Washington Republican Rep. Jamie Beutler explained why she refused to abort her baby in a recent CNN piece on “Badass Women of Washington.”
Beutler discovered she was pregnant with her first child shortly after her first reelection in 2012. However, the happy news soon turned devastating when doctors diagnosed her unborn child with Potter Syndrome, a condition where the unborn baby fails to develop kidneys. Additionally, the fetus fails to properly develop lungs. Doctors told her the condition is 100 percent fatal.
“They took us into a back room and just said, ‘There’s nothing that can be done. Your baby’s gonna die,'” Beutler told CNN. The physician recommended an abortion due to the fatal nature of the diagnosis.
“Being able to hear the heartbeat … we had this gut feeling of there has to be something. I mean, a doctor may say it, but she’s moving. That’s pretty convincing. We know she’s still alive,” said her husband, Dan Beutler.
The congresswoman, who is personally pro-life, researched ways to save the life of her unborn baby. Following the advice of a friend, Beutler looked into the idea of saline injections through her uterus, which could allow the baby could develop without kidneys. Doctors were hesitant and most hospitals would not return their calls.
“But what she went through to have — and save — her baby is truly badass, a lesson in courage from a woman who wouldn’t take no for an answer,” wrote CNN’s Dana Loch. Finally, a doctor at Johns Hopkins University agreed to administer the treatment.
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