Well, we didn’t see this one coming…
From Planned Parenthood of Maryland:
https://twitter.com/PPMaryland/status/953392697242464256
Wrong narrative!
Holy mackerel. @PPact, you on board with this? https://t.co/nJtyyYY1KZ
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) January 17, 2018
This is what real doctors do, help babies in the womb. You just kill them. https://t.co/FqPNW9hRRR
— Students for Life (@StudentsforLife) January 17, 2018
A baby?! Surgery in the “womb” on a clump of cells? Very confusing. https://t.co/asNMKzaEy7
— Lew Moore (@lewmoore) January 17, 2018
If a mom went to @PPMaryland with this issue, they can offer her 1) abortion, 2) a list of places that aren't them. https://t.co/jTCz45RsWZ
— Michele Hendrickson (@meechelooo) January 17, 2018
I thought those were fetuses, not humans?
— trixilynette (@trixilynette) January 17, 2018
But enough of the snark. Go read the New York Times article on this wonderful story. It’s well worth your time:
HOUSTON — For a small person who had surgery before he was even born, and who’d just spent an hour and a half squeezing through a tight space that clamped down on his head every few minutes, Baby Boy Royer was showing a feisty spirit.
He arrived pink and screaming on Friday at 5:35 a.m., two days before his official due date, weighing 8 pounds 8 ounces, and almost 20 inches long.
Within moments of his birth at Texas Children’s Hospital, he did what his parents and doctors had eagerly hoped to see: He moved his legs and feet, a sign that the operation may have prevented damage to the spinal nerves needed for walking.
Indeed, placed on his belly, he managed to pull a knee underneath himself and push off, as if he intended to crawl away from the nurses who were trying to swaddle him.
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And maybe Planned Parenthood didn’t read until the end, but the “doom and gloom” the family is talking about is quite clear:
A battery of tests lay ahead. Fetal surgery does not cure spina bifida, doctors warn. It only lessens the disability. So, for Baby Royer, time will tell.
The Royers, who moved from San Diego to Houston for four months to be treated there, said they had made the right choice, though it had not been an easy decision.
“We faced a lot of doom and gloom in San Diego, but we had a lot of hope and optimism,” Mr. Royer said. “We want to get awareness out to other people that there are options. It’s definitely worth doing the research.”
“It was so worth it,” Mrs. Royer said, with tears in her eyes. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat. That’s for sure.”
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