Modern technology and medical science has repeatedly proven that a preborn baby is not merely a “clump of cells” and “potential life.” But perhaps even more personally powerful than science is the true stories of real women. The vivid reality of the preborn child’s humanity meets us face-first when women tragically experience miscarriage. While our society neglects to call a preborn baby a child when it comes to abortion, it’s inarguable that a woman suffering miscarriage has lost a baby. And yet, babies in these two different situations are actually not different types of human beings. An eight-week-old baby who is miscarried is at the same level of development and has the same humanity as an eight-week-old baby who is aborted. That’s why the women who courageously share their miscarriage stories with others actually save lives and change hearts on abortion as they highlight the beautiful humanity of children in the womb at every age.
After a miscarriage, Annabelle was born at 8 weeks, 5 days and is held by her mother. This is a common age for Planned Parenthood to commit its violent abortions.
In 2017, several miscarriage stories helped turn the tide and convince people of the reality of life in the womb. Remember and share them with us.
Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch
Celebrities get attention, for better or for worse. And while sometimes the focus is on petty things, the voice of a celebrity uttering truth can change someone’s direction. This is the case with CBS sitcom star Melissa Rauch, of Big Bang Theory fame. Rauch just this month became a mom to baby Sadie, but Sadie is her second child.
The star lost her first child to miscarriage and courageously went public with the story, penning a personal narrative in Glamour magazine, as Live Action News reported in July. Rauch wrote:
The miscarriage I experienced was one of the most profound sorrows I have ever felt in my life. It kickstarted a primal depression that lingered in me. The image of our baby on the ultrasound monitor – without movement, without a heartbeat – after we had seen that same little heart healthy and flickering just two weeks prior completely blindsided us and haunts me to this day. I kept waiting for the sadness to lift…but it didn’t…. the heartbreak was always lurking. Inescapable reminders, like the unfulfilled due date, came around like a heavy cloud. A day I had once marked on my calendar with such excitement was now a memorial of a crushed dream.
Appearing happy and sharing in joyous moments didn’t mean that Rauch had moved on from her miscarriage. While life went on, she says that ‘heartbreak was always lurking.’”
Since miscarriage is a topic many people are uncomfortable discussing, Rauch spent a lot of time telling herself to get over it. However, she realized that since no one talks about miscarriage there really isn’t a set way to deal with the loss.
“You’re not necessarily going to a funeral or taking time off from work to mourn, but that doesn’t change the fact that something precious has been unexpectedly taken from your life,” she explained.
In Rauch’s Glamour story, she courageously mentions an excellent point:
Miscarriage, by the way, deserves to be ranked as one of the worst, most blame-inducing medical terms ever. To me, it immediately conjures up an implication that it was the woman’s fault, like she somehow “mishandled the carrying of this baby.”
The stark contrast of Rauch’s story with those celebrities who tell how they willingly chose to take the lives of their preborn babies has helped women see there is passion, emotion, and, above all, life in the preborn baby in the womb. No matter what one facet of Hollywood might say, pregnancy loss is the most painful ache of all because in every miscarriage — and every abortion — a child is lost.
Olympic Gymnast Shawn Johnson East
The ache of miscarriage is one that former Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson East knows well, unfortunately. She and her husband Andrew, shared about their loss in a YouTube video in October. October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.
Shawn emotionally shares her fears and excitement at the beginning of the video, when multiple pregnancy tests confirm her pregnancy. Later, the video cuts to her husband, Andrew, who says Shawn has asked him to come home right away because she has a surprise. At the time, they were in two different cities. He says on video that he suspects she might be pregnant, and goes through all of his emotions in that moment, saying, “To my future kid, if you are on the way, I love you. I have no idea who you are, what you are, or what you’ll be like, but I’m pumped to meet you. Seriously…. I’m gonna be the best dad I can….”
When he arrives home, Shawn gives Andrew a package, and opening it, he smiles. Later, we learn that she gave him a pair of Converse baby shoes to announce the happy news.
Sadly, almost immediately after the joyous scene, we learn that Shawn has begun having severe cramping and bleeding. After a phone call, she and Andrew set up a time to go and see a physician, where Shawn receives an ultrasound, and finds out that her baby has died. The doctor tells her that above all, she should not blame herself for the miscarriage.
The courageous couple posted on their Instagram pages as well, where Shawn wrote:
“pregnancy + heartbreak”. New video is up on our YouTube page. Link in bio above. This is by far the hardest video we’ve ever posted but we felt as though it was a story that needed to be shared as so many struggle with the same thing. @andrewdeast I love you more than anything in this world and I know you are going to make the greatest Daddy in the world someday. Thank you for being my rock through all of this.
The power of the joy contrasted with the sorrow sent a clear message to viewers and fans: a baby, a human being, had died. The idea of actively choosing that death through abortion becomes incomprehensible.
San Francisco 49er Marquise Goodwin
San Francisco 49er Marquise Goodwin boldly and sorrowfully spoke out on Instagram, sharing that his wife, Morgan, was in preterm labor with their son. The tiny boy did not service. Live Action News reported in November on the story of the couple’s 19-week-old preborn son.
In Goodwin’s Instagram post, he writes:
I just wanna thank those who’ve genuinely prayed for @morganakamomo & myself through out this pregnancy. Unfortunately we lost our baby boy due to some complications, and had to prematurely deliver him early this morning around 4am. Although we are hurt, I am grateful for the experience and grateful that God blessed me with a wife as courageous and resilient as Morgan. The pain (physically, mentally, & emotionally) that she has endured is unbelievable. Please Pray for the Goodwin family.
The post has received close to 200,000 likes.
