What Would You Do if You Were Pregnant with Another Woman’s Child
- Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 6:09
- Battleground Iowa
- 1,007 views
- 49 comments
By Emily Geiger
Sometimes, the best way to win people’s hearts and minds on the abortion issue is to show a real life example of someone living out their pro-life convictions, even under very difficult circumstances.
That is why Sarah Palin’s pro-life testimony was so compelling, and why she scared the heck out of and became an immediate enemy of all those in the pro-abortion camp. It’s kinda hard to argue that there’s nothing wrong with aborting Down Syndrome babies when one is on the news being loved and cared for and bringing joy to the world on a daily basis.
And we have another amazing pro-life example in the news this week.
Imagine wanting a baby so badly, but not being able to have one. You scrape together enough money for in vitro, and you’re lucky enough to have a child.
But, you’ve got five embryos “left over,” and because you believe that all life, even those embryos, are precious, you decide to do in vitro one last time. The doctors tell you that this is probably your last chance at getting pregnant and being able to carry the baby to term.
You have the embryos implanted and you find out you are pregnant. But, just a few weeks into the pregnancy, the fertility clinic calls and says that there was a mistake, and the baby growing inside you isn’t really yours.
But you know that killing that baby is wrong. This particular pregnancy isn’t “wanted” by you, but that baby is wanted and loved.
So you know there is only one thing to do.
You have to have that baby. Because it is a human being, and you love it enough to give it life and give it up to the family where it belongs.
This story is reality for Carolyn Savage and her husband.
And not only are they brave enough to do the right thing, they are brave enough to let the public see their struggles and be an example of a family living out their faith and the courage of their convictions.
This woman is brave enough to give a child life, despite the great personal sacrifice it took to do so.
And if this woman can do that for a baby that’s not even her own, can’t any other woman do the same for her own flesh and blood?
If this woman can love someone else’s child enough to give it life, can’t we all love our own children enough to do the same?
About the Author
Battleground Iowa has written 182 stories on this site.
Emily Geiger writes from a conservative perspective on everything from politics to religion to pop culture. Like the original Emily of Revolutionary War era, this Emily is delivering important messages crucial to winning the raging war of the time, but today, this is a culture war rather than a traditional one. And, like the original Emily, sometimes it takes a woman to do (or say) that which lesser men lack the courage and tenacity to do.
49 Comments on “What Would You Do if You Were Pregnant with Another Woman’s Child”
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Thanks to the Savages. May they find peace and happiness.
Em, this is a class couple. Mama and I have been following this story on TODAY and are impressed with the grace exhibited by this couple as well as the couple who are the biological parents of the fertilized egg of this sorry situation.
Both couples nicely deflected Maredith Viera’s attempts to take the conversations into the area of controversy so-loved by TV magazine format programs. Viera was attempting to ask if there was any anger and where that should be directed (I read into that the implied question, “Are you planning to sue?” ) and each couple was gracefully successful at deflecting that line of questioning so that in each case, Viera let it drop right away.
Em, I think though that you are belittling the dignity of these two couples by stretching your story to somehow shine a flattering light on the talibimbo.
“because you believe that all life, even those embryos” so now embryos are considered “life” ? what about sperm cells ? if so i got a whole lot of new comedy material to try out. these pro life stories keep getting nuttier and nuttier..
Embryos are life. Sperm cells don’t count. They have not yet met an egg so sorry, your comedy material will have to wait. This story is far from nutty. It is one of heroics.
Prove embryos are not life.
Lobo….this isn’t a “nutty” pro-life story…
This is a story of not only courage, but also of a couple full of grace and dignity.
Let’s be honest here..the media would have rather covered a story where the mother finds out the news that she was carrying some other family’s child…had the baby aborted..and then it ends up in an ugly court case with high drama and publicity.
In a day and age where we need role models of courage and grace, Carolyn Savage is a living saint. Motther Teresa said we are not called to do extraordinanry things, we are called to do ordinar things with extraordinary love. Carolyn Savage is a holy hero for making the right choice in a world that celebrates too many wrong rights.
Great story. That’s an amazing commitment to life. Good for them!
This is a wonderful story! I echo what Polly Twocents said. I’d also add that I feel this same way about *anyone* that adopts a child. I think adoptive parents are heroes, and so is Carolyn Savage.
I am not sure this makes the exact statement you claim, the woman is incredibly nice and generous to give of her body like that, we can only hope that she is able to have child of her own. Instead of trying to turn it into some political bastardization of the story (including adding your beloved queen of the christian taliban into the story, can you actually go a week without bringing her up???), let the story stand on its own as an incredible act of generosity from one person to another.
