“She was aware that if she gave birth she wouldn’t have had any hope of surviving.” More women—more families—make sacrifices like this one than you and I will ever know. The word “hero” is so overused, but I think in the case of a mother willing to give up her own life for that of her child is a heroine—and, especially in this day when we are all told “Me First.” 41-year-old Rita Fedrizzi, who just died, is one of those heroes—she gave birth to a baby boy three months ago; she had refused cancer treatment because she was told it would have required aborting her son. (We saw another instance of this kind of selflessness in the news last week.)
R.I.P., Mrs. Fedrizzi. And I doubt I’m the only one who will have the three children and husband she leaves behind in my prayers.
[N.B.: Just to clarify: I don’t mean to say that a woman should always refuse treatment if she is pregnant. That’s the choice this woman made, but others simply choose not to abort, and have treatment and often both mother and child survive–and, of course, in all these cases the details are different, the illness is at different stages, etc. My intention was simply to note that the instinct not to abort, in a Roe-32-years-later world, is an admirable one.)