Karen's Choice

Today Rick Santorum (R-PA) is leading the fight to ban so-called "partial birth abortions". Santorum believes he has a point based on this column he wrote back in May of 1997.

Some excerpts:

We had been through the sonogram routine before -- the technician would turn out the lights, spread gel on my wife Karen's growing abdomen, and right there on the screen we would get the first glimpse of our baby. This time was different. Sitting in the darkened room, explaining what we were seeing to our three children, ages 5, 3 and 1, everything seemed fine. But the technician was strangely quiet, reexamining a dark circle on the screen. The doctor entered and repeated the routine. Finally, we were coldly given the verdict: "Your child has a fatal defect and is going to die."

Through our tears erupted the most basic of all parental emotions: We were going to save our child, whom we already loved.

[snip...]

We adjourned to a nearby room where Donnenfeld gave us three options: "Your first option is to terminate the pregnancy." We knew abortion was a legal option, but it was inconceivable to us to end the life of our baby because he wasn't perfect or because he might not live a long life. While we couldn't look into his eyes or hold him, he was no less our child than our other children. And we loved him every bit as much. The second option was to do nothing -- and our son would live only as long as he was in the womb. The third option would entail several tests and possibly intrauterine surgery.

Karen's response was to do whatever it took to save our son.

Our son went through two days of tests to determine kidney function. If there wasn't any, there would be no point in proceeding -- he would not develop enough in the womb to survive outside. The first day the test results were so bad that we discussed whether it was worth going through a second painful day for Karen. Adzick said we needed a miracle overnight.

We prayed more than I can remember for our son, named that day Gabriel Michael, after the great archangels. The next day our prayers were answered with a miraculous improvement; the kidneys were not just OK, but functioning normally! We could do the surgery that would save his life.

[snip...]

Unfortunately there were complications:

Karen was seized with horrible chills and her temperature soared to over 105 degrees. There was little that could be done. Intrauterine infections are untreatable as long as the source of the infection -- the amniotic sac -- is in place. We knew that at 20 weeks Gabriel could not survive outside the womb. But, unless the amniotic sac -- including our son -- was delivered, Karen would soon die, and Gabriel with her.

While Karen was given an antibiotic to reduce the fever, she clung to the baby with all her strength. But the labor intensified -- the body had identified the problem and taken measures to eliminate the infection. She did everything she could to delay the inevitable, but every doctor gave the same verdict: Gabriel would have to be delivered. Again, the doctors told us that abortion was a legal option to protect Karen's health and possibly save her life.

But with the support of Dr. Cynthia Simms and Adzick, who had become a supportive force for us throughout, we arrived at another way that gave our son the love and respect he deserved and gave Karen and me a gift we will forever cherish.

Within hours, at 12:45 a.m., our son was born. He was a beautiful, fully formed creation -- a small, pink package of joy, sorrow, hope and questions. We bundled him up, put a little hat on his head to keep him warm. We held him, sang to him and cried for him. We knew the end was near, so we tried to pack a lifetime of love into those few hours. He was too small to make a sound, but he spoke so powerfully to our hearts. His eyes never opened to see us, but he allowed us to see in him the face of God. Two hours later, he died in my arms.

Okay, I don't want to give short shrift to the rest of Santorum's story, but, suffice to say, his wife was lucky. And she was more than lucky...she had the right to make her own choice. Gabriel Michael Santorum died at the age of two hours and Karen Santorum survived. But Karen Santorum was allowed by the government of the United States to take that risk and to make that choice with the help of her husband and her doctors.

Today Santorum argues to deny women the same rights that his wife enjoyed. Being a grieving father doesn't make him any less of a hypocrite.