On Thanksgiving, Goodwin’s wife posted a similar image to the one she posted soon after their loss:
Her caption reads:
I am so thankful for GOD, because he BLESSED me with you @marquisegoodwin , so that WE can make it through the storm TOGETHER. Happy Thanksgiving from the THREE of us. #MissingYou #BabyGoodwin #UnfulfilledHoliday #StayingStrong #justForYou #IKnowYoureWatching #BabyAngel #GoneButNotForgotten
It’s Not Just Celebrities
The attention that famous people bring to life in the womb helps spotlight the reality of the preborn child, but every day, women lose their children in tragic miscarriages, and it is equally — if not more — courageous when they dare share personal pictures of their preborn children who died far too soon.
Jaelyn Barnes and 11-Week-Old Nielson
This is what Jaelyn Barnes did when she lost her fifth child at the end of her first trimester. Live Action News reported on the devastation she and her other four children and husband Garth experienced:
Jaelyn and her husband learned that their baby had passed away, but her body had not yet begun the natural process that usually takes place at this time. Soon after, however, she began passing clots, as well as her son’s body, and had to have a D&C procedure due to severe blood loss. She wrote, “I prayed and prayed that I would be able to SEE my little baby. And luckily I passed him right as we got to the hospital. The doctor carefully popped the sac and put him in a cup for us. He is absolutely perfect. A real small baby. He had no physical abnormalities that we could tell. A perfect little nose and ear and face. 10 fingers and 10 toes.”
Jaelyn bravely shared that picture on her Facebook page.
“Today marks one month since we had baby buddy,” she wrote. “It’s funny how much this experience changed our lives. How someone so small can make such an impact on our lives…. After I had him, I felt very strongly that I needed to share HIM. A picture of HIM. His perfect little 11 week body.”
This is the photo she shared of baby Nielson at 11 weeks:
Jaelyn told Live Action News that she chose to share her story on social media “because even though I have always been pro life, I didn’t even know that the baby was so developed so young. I had commonly heard people say it is just a clump of cells. Which clearly it is not!… I wish more pictures were on the internet of babies lost so early. It would definitely help people to see these babies as what they are….babies!”
Her choice to share resulted in lives changed:
Jaelyn said she received “so many positive comments” from people on social media, adding that some have even converted to the pro-life position because of Nielson’s photo:
“Many were from those who were already pro life saying they didn’t even know a baby was that developed so young. But I also received a message from someone saying that because of that post, her AND her hubby have changed from pro choice to pro life. She was always pro women and their bodies so it was their choice. She didn’t think the baby was that developed at that young age. But the picture of Nielson showed her that it very much is a baby. A perfect little human. With eyes and ears, a nose and perfect little mouth, 10 fingers and ten toes.
She even asked if she could save that photo of him on her phone so she could have it handy for whenever someone said a baby is just a ‘clump of cells’. It was the most amazing message I have ever received and I felt like THAT alone made Nielson’s life here complete….
And then I had the thought…what if we could get his picture to spread even more. Reach even more people!”
Jaelyn’s post, indeed, reached many people, and men and women are now pro-life because of it.
Britiney Whetstine’s Son, Born at 10 Weeks with His Mouth Open
There is little that was as powerful in 2017 as seeing a preborn 10-week old baby with his mouth open, after he tried to live and breathe. As Felicia Langdon of Life Defenders shared in a post with Live Action News, Britiney Whetstine’s apparently normal pregnancy went wrong after she began feeling “pulling pains” after an ultrasound. Dismissed as likely “bladder spams,” she was sent home on bed rest when “the excruciating cramping started, followed by a gush.”
She realized her water had broken, and, Langdon writes:
She went to the bathroom to clean herself up before going to the emergency room. Right before she sat down on the toilet, she felt a strong urge to push. No matter how she tried to avoid it, her body took over and begin pushing. She felt utterly helpless.
That helplessness turned into despair when she caught her son, Hayden Ray Whetstine, in her hands, on November 30th at 6:05 pm.
“He moved and opened his mouth to try to breathe,” Britiney said. “I watched in despair as his heart stopped beating, and screamed so loud my neighbours came over. My husband and mother-in-law came rushing in. We all broke down together.”
What could be more vividly tragic than seeing a tiny baby gasp for breathe before dying? Commenter Suzu M. wrote on the Live Action News story, “I understand. I lost mine at 9 weeks. I was amazed to see the wonderful development at such a tiny (1-ish inch) size. It was a very sad time, but was also a great opportunity to see The Truth! Hugs to this family.”
And on a Facebook post of this story, shared by Live Action President Lila Rose, commenter Jessie Nichole wrote:
My children kissed the picture in the article. My 3 year old saw it and asked me, “mama, baby died?“- without me telling him. Children know what adults refuse to see.
How can we look at these babies — who were living human beings — and say that they and other tiny ones like them are only clumps of cells and potential lives? Each of these parents knows the loss of a child, not of “pregnancy tissue”; each grieves because a precious human child’s life has been snuffed out. Science has advanced greatly ever since Roe v. Wade, when even ultrasound technology was not as widely adopted as it is today.
Today, we know that babies are developed in-utero long before most can imagine and are quickly developing even before women know they are pregnant. From the moment of conception, human development in the womb is lightning fast and absolutely incredible. And, as Live Action News reported in April, a new scientific study shows that even babies in the first trimester may experience pain and have “’adult-like’” patterns of nerves.”
READ: 12 amazing facts that prove the preborn’s humanity in the first trimester
Almost 45 years after the infamous Roe v. Wade ruling that pushed abortion on demand on the nation, stories of women, babies, and miscarriage continue to prove, without reasonable doubt, that life in the womb exists. And that life is human, deserving of our loving protection.
