![The LaVoys](/sites/default/files/styles/bp_featured_image/public/2022-10/screen_shot_2022-10-12_at_1.22.20_pm.png?h=c1e9e8a1&itok=TIAMSZJX)
On August 24, 2020, baby Abigail Rose LaVoy was born via emergency cesarean section at 23 weeks gestation at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. Little Abby weighed only 1lb 1.4oz. A five month stay in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) then followed for Abby while mom and dad, Julie and Nick, watched and wept and hoped and prayed. Today Abby is a thriving two-year-old toddler. Deo gratias.
Proposal 3 seeks to redefine the medical definition of "fetal viability" in Michigan. The proposed constitutional amendment bases viability upon whether there is “significant likelihood” the premature baby would survive without “extraordinary medical measures.”
That means any premature baby needing attention in the NICU after birth would not meet this standard, and if a health care professional agreed and the mother consented, a NICU premature baby could be denied life-saving care under this proposal.
"When I was reading it, that's heartbreaking," says mom, Julie, "Obviously, Abby's was an extreme case in the NICU but there were others that weren't as extreme, or were full term, infants that had a medical reason to be there."
"I mean, you could have even just a mom who was diabetic and, so, that baby typically goes to the NICU for care and it could just be for an IV. So does that mean that that baby isn't deemed viable? Yes, the word that I keep thinking of is 'horrible'."
* To find out more about Proposal 3 go to: https://www.dioceseoflansing.org/office-bishop/fight-heaven-54-day-rosary-novena