Perinatal Hospice

Before the 1980’s, families discovered that their baby had an abnormality at birth. Beginning in the 1980’s, ultrasound and amniocentesis were developed. Today more than half of pregnancies affected by fetal abnormalities are identified prenatally. At least 3% of all pregnancies are affected by fetal abnormalities, which include conditions that are lethal or limit the length of life. Termination of pregnancy is frequently offered/encouraged in these cases. The majority of these pregnancies are terminated with abortion.¹

PERINATAL HOSPICE provides a high quality of life for the dying baby.²

• Inspired by programs that provide comfort care for the dying patient and the grieving family.
• Care is provided beginning with the prenatal diagnoses of an abnormality.
• Support includes a team of specialists: obstetricians, neonatologists, chaplains, social workers, etc.
• Family involvement is emphasized, especially for siblings and other members of the family.
• Help is provided in planning what to say to family and friends, taking pictures, collecting memories of the baby, and arranging for the funeral.3

WHY NOT JUST ABORT THE BABY?

ABORTING the pregnancy would mean…

• Cutting a life short for no good reason.
• Denying the family the opportunity to grieve their loss.
• Denying friends and family the chance to offer love and care.
• Losing the memories of the baby that provide for future healing.
• Losing the peace of mind that comes with caring for your child until natural death.⁴
• Exposing the baby to the possibility of experiencing the pain of late-term abortion after 20 weeks gestation when medical science shows that the unborn baby feels pain. ⁵
• Risking abortion-related mortality for the mother, which is as high as 76.6 per 100,000 women after 21 weeks.⁶

DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF ABORTION FOR FETAL ABNORMALITIES⁷

• Patients report that most doctors strongly recommend abortion for pregnancies with fetal abnormalities.
• However, this recommendation is not in keeping with a large body of research from around the world demonstrating that abortion puts women at risk of suffering deep psychological problems.
• Studies show that, following abortion, as high as 62.5% of women surveyed had PTSD symptoms and 65% had depression symptoms, which could last up to 7 years.
• Women suffer, in part, because they experience guilt for having taken responsibility for prematurely ending their babies’ lives.
• Families who carried disabled babies to term reported the experience was positive and led to personal growth.⁸

1 Coleman, P.K. (2015). Diagnosis of Fetal Anomaly and the Increased Maternal Psychological Toll Associated with Pregnancy Termination, Issues in Law and Medicine, 30(1). 2 Hoeldke, N.J. & Calhoun, B.C. (2001). Perinatal Hospice. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 185, 525-529. 3 Kuebelbeck, A, & Davis, D.L. (2011). A Gift of Time. Continuing Your Pregnancy When Your Baby’s Life is Expected to be Brief. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 4 Kuebelbeck, A. (2003). Waiting with Gabriel. Chicago: Loyola Press. 5 www.doctorsonfetalpain.org. 6 Bartlett, et al. (2004). Risk Factors for Legal Induced Abortion-related Mortality in the United States. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 103, 729. 7 Coleman, P.K. (2015). Diagnosis of Fetal Anomaly and the Increased Maternal Psychological Toll Associated with Pregnancy Termination, Issues in Law and Medicine, 30(1). 8 www.benotafraid.net