Abortion is also a man's businessIsabel Vaughan-Spruce: "The damage abortion inflicts on women alone should be enough to make us pro-life".Alejandra and Benjamin are an evangelical couple who refused to abort Samuel, their son with Edwards syndrome, who lived six hours outside his mother's womb. "The biggest miracle was that Samuel made it to 38 weeks in the pregnancy. It was painful, very hard, to lose him after delivery, but today he is in heaven," Alejandra tells Omnes, after explaining that she became pregnant in 2020, in the middle of Covid. Her son, diagnosed with Edwards' syndrome, was born on July 5, 2021, and died six hours after birth."
With this syndrome, the baby, instead of having two copies of chromosome 18 (two pairs), has three. It is, therefore, similar to Down syndrome, although this is a trisomy of chromosome 21.
"We had a lot of pressure from the doctors to abort," Alejandra explains, but "even in the midst of the greatest pain I had ever felt, I was able to hear God, in a moment of prayer, at night, tell me clear and direct: 'keep going, don't give up.' These words gave me the strength to have faith that my pregnancy was going to be okay".
For the first doctor they went to, "privately, in a medical center in Torrejón de Ardoz, abortion was "the quickest solution' and perhaps for him 'less painful', since according to medical statistics, the baby would die in my womb anyway".
"Ben and I wanted a second opinion and the answer was the same: our child would not survive in my womb and the best thing to do was to abort. That's how the weeks and even months went by, during which I was seen by at least ten doctors; six of them suggested abortion as a solution to the pregnancy I was carrying," Alejandra adds.
"One of the risks was that his heart would stop beating and that he would die inside my womb, then we would have to perform surgery to remove him, etc. But as I said, I had a promise from God that he would not die in my womb, not that he would live, but that he would not die in my womb", says the mother of Samuel, who is called Sami.
"But as I said, the words I received from God: 'keep going, don't give up,' kept me firm, as time went by I knew that Sami would not die in my womb, I could even feel him moving inside me," Alejandra reveals.
"It was a very hard pregnancy, a constant struggle for life, but I was never alone," adds this Costa Rican: "I took great refuge in God, our families created prayer chains for Sami, and our church and friends were always by our side giving us unconditional support. The anguish alone would have been much more painful.
Ben: "A medical statement does not have the final word."
In the conversation a natural question arises, which Alejandra does not avoid: "Did you find support in your husband? Her answer is immediate: "Very much so. He was, in fact, very hurt because being so close to the Covid, with its after-effects, they wouldn't let him in, and I received almost all the news alone. I would go to appointments and he would wait for me outside. I think it's painful not to have been able to be with me at those appointments. But yes, he thought the same way I did, abortion was never an option.
Benjamin (Hamburg, Germany), a missionary evangelist, corroborates what his wife says, telling Omnes that "a medical statement does not and can never have the final word. In many different instances and situations, I have seen God heal people. This is no exaggeration. The final word belongs to God alone. I remember when we got the news, we were praying, and I said, I can't let this have the final say on the life of our baby, which at the time we didn't know was going to be a son, we thought it was going to be a daughter."
"God has given a value, a dignity to human life, made in his image and likeness, that no one has the right to take away, much less for convenience. This has been very clear to us. We decided to fight for the life of our baby, then and thereafter. Because the dignity of the life that is received comes from God, and not from us, from our convenience, or from medical reports," says Samuel's father, who has lived in Spain since the beginning of 2018.
Is it harder for your wife to have to go in alone, because of the pandemic, to the medical appointments, or to wait outside for the results of those appointments? I think it was harder for my wife," he answers, "because I know that she has been affected a lot by this too. For me, waiting outside has been really hard at all the doctor's appointments, and especially the C-section. I have struggled a lot in life, but where I have experienced God's support and guidance has been here. In every waiting time I have been praying."
"He was reacting to my voice."
We let Ben, Sami's father, continue: "It was very difficult for our son to survive, because of all the problems he had, he could die at any moment, and affect the mother's life. We thought this was not true, and even I could feel from the outside our son's movements, and could experience that he was reacting to my voice. This has been a miracle, yes, despite what the doctors said".
"Also when he was born, in the first moment he did not breathe, and the doctors were fighting for his life, and we were also able to meet our son outside the womb, we were able to hold him. This was an answer to our prayers. Well, I was between the floor upstairs, to meet him, and record him, and with Ale, who was downstairs, coming back from the C-section. The whole thing was a miracle.
Ester Marie's gift
"Six months later we got pregnant. The doctor scolded me a little, but there she is, Ester Marie, who was born in September 2022, and is now five months old. We see her as a gift from God, and she is completely healthy, very pink, very chubby, no genetic problem, no nothing," Alejandra had told me in the morning. Hours later, her husband, Ben, reiterated: "Absolutely, a gift from God".
Alejandra comments: "With AESVIDA We went to the March last year. Now we are talking with Susana, and the idea is to create something to help moms in Torrejón de Ardoz. Like the food banks, to create a bank of baby needs. Because we work in Torrejón, although we live near Alcalá".
As we concluded, we asked Ben how that conviction, that strength to defend life and its dignity, came to him. "It's a long story. My family is a bit complicated. But it comes after my mother passed away in Germany, then I started looking for God. And connected with YWAMI started reading the Bible... That's when it all began. Since 2010 I gave myself to God, and I have tried to live the best way I can. And years later it has led me to missions here in Spain. Now I am a missionary with an organization called Youth with a Mission. My focus right now is Bible Schools. And my wife is also a missionary, with a ministry called Transformación".
Yes to Life March on Sunday
As reported by Omnesthis Sunday, the 12th, a March will take place, promoted by the Plataforma Yes to Lifesupported by more than 500 associations and civic organizations, which will tour the center of Madrid, and will begin at 12 noon on Serrano Street corner Goya, to Cibeles, where the manifesto of the Platform will be read.
The event will be hosted by influencers Carla Restoy and José Martín Aguado. Juan Herranz, founder of Eight Ball Events, will lead the musical theme with a short concert, in which the hymn 'Long Live Lifecreated by Hermanos Martínez, which will be 5 years old in 2023. In addition, among others, Pablo Delgado de la Serna, influencer, physiotherapist and university professor, will give his testimony,
The March Yes to Life 2023 already has more than 400 volunteers helping to organize it. According to the Platform, organizations that will leave in buses from cities such as Murcia, Pamplona, Salamanca, Cuenca, Alicante, Bilbao, Getxo, Valencia, Avila, Santander, Zaragoza or Huesca, among others, have confirmed their attendance.
