Anderson Cooper’s 360 on CNN carries two first-person accounts from women who received prenatal diagnoses of fetal abnormalities. Lynda Waddington, who received a diagnosis of anencephaly, got an abortion; Diane Elder (left), who got a diagnosis of Trisomy 18, carried her child to term. The Waddington interview aired first; Elder wrote the show an email in reponse to it, and was subsequently asked to appear on camera. (Video here.)

Elder chose not to have an abortion following the diagnosis of Trisomy 18 in the fifth month of her pregnancy, “even though medically and legally she had every right to,” Cooper said. Her child was born naturally and lived for 12 hours. Elder says she wanted her child to die a natural death. “I did not want my child to die at my hand.” An excerpt:

Anderson Cooper: Do you regret it, looking back on it?

Diane Elder: Not it in one – not one minute of it. She died peacefully with no pain. The suffering was ours for two weeks, of course, at least two weeks. Really a whole year. We were in mourning for her, as you would grieve over any loved one who dies. That’s a normal part of life. You can’t get away from the fact that people die and people get sick and they die. But we felt very clean when it was over. And as though the situation was – there was closure. There was a resolution.

Anderson Cooper: Obviously, other women, other families in that situation make choices. Do you believe that women should have the right to make that choice?

Diane Elder: When a baby is a fully formed, living baby, I don’t think that really we’ve ever had the choice to take a life at that stage. I think that that’s a fully formed baby. I mean, I think you had some of the pictures up there. You saw her. She was a fully formed baby. She was born early, by the way. She came out at eight months.

Waddington said George Tiller “most likely” saved her life by terminating her pregnancy following a diagnosis of anencephaly. Waddington, who has written about her abortion, did not appear on camera; she said she has received threats in the past. An excerpt:

Cooper: … the argument you hear probably most often from even some people who support abortions in general that if it’s just the mental health of the mother, the depression of the mother, then that’s not legitimate enough reason. And you say that’s not true. That’s inappropriate.

Waddington: I do believe that’s inappropriate. I think that’s a decision that the mother and the doctor and the family should be able to make on their own. We wouldn’t look at someone suffering from cancer and say that you’re too depressed to make your decisions regarding your family and your life. Why do we put that on women?

(Photo from CNN video)

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 6:58 am and is filed under abortion, genetics, NOT2BEMISSED, personal stories, prenatal diagnosis, trisomy 18. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.