The tragic deaths of Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans have launched an international debate over parental rights and the power given to medical experts in making life-changing (or life-ending) decisions. With the modern rise in prenatal screenings for various birth defects and disabilities, many mothers are encouraged to abort their children, who they are told wouldn’t survive anyway.
Scottish mom Samantha Dukes was pressured to abort when she was 22 weeks (almost six months) pregnant. Today, her son Dexson is alive and well because she listened to her maternal instinct despite her doctor’s recommendations.
At Dukes’s 22-week checkup, doctors diagnosed her unborn child with spina bifida, conjoined kidneys and a brain disorder, Life News reported.
Dukes told the Daily Record that she was informed that Dexson would die at birth or shortly afterward. Given the grim outlook, doctors recommended an abortion.