The Life of the Mother

When most people talk about their dislike of abortion, they are usually quick to add one caveat that would preclude a total ban on the grisly procedure—“except when the life of the mother is threatened.”

I suppose it’s a reasonable exemption given the likelihood that one of the two parties involved will not survive. Yet a growing number of pro-lifers rule out any exemption, asking how killing an unborn baby can ever be justified. Their position is bolstered when you consider that a good number of physicians’ miss on their initial prognosis. And the mother recovers from what appeared to be a life-threatening malady.

While it can be a contentious point, few crisis pregnancies ever actually come to that point—especially with the advances in medical technology.

Yet for Lorraine Allard that one sticky exception was something to seriously ponder.

Allard, 33, was already the mother of three daughters when she and her husband discovered they were having a son. Press reports indicate that four months into the pregnancy, Allard discovered she was in the advanced stages of cancer.

Doctors said her only hope was to abort her son and immediately begin chemotherapy.

Lorraine Allard told the doctors, “No.”

And this time, the doctors were right.

Liam, the Allard’s son, was born fifteen weeks premature last November 18; his mother died exactly two months later, January 18, 2008.

Lorraine Allard, whose home was just outside of Great Yarmouth in Great Britain, weighed the costs and told her husband, Martyn: “If I am going to die, my baby is going to live.”

Doctors were optimistic Lorraine would have survived if she had taken their recommendation and aborted Liam and begun chemotherapy immediately.

Yet Liam’s mom valued his life so much that she went to a great risk to save his life, while it ultimately cost her her own life.

That’s the ultimate in living out your values.

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