A woman is married and has 3 small children, and she is being treated for cancer. She is about to start chemotherapy when she discovers that her birth control has failed and she is pregnant. Chemotherapy is absolutely contraindicated during pregnancy because the chemo drugs will attack the fetus as well as the tumor. Therefore, the woman has two choices. 1) She can abort the pregnancy and take the chemotherapy. If she takes the chemo, she has a 95% chance of surviving and making a full recovery. or 2) She can cancel the chemotherapy and continue the pregnancy. If her cancer is left untreated, she will die within one year. By the time the baby is born, it will be too late to treat her. What should she do?
have the abortion, the baby may already be in danger from the cancer. She can have other children. A mother who is sick and dying is not really the best carrier for a baby and it could end up being at the risk of both lives.
However, medically, chemo is NOT always contraindicated during pregnancy, (yep, I have had clients who have done it.) They try to wait until the second trimester, but this is not always neccesary. I do think that her first obligation is to herself and her living children. But there have been cases, many, in fact, of womyn taking chemo during pregnancy. But, if she wanted the best outcome, abortion may indeed be the best choice.
in that situation, I would be having the abortion. Mind you, if I were pregnant now, I would also have an abortion... I'm just not in a good enough situation to take care of a kid, and being terminally ill is an even less good situation.
As a woman who came "this close" to dying after giving birth to her twins last year, my opinion is this. I have been advised by three seperate doctors never to become pregnant again as it could prove fatal for me. I suffered from severe Toxemia and H.E.L.L.P. syndrome, which is extremely rare and only occurs within 1 of 1,000,000 pregnancies. I have even been questioned by these same doctors, that if I should become pregnant, if I would consider terminating the pregnancy, as my life could be in jeopardy, and of course, the unborn child's life as well. Knowing this, although I would love to have another child, makes me realize that I cannot be selfish and become pregnant again. I could be leaving my 3 children that I have here on this earth without a mother, and my husband, without a wife. But, would I abort the pregnancy? That is a very hard decision. There is a chance that both myself and my unborn child (or children, due to me having an 80% chance of conceiving multiples again because of multiple eggs being released during my cycles) could breeze through the pregnancy without much difficulty. But, knowing that I could be putting myself at extreme risk and leaving my children that I have here without a mother is heartbreaking. There really is no easy decision, but, if the chemo will be attacking the fetus in utero, it will more than likely be self-aborted. Having a clinical abortion performed to save the mother's life would hasten things and give the mother a better chance at surviving, but then there's the "you never know" factor. I chose that she should have the abortion, not that I am for abortion, but because it would be selfish, in my opinion, to leave her "earth children" without a mother. They need her here. It's still a tough decision however, and the woman will have to live with her decision if she decides to clinically abort. Although she may know in her heart that it was not an act of irresponsibility or hatred, she will have to live with the emotions tied into all of it, in which case, could possibly drive her mad. So which is really better? It's really difficult to say for sure. Peace, love, and happiness...