Silence
“But, you’ve got five embryos “left over,” and because you believe that all life, even those embryos, are precious, you decide to do in vitro one last time.”
Really??? Or were they just trying to have a baby again?? You have no idea what was going on in their heads except they wanted a child, you completely made the rest up.
Silence
Read the articles linked. She and her husband viewed those embryos as life, and that’s why they tried one more time, so that their embryos would not die.
Why don’t you stop making stuff up?
I’ll believe the “pro-life” movement is serious when they start picketing IVF clinics. You know what they do with all those extra embryos, right? They discard them. Most couples who go through IVF create more embryos than are eventually implanted, but the “pro-life” movement doesn’t want to condemn them because they are mostly married couples who want to have a baby.
If you really believed that discarding a fertilized egg was murder, you would be trying to shut down the IVF clinics, but you don’t consider a couple who’s gone through that process to be a morally culpable as a woman who had an abortion for whatever reason.
As a pro-choice woman, I completely respect the choice Mrs. Savage has made.
In fact, I have two friends who continued pregnancies that endangered their own health. The experience didn’t make either of them any less pro-choice. They made their own choices and wouldn’t want to force those risks on others.
I also know of a widower (Iowa native but now living in another state) who is raising two kids. His wife had a leukemia recurrence while pregnant with their second child and did not want to have an abortion. Instead, she continued the pregnancy until the early labor could safely be induced. She died and left a toddler and a preschooler. Her family is still pro-choice.
“If you really believed that discarding a fertilized egg was murder, you would be trying to shut down the IVF clinics, but you don’t consider a couple who’s gone through that process to be a morally culpable as a woman who had an abortion for whatever reason.”
Ummm…the Catholic Church does! Thanks for pointing out the hypocrisy, though.
I personally am also troubled by IVF. I don’t think I could do that in my family. I think the reason many people feel a little more okay with it is because the goal is to create life, not snuff it out in a brutal sadistic manner.
More and more people are becoming aware of the extra embryo problem and, like the family in the story, are making a concerted effort to give all of their embryos a chance at life.
What I don’t understand is how a “pro-choice” person can value the life of her unborn child so much that she was willing to die for it, but then turn around and say that any other unborn child is not so worthy.
What happened to “equality?”
The point is emily, is that the women had the choice, that is the issue you keep missing, the women in all these stories made their choices based on their beliefs and not the beliefs of others forced upon them.
Silence
Exactly. You are a bit uncomfortable with IVF, but since the goal is to have a child, you don’t mind if a half-dozen or so other embryos get destroyed in the process.
On the other hand, you are outraged by the woman who might want to terminate a pregnancy for whatever reason. The anti-choice movement wants to punish “bad” women who want abortions but has nothing to say to “good” couples going through IVF.
A pro-choice woman might be willing to risk her own health or life for her unborn child without saying that the government should force every woman in her situation to do the same thing.
One of my friends learned at the 20-week ultrasound that her baby was missing vital organs and had no chance of life outside the womb. Instead of terminating the pregnancy, she chose to continue it until the baby died naturally in utero. That took about another month, during which time her blood pressure skyrocketed and she had excessive amniotic fluid. She was risking a stroke. She and her husband made that choice together but wouldn’t want to force it on another woman.
The “pro-life” movement would say tough luck, wait it out until your baby dies and hope you don’t have a stroke.
Aren’t the unborn babies being killed having someone else’s beliefs forced on them?
I think you are missing the point. Other people’s beliefs don’t make one baby less valuable than another.
yes desdem, the hypocracy runs thick. It is amazing how the party of personal freedom and no government intervention wants to intrude on the most personal and hardest choices of all.
Silence
Can we please not pretend that the vast majority of abortion (well over 90%) have anything to do with the health of the baby or the mother?
Pro-choicers always point to some friend they know who almost died while pregnant, but the vast majority of abortions are done for reasons such as convenience, lack of money, not with the father anymore, etc.
http://womensissues.about.com/od/reproductiverights/a/AbortionReasons.htm
“…the most personal and hardest choices of all.” — Silence
You mean murder?
I will scott, if you pro lifers admit you don’t give a damn about the children after they are born.
Silence
“if you pro lifers admit you don’t give a damn about the children after they are born.” — Silence
Prove it, big mouth.
it is easy pegster, you lack of support for universal healthcare. including prenatal care, and care for children.
Silence
Kids in need already get free healthcare from the state. Most people I know are fine with that. Stop telling lies.
Scott,
It’s impossible…Silence is addicted to lying. And has obviously never heard of charity, either.
