{"id":70469,"date":"2015-08-13T07:00:02","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=70469"},"modified":"2016-09-01T06:36:03","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T10:36:03","slug":"miscarried-22-weeks-identical-twins-sharing-truth-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/miscarried-22-weeks-identical-twins-sharing-truth-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Born premature at 22 weeks, identical twins are sharing the truth about abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Heather Ellis and her husband, Josh, have always wished for children, but after their first son, Cason, was born, they struggled to get pregnant. Fertility drugs helped, and they were thrilled to discover they were expecting identical twin boys. However, at 18 weeks, Ellis began experiencing some pressure and had a feeling something was wrong.<\/p>\n

Doctors performed an ultrasound and told Ellis that everything was fine, but she couldn\u2019t shake the nagging feeling that something was not right. She followed her instincts and switched doctors, looking for a second and third opinion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"I41A8703-Edit\"<\/p>\n

Finally, a specialist diagnosed her with an incompetent cervix, something the other doctors had missed. \u00a0Ellis\u2019 cervix was already starting to change, as it should\u00a0when the babies were ready to be delivered, but the boys were much too young to survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first went in,\u201d Ellis said, \u201cand they noticed that it wasn\u2019t looking good, they offered me abortion and I just couldn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cooper\"<\/p>\n

The other option was surgery\u2014 an emergency or rescue cerclage in which the cervix is stitched closed. It\u2019s risky, especially once the cervix has begun to open, and there was a high risk of infection or cervical rupture. Plus, the procedure is not guaranteed to work. Still, it was a chance Ellis had to take to try to save her sons.<\/p>\n

\"DefundAd-400b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After the surgery, Ellis remained in the hospital for a couple of days. After being at home for just a day and a half, her water broke. Back at the hospital, Ellis wanted to keep the cerclage in and try to stop labor from starting, but doctors said there was nothing they could do. She had an infection and they had to remove the cerclage. Once they did, Ellis went into labor and had to deliver her boys, Chase and Cooper, at about 22 weeks gestation. The boys lived outside the womb for 30 minutes in November 2014.<\/p>\n

On August 6, 2015, Ellis decided to share their photograph<\/a> with the world through Facebook. Underneath the photo she wrote:<\/p>\n

\n

With all this talk of abortion right now, I want people to know that this is what a 22 week old child looks like. This was just minutes after my twins passed away after living and breathing for about 30 minutes last November (Chase, the one on the right, looks different because he was in the sac without amniotic fluid for a couple days). It is legal to abort children at this age in way too many places. While I was holding my babies, wishing they would survive, babies at the same gestation that could have survived are being torn apart and discarded. It makes my heart sad. There are so many better options (adoption being my personal favorite). These are precious children of God. I love you Chase and Cooper, and I hope someone will see this and reconsider their choice.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"I41A8676\"<\/p>\n

\"I41A8721\"<\/p>\n

Soon after, support began pouring in from around the world. Within days the photo was shared over 81,000 times and Ellis had received 300 messages from strangers, some offering sympathy and others sharing the stories of the babies they had lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cOriginally I was just doing it to bring people\u2019s awareness to what babies look like that young, and with the abortions and everything that\u2019s going on with Planned Parenthood it\u2019s just made me so upset,\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want people to know that there are other options out there and there\u2019s a place to share their grief. It\u2019s okay to talk about it. People are so afraid that people aren\u2019t going to want to hear about their baby who passed away. People do just want to share their story because that\u2019s their child. Most people have never shared their pictures or told their stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Proud

Proud big brother Cason misses his brothers and begs for another sibling.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the days that followed, Heather started a blog<\/a> to share stories of other moms and their babies, showing the world that there are better options than abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few people who were pro-choice told me this made me think and said thank you,\u201d said Ellis. \u201cSome who have had abortions said they regret it every day and that the picture made them cry because they feel so much guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Josh

Josh and his sons.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ellis says she isn\u2019t looking for sympathy and doesn\u2019t want to upset anyone with the photo, but she felt with all the recent news about abortion and Planned Parenthood, sharing the photo of the boys was the one thing she could do to show people the humanity of the preborn. She is amazed at the response.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been so cool to hear other people\u2019s stories,\u201d she said, \u201cand to hear such positive things and people telling me that my babies have touched their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heather Ellis and her husband, Josh, have always wished for children, but after their first son, Cason, was born, they struggled to get pregnant. Fertility drugs helped, and they were thrilled to discover they were expecting identical twin boys. However, at 18 weeks, Ellis began experiencing some pressure and had a feeling something was wrong. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":70470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455],"tags":[4668,4669],"yoast_head":"\nBorn premature at 22 weeks, identical twins are sharing the truth about abortion - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chase and Cooper were born at 22 weeks and lived outside the womb for 30 minutes in November 2014. 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