{"id":232753,"date":"2020-10-22T15:35:44","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T20:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=232753"},"modified":"2020-10-22T13:42:39","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T18:42:39","slug":"lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she ‘was offered an abortion at every visit’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

During her 20-week ultrasound, Samantha Sommerville learned that her preborn baby girl had spina bifida, and doctors offered little optimism for the baby’s future. Until 24 weeks, Sommerville said she was told to abort at every single appointment. But she stood firm in her decision to let her daughter live.<\/p>\n

Doctors said the baby had myelomeningocele, the most severe form of spina bifida, and that she would be paralyzed from the waist down. They also believed she might have developmental delays due to hydrocephalus. At 23 weeks, Sommerville underwent testing to determine if her daughter had any other medical concerns that would prevent her from undergoing prenatal surgery<\/a> to close her back. The results showed that prenatal surgery would not be possible.<\/p>\n

“To be honest, it was a very long and emotional pregnancy,” said Sommerville in a personal essay for the Spina Bifida Association<\/a>. “I was offered an abortion at every visit up until 24 weeks.”<\/p>\n

On March 24, 2020, during the initial lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sommerville gave birth to her daughter, Lillian Grace, via C-section. Three hours after her birth, she underwent her first spinal repair surgery, which lasted over seven hours.<\/p>\n

“Before they took her away to get prepped for surgery I had only been able to see a glimpse of her,” she said. “14 hours after my delivery, I met my daughter. It was the longest 14 hours of my life.”<\/p>\n

READ: \u2018We\u2019re going to love this baby\u2019: Louisiana governor and wife chose life for daughter with spina bifida<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nine days after her birth, Lillian underwent surgery to place a shunt in her brain for hydrocephalus. Lillian stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit for 18 days, which was difficult for the family because of rules put in place due to COVID-19, and having a four-year-old son at home to care for as well.<\/p>\n

“After I was discharged, we were put on the one visitor only restriction,” Sommerville explained. “We could drive 2 hours to the hospital every day. I would pump [breast milk] in the car on the way down, pump next to Lillian, and then pump again in the car on the way home. I would get to visit her for about an hour and a half to two hours, and then my husband and I would switch and he’d get the same amount of time. Due to Lillian’s repair on her back, we weren’t able to hold her for the first two weeks. As she had to stay on her belly to heal [sic].”<\/p>\n

Now six months old, Lillian has undergone three more surgeries and was hospitalized due to an infection. Still, her mother said, “[s]he is the happiest baby ever.”<\/p>\n

“She is always smiling and only cries when she is hungry,” she said. “She is doing great! She is worth everything that I went through during my pregnancy. She is loved by her mommy, daddy, her older brother, and the rest of our family. She is the light of our lives, and I learn so much from her every day. She has taught me to be grateful for the simple things.”<\/p>\n

Sommerville said that while they have “a long road ahead” and don’t yet know if Lillian will be able to walk, none of that matters because Lillian is “perfect!”<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During her 20-week ultrasound, Samantha Sommerville learned that her preborn baby girl had spina bifida, and doctors offered little optimism for the baby’s future. Until 24 weeks, Sommerville said she was told to abort at every single appointment. But she stood firm in her decision to let her daughter live. Doctors said the baby had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":233300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she 'was offered an abortion at every visit'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After her baby was diagnosed with spina bifida, Samantha Sommerville said she faced constant pressure to have an abortion from her doctors.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she 'was offered an abortion at every visit'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After her baby was diagnosed with spina bifida, Samantha Sommerville said she faced constant pressure to have an abortion from her doctors.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-22T20:35:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-22T18:42:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-1166297749-newborn-girl.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1194\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\"},\"headline\":\"Mom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she ‘was offered an abortion at every visit’\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-22T20:35:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-22T18:42:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/\"},\"wordCount\":570,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Human Interest\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/\",\"name\":\"Mom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she 'was offered an abortion at every visit'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-22T20:35:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-22T18:42:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"After her baby was diagnosed with spina bifida, Samantha Sommerville said she faced constant pressure to have an abortion from her doctors.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she ‘was offered an abortion at every visit’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\",\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nancy Flanders\"},\"description\":\"Nancy Flanders is Associate Editor for Live Action News. She has 25 years of experience writing and editing. For more than a decade, she has focused her work on pro-life issues through human interest stories and political issues regarding abortion and physician-assisted death as well as research articles and op-eds dismantling the lies of the pro-abortion, pro-death agenda. Her work has appeared in Catholic Digest, Pregnancy Help News, and a variety of other publications.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/nancy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she 'was offered an abortion at every visit'","description":"After her baby was diagnosed with spina bifida, Samantha Sommerville said she faced constant pressure to have an abortion from her doctors.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she 'was offered an abortion at every visit'","og_description":"After her baby was diagnosed with spina bifida, Samantha Sommerville said she faced constant pressure to have an abortion from her doctors.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2020-10-22T20:35:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-22T18:42:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1194,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-1166297749-newborn-girl.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nancy Flanders","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nancy Flanders","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/"},"author":{"name":"Nancy Flanders","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef"},"headline":"Mom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she ‘was offered an abortion at every visit’","datePublished":"2020-10-22T20:35:44+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-22T18:42:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/"},"wordCount":570,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Human Interest","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/","name":"Mom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she 'was offered an abortion at every visit'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-10-22T20:35:44+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-22T18:42:39+00:00","description":"After her baby was diagnosed with spina bifida, Samantha Sommerville said she faced constant pressure to have an abortion from her doctors.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lillian-spina-bifida-offered-abortion-visit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mom of Lillian, who has spina bifida, says she ‘was offered an abortion at every visit’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef","name":"Nancy Flanders","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nancy Flanders"},"description":"Nancy Flanders is Associate Editor for Live Action News. She has 25 years of experience writing and editing. For more than a decade, she has focused her work on pro-life issues through human interest stories and political issues regarding abortion and physician-assisted death as well as research articles and op-eds dismantling the lies of the pro-abortion, pro-death agenda. Her work has appeared in Catholic Digest, Pregnancy Help News, and a variety of other publications.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/nancy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232753"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233301,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232753\/revisions\/233301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}