QUESTION: I need a prayer for my 19-week gestation baby – doctors are telling me it has a severe brain condition and I may have to terminate, get an amnio test that has a risk for miscarriage, and that the baby will have very poor health outcomes. Please join me in prayer – we need a miracle…believing in His Word and Promise.

ANSWER: The moment I read what you wrote, I offered my own prayer to God for the sake of the baby, the parents, and His will.

You are at a crossroads. Everything you have heard about what “might” be wrong with your baby, “may” be true. Perhaps, however, only “some” of it may be true. And then again, maybe none of it is true. The desire for more testing is basically a way to uncover more information and raise the level of certainty.

Let’s parcel out what is happening:

1. The need for testing: Testing is a good idea when the goal is to discover more precisely an issue with the intent of changing treatment for a better outcome. If that is the goal, I would advise going for the testing. If, however, the goal of testing is to merely confirm a worst-case scenario, with the accompanying encouragement for you to terminate the unborn child’s life, then skip the testing.
2. The safety of the mother: In 34 years of answering questions like this, occasionally someone will be presented with the choice of aborting a child that has a disability, or “by continuing the pregnancy, the mother’s health is at risk.” I have regularly challenged by asking what would happen if you decided to continue the pregnancy…or you “insisted” on continuing the pregnancy. The doctors typically then track your progress carefully. Because a malady may affect the unborn child and it may die in the womb, the doctors will regularly check for baby movement and heartbeat. In other words, accepting that there “may” be a risk to the mother’s health, means the remainder of your pregnancy would be under greater scrutiny. Unless the child has a malady that could indeed bring a serious or terminal threat to your own life, opt for the careful monitoring. If God chooses to take the child’s life while still in the womb, then vigilance on your part (i.e., I don’t feel the baby moving), and regular checking on the doctor’s part, will reveal that outcome and then the child’s body can be removed.
3. The best for the child: Terminating a pregnancy means terminating a child’s life. It means wrestling control of life and death away from God and the natural course of things and presuming that authority for yourself. I suggest you fight hard against the notion that you decide to end a child’s life. Yes, the child may have a serious medical condition. Yes, the child may die in the womb. No, that will not occur by the mother’s choice. As a Lutheran theologian I also believe in infant baptism. Should God grant a live delivery, regardless of the child’s condition, the baby can be baptized – a blessing of temporal and eternal consequences.
4. Believing in His Word and Promise: As we come to know God as the all-powerful author and terminator of life, we know it is within his ability to heal the child and bring about a safe pregnancy and delivery. We also know that for many reasons that we don’t always understand, God does not make these things work out as we expect or hope. Nevertheless, God says to “be still” (Psalm 46:10) and to trust that He really does know what He is doing. The promise to work all things out for good (Romans 8:28) surrenders us to how God sees “good” to be. On many occasions we may disagree with the outcome. God, however, has the best interests of you and the baby (and others touched by this circumstance) at heart. As Job professed upon the demise of his children, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (Job 1:21–22) The greatest test of Job’s faith was not prolonged worrying about his children and then discovering they are safe and sound. Rather, the test was that upon losing his children, he trusted in God that He remains in ultimate control.

Finally, never underestimate the value of second and third opinions. Contact your local Right to Life affiliate and ask them to suggest a pro-life OB/GYN who would share your concern for the well-being of your unborn children, regardless of his or her condition.

Meanwhile, the prayers on our end continue.