September 29, 2008
Two SD babies with TTTS die a year, despite attempts to save them
VoteYesForLife.com put to rest the concern raised in the false and misleading ad released last week here in South Dakota by the Campaign for UNHealthy Families. In a feat of amazing spin, those who profit from abortion actually led off their media campaign with an ad that made pro-lifers look like the ones who want a baby to die. Ridiculous. Desperate.
The concern the ad raised is that Initiated Measure 11 would prohibit a mom with twins suffering from TTTS to get medical help to save her children's lives. The ad is a lie - “Selective Termination” or “Selective Reduction” is never needed. And again, a hurting woman was exploited by those who profit from dismembering living human beings. This is from tonight's news release…
THE FACTS ABOUT TWIN-TWIN TRANSFUSION SYNDROME, (TTTS), ITS FREQUENCY AND ACCEPTED PROCEDURES TO CORRECT IT
SIOUX FALLS, SD — Statistics from the C.D.C. show that 32.2 out of 1,000 pregnancies involve twins. However, only about 20% of twins are monochorionic (share the same placenta). That means that only 6.44 pregnancies in 1,000 are monochorionic pregnancies. The reason that this is significant is that only monochorionic twins can develop Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome.
Dr. DeLia, a fetal surgeon in Chicago, was the doctor who invented the procedure that treats Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome – fetoscopic laser photocoagulation. Monochorionic twins can be in one sac or two sacs. For some reason, Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) is more common in cases of two sacs. Overall, about 15% of all monochorionic twins have some degree of TTTS. That translates to 0.97 in every 1,000 pregnancies.
There are a number of ways to treat TTTS, any of which may be the correct method depending on ultrasound findings and the gestational age of the pregnancy. The various therapies that are available target either the unequal fluid between the twins’ sacs, or interrupt the blood vessel communications between the twins on the single shared placenta. The available therapies currently used are:
A. Amnioreduction – This is a series of amniocentesis that involves removal of the excess amniotic fluid from the sac of the recipient twin. This restores the balance of the fluid in the two sacs and improves uteroplacental blood flow.
B. Septostomy (microseptostomy) – This procedure creates a hole in the membrane between the two babies’ sacs allowing the excessive fluid from the recipient twins’ sac to flow to the donor twin’s sac, which is low or absent in fluid. This procedure is performed with an amniocentesis needle.
C. Fetoscopic Laser Photocoagulation – The most successful procedure is Fetoscopic Laser Photocoagulation, invented by Dr. DeLia. This is the laser ablation of the communicating vessels on the placenta between the twin fetuses. This procedure can be curative because the babies are no longer sharing blood vessels between them.
About one third of the TTTS babies need to be operated on. That means that an operation is needed in 0.32 pregnancies for every 1,000 pregnancies, or 1 in 3,000. Since there are about 11,000 births in South Dakota, each year, that means that there will be, on average, about 4 times a year where this procedure would be needed. Depending on where the procedure is performed, between 79% and 85% of time, at least one baby survives. Between 55% to 64% of the time, both babies survive.
That means that, on average, about 2 times a year, a baby will die despite the efforts to save the babies. The medical profession does not deliberately kill one of the babies. There is no need to do that. “Selective Termination” or “Selective Reduction” is never needed.
It is a violation of Section 2 of Initiated Measure 11 only if the procedure is intended to kill the child. The procedures I outlined are never intended to kill the child, but are always intended to save the life of the child. It is absolutely absurd for Planned Parenthood to suggest that this law prohibits these procedures just because there is a risk the children can die. By the way, if the TTTS babies die, it is usually from the underlying condition, not the surgery. The condition kills them because the surgery failed to save them. For more information, visit Voteyesforlife.com.
Comments on Two SD babies with TTTS die a year, despite attempts to save them
Julius @ 10:04 pm
All five of the major fetal care centers in the US all mention “selective termination” as the best treatment for TTTS in some cases.
The prevalence of TTTS and other fetal anomalies may seem statistically insignificant to you; however, to the families impacted this is very significant. Do you really have the right to anoint someone else’s child as the martyr for your cause? Which one of your children would you be willing to give up for your cause?
Steve @ 8:10 am
Julius, You have proven to me one thing… that you are capable of googling, finding what you what to hear, and pasting. I've deleted the barrage of comments from you. I'm keeping this one here as a courtesy to you. You should start your own blog so you have a venue to say whatever you want.
Here's the deal… if five doctors told me the best route was to kill my child and only one somewhere said "no there is another way", I'd reject the five and put all my cards in the basket of the one. I've been with dozens of people making life/death decisions about family members. The cause is LIFE.
Abortion does produce martyrs - the unborn - they die so the selfish can pursue what they want. The plight of the unborn is the cause I'm called to in this season, what is your cause… making sure the flow of innocent shed blood continues to flow?
Steve @ 8:16 am
Wait, I should have known, Julius' IP is the same as the Simpsons loving "Ned Flanders" who dropped here on the blog the other day what he found on google. You remember him, the guy who seemed to be speaking as a medical professional from Texas but his Raven Industries IP cast a whole bunch of doubt on that. One has to stay on their toes to keep up with the deceptive alias' of the UNHealthy Families crowd.
