Abortion advocates say unborn babies are just cells or tissue, but we know they are human beings worthy of legal protection. Further evidence of their humanity is shown in how so many babies are now operated on surgically while in the womb to correct certain medical conditions.
In great Britain, triplet unborn babies who developed rare condition in womb which threatened to kill them all were the recipients of surgery in the womb to save their lives. Although all three were growing in the womb together, Eilah and Elsie were identical twins and sharing their blood supply from the placenta. They were diagnosed with a condition called Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) where one twin gets too much of the blood supply.
An operation to divide the twins’ blood supply meant all three were at risk but after the successful in utero surgery Eilah, Erin and Elsie delivered safely weighing between 2lbs and 3lbs.
Smallest triplet Elsie was so tiny that her parents were warned she might have to stay in hospital for several months but – to their delight – she thrived and was allowed home on Christmas Eve.
Mother Laura Slinger, 26, said: ‘We have three healthy daughters and that’s the best Christmas present anyone could ask for.’
Miss Slinger, a beauty salon manager who lives near Burnley, Lancashire, and her partner Martyn Halliwell were thrilled when they discovered they were expecting triplets, conceived naturally without fertility treatment.
But 17 weeks into the pregnancy doctors treating Miss Slinger detected a problem with the blood supply between two of the babies.
Although all three were growing in the womb together, two of the girls Eilah and Elsie were identical twins and sharing their blood supply from the placenta. They were diagnosed with Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), a rare condition where one twin gets too much of the blood supply, while the other twin is effectively starved of nutrients. Smaller twin Elsie was at risk of not developing properly while her bigger sister Eilah was receiving too great a share of the blood supply, putting a strain on her developing heart.
Their parents were told the triplets’ only hope was an operation to divide the twins’ blood supply, although the operation meant all three girls were at risk.
Although the independent triplet, Erin, was not affected by the shared blood supply, her life could have been in danger if the condition led to an infection in the womb or premature labour, or if the surgery went wrong.
Like this pro-life news article? Please support LifeNews during our End of Year fundraising campaign with a donation!
