And yet, abortion was offered as one of the first choices. 

In those moments on phone calls and Zoom meetings with the doctors, I couldn’t help but feel sick to my stomach. Was I hearing them correctly? Were they truly offering to kill my *potentially* sick baby instead of offering solutions or even further testing?

As I sat there feeling my baby, who was actively kicking in my belly, being called the “products of conception,” I shuddered at how twisted their words were, and how easily they could have killed my baby if I had said, “Yeah… let’s just get an abortion this time. We’ll try again for a 'healthy' pregnancy in a few months.”

Right now, I’m 22 weeks pregnant. I feel our little girl kicking throughout the day, and my toddler pats my belly and smiles when I tell her she has a “little sister in there.” We can’t wait to meet her in four months — our little baby who has been designed just as she is by God for our family.

Prenatal testing can be used for good, but it can also be a deadly tool used to convince families to brutally murder their little ones.