As a trainee, I had the honor of caring for a patient who courageously opted to terminate her pregnancy. She was a woman in her late twenties, happily married, and the mother of an adorable toddler girl who asked me if I was going to “help make Momma better…” I answered that I was.

The patient’s current pregnancy had been planned down to the anticipated delivery month, as she was a school teacher and wanted to give birth in early summer so as not to miss school and yet maximize her postpartum time at home.

Everything went like clockwork… until the 20-week ultrasound revealed that the fetus had complete anencephaly, which, for those of you who don’t recognize the term, indicates a congenital defect resulting in the fetus having no functional brain tissue, skull deformities, etc. It is a death sentence, as the vast majority of these babies lack the ability to regulate their breathing, heart rate, etc. due to the missing brain tissue. Mothers also frequently suffer health consequences, and even death, from trying to continue pregnancies with anencephaly, and commonly labor does not progress normally as the fetal head is unable to engage the cervix to dilate. It’s a horrific and tragic complication.

This mother, after learning that her fetus was severely afflicted, elected to terminate the pregnancy as her risk of becoming severely ill or dying due to it was not insignificant. We had a long conversation, during which I learned so much, but the bottom line was that she was not willing to sacrifice being a healthy, present mother to her toddler and wife to her husband for the sake of a fetus with abnormalities that would be fatal after its birth. I have so much respect for her to this day. Outlawing abortion or restricting it to before 20 weeks will do nothing but harm these women and their families, and variations of the story are not uncommon, since frequently the initial detailed anatomy scan is not performed until 20-21 weeks, placing them in an impossible position.