Joannah: A Gracious Gift From God; But Should She Have Been Born?

 Joannah has Down syndrome. About eighty to ninety percent of babies who are prenatally diagnosed with this handicap are aborted. In a culture obsessed with convenience, perceived beauty and value, and quick fixes, it has become easy to justify terminating these pregnancies.   

Abortion is a hot button issue that divides people into two camps: pro-life (anti-abortion) and pro-choice (pro-abortion). A sub group in the pro-choice camp is made up of those who believe that abortion should be allowed in certain circumstances: rape victims who become pregnant as a result of the assault, pregnancies that put the life of the mother at risk, and pregnancies where the fetus has been diagnosed with an abnormality such as Down syndrome that would result in a reduced quality of life.

Joannah’s mom Nina Fuller is a Christian wife and mother with both feet firmly planted in the pro-life camp. She has worked as a crisis pregnancy counselor for many years, helping women to find the resources they need to carry their babies to term and to give them life.

Ironically, Nina found herself in a crisis pregnancy of her own about fifteen years ago. She and her husband Andy already had three boys, and for several years they considered their family to be complete. But Nina still had dreams of pink. Her heart longed for a little girl. So she and Andy decided to try again, and Nina’s prayers were answered. She was pregnant, and a routine ultrasound revealed that a baby girl was really on the way.

Nina soon found out that further prenatal testing also had bad news. This baby girl that she had longed for and prayed for had Down syndrome and two heart defects. There was a chance Nina’s baby would not survive. On top of that, Nina developed serious health problems of her own: congestive heart failure, kidney failure, and pulmonary edema (lungs filled with fluid). If she carried this pregnancy to term, there was a great risk that neither the baby nor Nina would survive.

Nina’s oldest son was fourteen years old at the time and he came to his mom with an astute realization. He said, “Mom, I know why God is giving us this baby. It is so we won’t abort her.”  This teenage boy understood the baby his mom was carrying was his little sister and needed to be protected, no matter what.