Julius @ 8:50 am
initial comments edited out - SH - this remains…
I appreciate your position on what your family would do in a similar situation. Many others would probably do the same. Please acknowledge that many other families would choose to terminate one life to save another. That would be their choice.
Who has granted you the right to determine who has this option? You're asking someone else to offer their child as the martyr for your cause. A cause for which many people do not share your strong sentiments.
I will ask the question again that you failed to answer.
Which one of your children would you be willing to sacrifice for your cause?
Steve @ 9:13 am
The state has a right to protect innocent human life from those who would destroy it.
I would not be willing to sacrifice any child for any cause. I'm trying to stop the sacrificing of children. You are the ones who sacrifice children for your cause.
Julius @ 9:36 am
Your refusal to intervene in a severe case of TTTS would result in the sacrifice of two children 90% of the time.
Kathy Smith @ 10:42 am
Pastor Steve, Travis Miller has said that you encourage debate on the topic of abortion. … "The guy who runs this blog welcomes all opposing view points for debate. Any one else is welcome to join is as well. I have never seen him delete a post or even threaten to delete a post on his blog. In fact he is very open and encourages debate. He is not going to hide his ideology in those debates, but he doesn’t think you should either."
So Pastor Steve, why are you deleting Julius's comments? I thought you encouraged debate? Or is it you just encourage comments that make your side look favorable?
Kathy Smith @ 10:47 am
It looks like Julius is simply proving VYFL's press releases wrong by giving you sources to research. Why just shrug them off as "the barrage of comments". Is there no fact behind these comments made by Julius or Ned? VYFL made inaccurate statements regarding Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome and Julius is bring the facts to the table, but here you are deleting them. Doesn't sound like a good debate to me.
Kathy Smith @ 10:50 am
"Here's the deal… if five doctors told me the best route was to kill my child and only one somewhere said "no there is another way", I'd reject the five and put all my cards in the basket of the one. I've been with dozens of people making life/death decisions about family members. The cause is LIFE."
Would you abort one to save the other twin? What if you went to the BEST FETAL CARE HOSPITAL in America and they said your best option was to abort one twin to save another? Would you then choose abortion?
Steve @ 12:56 pm
Julias - give it a rest- I am not advocating doing nothing in a TTTS situation thus letting children die. I am saying, doctors are saying attempts can be made to save these children, and if an attempt isn't successful, it's not called "abortion."
Kathy - Yes I delete comments periodically - mainly because they are nasty. I delete others because this is not a platform for deceptive propaganda for those who think killing children is ok. There are many other venues people can dump their stuff. I delete comments like those from Julias because they aren't comments, they are pastes and forwards he's finding out there on the internet and this blog is not a place for people to dump whatever they want. I'm even considering not allowing anonymous comments any longer. You folks can start your own blogs if you don't like my rules. I'm putting out there information I believe to be true and helpful to the dialog and while I welcome comments from either side I have been trying to ignore those who are trying to take up my time or divert me off what I want to communicate on my blog.
The point of this post is that we are ignoring 800 SD child deaths a year and focusing on two. Let's spend this much time and energy talking about the needless deaths of the other 800 children.
Kathy Smith @ 1:27 pm
So what you are saying is that children affected with TTTS or the NUMEROUS other complications that can arise with twin pregnancies shouldn't be considered? So couples like the Campbell's shouldn't have all options available?
Selective reduction is a common procedure used to treat TTTS, yet VYFL is attempting to ban it. They even released a press release stating that selective reduction is never necessary, and yet when Julius countered that argument (with sources provided) you delete them and call them "deceptive propaganda". Copy and paste is exactly what VYFL did on their press releases, which you posted on your site. The least VYFL can do is talk to a doctor that deals with TTTS and high risk pregnancies.
Julius @ 1:42 pm
The information I pasted from the premier fetal care centers in the world is relevant to this discussion. The VYFL press release lists 3 treatment options for TTTS and fails to note that "selective termination" is a medically accepted treatment option and in fact is the best option available in many severe cases of TTTS.
The press release reeks of pro-life bias and rejects widely accepted medical standards.
If you can't have a "big boy" debate on this issue by all means take your ball and go home.
Steve @ 2:24 pm
The statements related to TTTS posted on this blog come from medical experts and lawyers. These folks say there are other options beside aborting the baby.
Planned Parenthood has big bucks to run ads that say otherwise and I'm providing this platform for those who are interested in what unbiased doctors say. Planned Parenthood profits into the hundreds of millions from abortion. I'd say ANY "expert" they drum up or refer to has great bias. The doctors advising Vote Yes profit in no way from legal abortion.
Julius is no longer welcome to comment on this blog and will find his comments blocked. Here we have someone working here at Raven Industries spewing internet medical information that he finds to make his point that we have to kill babies. His first post was steeped in deception and trickery and I smelled it immediately and called him on it.
I did not start this blog to debate. Though I may debate an idea from time to time, this blog exists to give voice to those who have no voice… the unborn. They get to speak here, not Julias, aka Ned Flanders.