(Oregon Right to Life) — It’s the most devastating news a couple can hear: that their unborn baby is seriously disabled and likely won’t survive long outside the womb. Predictions like these can be terrifying and traumatic – many times, parents are urged to consider abortion.
But for one teenage girl born with three heart defects, who has defied the odds and proven medical predictions wrong, abortion isn’t the answer: children like her, she told lawmakers, “have the right to live.”
Fourteen-year-old Abby Hewitt shared her story with lawmakers in the Minnesota State Senate Committee last year ahead of a vote on an abortion measure.
“I was born with three critical congenital heart defects,” Hewitt told senators. “I was rushed into surgery when I was five hours old.”
Immediately, she said, her parents were faced with dire predictions about their daughter’s health.
“Doctors told my parents I only had a 40% chance of making it through surgery,” she said, holding up a photograph of herself as a post-surgery newborn.
The high-schooler said doctors forecast a lengthy recovery period of one to two months, but were again incorrect – Hewitt was released from the ICU after only twelve days.
From there, doctors cautioned Hewitt’s parents that her growth and development would likely be inhibited by her heart defects.
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“The doctors told my parents that I would be small, possibly have hearing and vision problems, learning disabilities, and would not be able to play sports,” she explained.
But, once again, the doctors were wrong.
“I am in the eighty-sixth percentile for my height and have perfect vision and hearing,” she told lawmakers. The teen added that she earns straight-As in school, plays AAU basketball and off-season volleyball, and runs numerous track events: the 100, 200, and 400 meter dashes. She even pole-vaults.
“I think adults often focus on what medical doctors say, and believe them to be 100% accurate,” she explained. “These are the things that medical doctors said about me. But here I stand, healthy and thriving.”
“Please don’t forget about people like me,” Hewitt urged lawmakers. “In 2021, at least 183 babies just like me were aborted in Minnesota. We have the right to live. I’m not a statistic or defined by my heart defect. I am not a defect.”
Concluding her testimony, Hewitt shared that her “life verse” is Psalm 139:14: “I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
“This verse is super impactful to me because I am ‘fearfully and wonderfully made,’ heart defects and all,” the fourteen-year-old said. “It’s a great reminder every day that I was created on purpose for a purpose.”
For many, prenatal or neonatal predictions or diagnoses can be deeply troubling. Many couples are actively urged to consider terminating difficult pregnancies. But families who refuse to give up hope and instead choose life for their unborn babies often report feeling grateful and at peace – even if their infants do have disabilities or pass shortly after birth.
There are also many reported cases in which parents are overjoyed to discover that dire medical diagnoses have been inaccurate and their babies are born perfectly healthy.