I wouldn’t call 9 million children a lie, but it is an inconvenient truth for you scott, 41,000 in Iowa, 5.5% of Iowa’s children are uninsured. Who cares about them right scott??? or the 28,000 kids who die who don’t see their first birthday, who cares right scott, or the 800,000 pregnant women, who cares, right scott. I guess it is all a lie if fox news says it isn’t true, right scott??? 2,200 children born uninsured everyday, that is almost as many people who died on 9/11, we can spent trillions on a war to avenge them in a country that had nothing to do with the attack, but we can’t spend that to insure our children, can we scott, because it is all a lie, at least in your fantasy world scott.
Silence
Uninsured Children & Pregnant Women in America
9 million children – that’s one in nine – have no health insurance. Millions more children are underinsured―with health plans that seriously limit their access to critical services such as vision and dental care, prescription drugs and mental health care.
A child is born uninsured every 39 seconds. That’s more than 2,200 children each day.
About 800,000 pregnant women are uninsured, while each year, approximately 28,000 infants die in America before they can reach their first birthday.
One out of 8 Black children is uninsured. One out of 5 Hispanic children is uninsured, compared with one out of every 13 White children. The disproportionate lack of health coverage is one of many disadvantages that can affect a minority child’s chances of growing up in excellent health.
Having Insurance Makes a Real Difference for Children
Uninsured children are 10 times more likely than insured children to have unmet medical needs, such as untreated asthma, diabetes or obesity, and are 5 times as likely as an insured child to go more than 2 years without seeing a doctor. Regular health screenings help doctors identify and treat problems preventively and are crucial to a child’s healthy development.
An estimated two-thirds of children and youth with mental health needs are not getting the help they need. In fact, unmet need is as high today as it was 20 years ago. Children without mental health coverage are at risk of entering the Pipeline.
Uninsured children are more than 4 times as likely as an insured child to have an unmet dental health need. In 2000, children missed more than 51 million hours of school because of dental-related illness.
Uninsured children are more likely than insured children to perform poorly in school; in contrast, enrolling children in health coverage has been associated with greatly improved school performance.
Our failure to protect access to health care for the most vulnerable among us affects all of us, regardless of our own family’s coverage or financial well-being. Fortunately, this problem is solvable. Join CDF’s Health Coverage for All Children Campaign in advocating for real health care reform for children in 2009.
I say again, when are you hypocritical pro lifers going to care about born children and their health care and living needs???
Silence
Yes, we just don’t give a damn about those kids…we don’t give a damn so much that if they need it we give them free health care (HAWK-I), subsidized day-care and preschool (Head Start), food (WIC), shelter (Section 8 housing assistance)…need I go on, Silence??
read the numbers hawk, they don’t lie, and most of those programs have been woefully underfunded by eight years of bush with six years of republican control of congress, they sound good, but they need the money. So try again hawk, you really need to go on.
Silence
or I am sure the CDF is a bunch of liars too. isn’t that right scott, hawk???
Silence
Charity, Silence. Look into it.
It’s where you take your own money and help someone rather than taking someone else’s money and then bragging about how wonderful you are.
I see once presented with the real numbers scott, you don’t have too much to say.
Silence
No, Silence, it only proves that this isn’t heaven. Regardless of how much money the lib Dems take from American workers to create their quasi-Utopia, some things can never be perfected because there are human beings involved.
Perhaps if we could get more help from those who fixate on tree-hugger causes, we could do a better job for the impoverished.
just curious scott, do you just not count the 41,000 uninsured children in Iowa, or don’t care? And what of pregnant women, if they fetus is a life, shouldn’t they get healthcare too?? or do you not care what kind of shape they are born in, just as long as they are born. what is the answer scott??
Silence
Silence,
There are programs in place to provide for all those things and they’ve been in place for decades. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.
A family of 2 (one parent, one child) can earn up to almost $44,000 per year and still qualify for Hawk-I.
A family of 4 can earn up to $66,000 per year and still qualify for Hawk-I.
If there are children who are uninsured in Iowa, it is because 1) their parents can afford insurance but have decided to spend their money on something else, or 2) their parents have failed to sign them up for this free and/or very low cost insurance (which all families find out about through the public school system at the beginning of every year).
The children here are being taken care of, if their parents let us.
http://www.hawk-i.org/en_US/index.html
the numbers don’t lie lydiot, I am sure it is convenient to blame the parents and it makes you feel better, but not the case. most every parent will try to get kids insurance, despite what is in place, what has been underfunded by the way, kids are still falling through the cracks, that stats don’t lie. I guess you are comrfortable with over 5% of kids in Iowas being uninsured and almost 12% nationwide, yes it is all the parents fault.
Silence
and still no response for the pregnant women.
