DAKOTA VOICE GUEST COLUMN

10/05/2006

Baby Escapes Abortion to Find Home with Loving Parents
Parents believe all human life is sacred and has value

By Robert and Jo Dee Ingalls
Faith, SD

When Joseph entered our lives through the miracle of adoption on a Monday afternoon, we knew we had been blessed. It wasn’t until the following day, however, that we learned of the miraculous way in which Joey’s life had been spared.

Joey’s birthfather was an older, very wealthy man. He wanted a child to whom he could pass his wealth to, but he particularly wanted a son who would also carry his name.

By paying each surrogate $80,000 per pregnancy and buying donor eggs for $30,000 each, he began his crusade for the perfect male offspring. The first three pregnancies were aborted because the children conceived were baby girls.

In the fourth pregnancy, three embryos were implanted. Two of those were baby girls. The first baby girl was aborted early in the pregnancy. The second little girl was aborted at 34 weeks gestation. With the abortion being done so late in the pregnancy, the violence was so horrific that Joey’s placenta was ruptured, probably by his sister thrashing in agony.

Joey was taken by emergency c-section and placed in NICU where his 4 pound 13 ounce body spent weeks fighting the complications inflicted upon it. His sister died during the c-section and was given a certificate of demise.

Joey was born with Down syndrome. All prenatal testing had come back negative. Since his birthfather was paying for a perfect male child, Joey would have been aborted along with his sisters if his chromosome anomaly had been diagnosed before birth. It wasn’t until we had Joey for several weeks did we learn that Joey’s birthfather had told nurses in NICU that he believed parents should be able to decide whether to euthanize a baby born with a disability.

Joey was created perfectly by his Creator. When we look at him, we know we are blessed! We believe that Joey’s life was not cut short because the Lord has a special plan for him. Our prayer is that Joey’s story will compel others to be a voice for the sisters he will never know and for the 3,700 innocent unborn American children who are slaughtered in their mother’s wombs every day.

Robert and Jo Dee Ingalls live in Faith and have more than a dozen children. They have told Joey’s inspirational story at numerous “Life and Liberty” events around South Dakota in recent months.