My name is Tiffiny Benjamin, and first and foremost, I AM A MOTHER. I have 2 beautiful sons who are 6 and 3. I am also the mother of two souls who walk beside me and I am equally proud to be their mother. It is their story that sets me apart from other mothers and makes my voice unique in the argument regarding abortion.
I am sharing their story in hopes that you will understand the dangers created by passing a broad abortion ban... which could make a number of abortion procedures illegal including the one I had.
In 1994, while 20 weeks pregnant with my first child, I received the news that every mother dreads, the news that something was wrong with my child. Tragically, the most common maternal fear became my reality. My baby daughter Alexa was diagnosed with Trisomy 13, a lethal genetic abnormality. Additional testing offered no hope, and further indicated that I was the carrier of a balanced Robertsonian Translocation, which had resulted in the genetic abnormality of my daughter. While a balanced translocation is invisible and causes no health problems to the carrier, it does pose a risk for genetics problems in offspring. Trisomy 13, one of the resulting abnormalities, ends in death within 6 months of birth, IF the child lives to term.
While I was devastated, I was also incredibly fortunate. When the results arrived, my husband and I had the opportunity and the RIGHT to make the best possible medical decision for OUR child and OUR family. WE elected to have a safe, legal abortion rather than to wait and watch the slow and painful death of OUR child. And as painful as this decision was for us, it was one we would make again, 4 months later when our son Shawn was diagnosed with the same genetic abnormality.
I could share many details about the experience we went through, but I don't believe there is any way to explain the pain of returning home, with empty arms to an empty nursery. The only solace is that the decision was ours, and not the mandate of a judge or legislative body. A judge sees only the law; he/she doesn't know the agony of hiding baby furniture in a closet behind the closed door to the nursery. People like us, who have made these difficult decisions, are not anti-family, anti-faith, or anti-child. We value and celebrate life, and we mourn the dream of the babies we've lost who were not compatible with this life.
Although my personal story has a happy ending, and my husband and I were blessed with two children, our happiness is measured. Our youngest child shares more than my hair color - he shares my translocation. The decision you make today could affect his opportunity to build a family and a legacy. Would you force his wife to continue a pregnancy with a doomed outcome, or worse yet, sentence them to a life without children?
- Statement of Tiffiny Benjamin, California,
in Opposition to Oregon H.B. 2504 Oregon House Rules Committee
|
