Tragic Loss - 1.5 pound ‘baby’ dies

MacKenzie Kesler weighed 1.5 pounds at birth. Out of the womb three months earlier there were soon complications. The child couldn’t breathe on her own and soon discovered that there was hemorrhaging in the lungs and brain. A tragic story but compounded by fact that the parents are ages 16 & 18. Despite the fact that this unmarried couple are torn over the death of the child it remains to be seen how this boyfriend - girlfriend will do after the shock wears off.

The ‘difficult’ decision’ to take the baby off an incubator is at the heart of the article in The Roanoke Times. Since the baby moved its home from the womb to an incubator, the child gained the privilege of having a name of being lamented over when she died. Push MacKenzie Grace Kesler back into the womb (say it was medically possible) and suddenlly the article’s title would be different. What title would you put? ["Crazed couple mourns fetal tissue"; Post abortion depression - how to overcome it"; NOW champions 2nd semester abortions and choice?]

I applaud the paper and people involved as portraying this child as real and valuable. MacKenzie’s death is tragic and something they will remember for the rest of their lives. I only wonder how this nation would be changed if every ‘fetal tissue’ was called a child with a name prior to birth.