Silence
oh wait, I suppose there is all kinds of care that pregnant women just don’t want.
Silence
you know this stuff isn’t that hard to find if you want to be informed instead of having your head stuck permanently up your arses.
September 2009
As the health care debate heats up, the needs of children are being pushed aside by special interest groups and loud noise from town hall meetings. Health reform is taking shape in a way that could leave millions of children worse–rather than better–off at the same time that insurance companies and drug companies stand to make billions in additional profits. Under the current health proposals, millions of children could face higher costs for health coverage and have fewer benefits. No child should be left worse off as a result of health reform.
Health care reform is complicated, but ensuring that children have access to the health care they need to grow up healthy is not. No matter what type of health care system Congress decides to implement, there are three elements that would make it simple for all children to enroll in affordable and comprehensive health coverage:
1. The health system must be simple and seamless with a streamlined application and enrollment process to make it easy for children to get and stay enrolled. State bureaucratic barriers now keep about two-thirds of the uninsured children who are eligible for CHIP or Medicaid from enrolling.
In addition to keeping children out of health care coverage, barriers like frequent renewal requirements have been shown to actually increase costs by creating major additional administrative burdens. Unless health reform requires states to eliminate excessive enrollment barriers and implement a simplified application and enrollment process, millions of children eligible for health coverage through CHIP and Medicaid could continue to be uninsured.
2. Benefits must be comprehensive. Health reform must guarantee every child access to all medically necessary health and mental health services from head to toe to maximize a child’s health and development.
A comprehensive benefit package recognizes the importance for children of all ages to get regular and periodic screenings and assessments at various intervals throughout their lives. It also takes the next step to guarantee children the full range of comprehensive primary and preventive coverage they need and all medically necessary treatment to address health and mental health problems and chronic health conditions identified through these screens. This level of coverage is widely considered to be the best standard for age-appropriate child health coverage.
3. Coverage must be affordable. All children up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (about $66,000 for a family of four) need cost sharing protections consistent with current out-of-pocket limits in Medicaid.
Research shows that premiums in Medicaid and CHIP reduce enrollment if the cost is too high relative to a families’ income and other expenses. High premiums prevent families from applying and also cause them to disenroll. In addition, high co-payments can dissuade families from accessing needed services.
Lower income women who would not otherwise qualify for medicaid can often qualify for it if they are pregnant. The income standards are raised just for the purpose of helping women get prenatal care. Some states allow women to stay on medicaid for a year after the birth of their child, particularly if they agree to breastfeed the child.
Are there some hoops to jump through? Of course. The same is true of people who have private insurance. There is a lot of paperwork and hassle involved.
But that’s part of being a responsible adult. You have to be willing to jump through the hoops.
Hawk-I premiums are a maximum of $40 per month. For many people, there is no premium. That’s not too much to ask.
Silence..
Are you really that dense here?
Those programs have been in place LONG before the Republicans controlled Congress or before Bush was in office. The “Blame Republicans, Blame Bush” line isn’t flying here.
I would love to hear you explain how come if these programs are so underfunded…that you’re seeing communities across the country having to ADVERTISE for people to sign up for benefits like S-CHIP and food stamps.
Why are their posters put up in nearly every public facility urging people to call to sign up for assistance if they need it. There’s advertising on TV telling people to call 211 if they need social service assistance.
The resources are there for women who find themselves in these situations, Silence.
What would you like to see? Should we force single pregnant women to use these services?
For you to say that we don’t “give a damn” about these women..when we provide SO much for them to help them…is flat out disingenuous.
Hawk, yes they were in place, but it was the republicans that started the underfunding (or shall I say not keeping funding up with the rising costs of healthcare) and making the process harder to get on it and stay on it. I have many clients who have all kinds of issues with the programs. Hawk what is disingenuous is to see the numbers and then want to stick your head in the sand and pretend there is no problem or if there is one, it is because people are just to lazy or stupid to help themselves or their kids. you need to stop lying to yourself and stop being a lemming of fox news, the insurance industry, and rush.
Silence
oh, and try looking a little pass your own state borders, I will admit the stats for iowa, while still not good, are better than a lot, there are people in need outside of iowa. 12% plus of this nations children are uninsured.
Silence
Silence,
You have to own up to the Democrats’ promotion of the fatherless family which is the overwhelming source of these women and children in need. Your party doesn’t give a rip about the traditional, two gender parent family and now you’ve got the gall to whine about how that agenda turned out????????
Hawk, not much use advertising something then making it difficult to sign up for and stay on the program, I am sure the posters make you feel better, but that is not reality. 9 million is the reality for kids, and almost a million for pregnant women, but keep clinging to your poster.
Silence