A Japanese-speaking couple with their second, highly desired pregnancy discovered at 23 weeks that the baby was severely growth restricted, and has no fluid around it. There was also a cardiac anomaly. The maternal-fetal medicine physician and genetic counselors told this couple that most likely the baby would die before reaching full term. I had to use an interpreter to help counsel them about their options.

They chose to end the pregnancy at 23 weeks because they did not want to prolong the suffering of their baby. They requested a segment of the umbilical cord–a custom in their culture to preserve the memory of the child they wanted. If there were abortion restrictions in place, my patient would have had to carry the pregnancy until the fetus died, knowing that it was going to have a very poor prognosis and inevitably pass. That is cruel for the mother and father. The couple underwent an uncomplicated procedure and were grateful for the opportunity to have an option to do the most humane thing and end the pregnancy.