Guest post by Alexandra Kilgore

I was born with a disability, Multiple Pterigium Syndrome. It is so rare that my specialist, top-tier doctors often know far less about it than I do. It’s so rare that I wasn’t even officially diagnosed until I was 10- that’s how flabbergasted the medical community was that I was alive. It’s so rare that until I was 11, I had never even heard of, much less met, a single other soul that has this same condition. Throughout my life, well-meaning doctors have tried to gently inform my parents that I wouldn’t live through the night, the day, the week, the year. They were convinced that I’d never walk, talk, or have the intellectual ability of my peers. It was plain to see that there were some who were frankly surprised my mother did not terminate her pregnancy. Yet here I stand-stand, after several reconstructive surgeries!- almost age 18, a senior in high school taking AP classes with over a 4.0 GPA, singing and dancing in my school’s

Throughout my life, well-meaning doctors have tried to gently inform my parents that I wouldn’t live through the night, the day, the week, the year. They were convinced that I’d never walk, talk, or have the intellectual ability of my peers. It was plain to see that there were some who were frankly surprised my mother did not terminate her pregnancy. Yet here I stand-stand, after several reconstructive surgeries!- almost age 18, a senior in high school taking AP classes with over a 4.0 GPA, singing and dancing in my school’s

Yet here I stand-stand, after several reconstructive surgeries!- almost age 18, a senior in high school taking AP classes with over a 4.0 GPA, singing and dancing in my school’s theater productions, running and winning a senatorial campaign to attend ALA Girls Nation, and living out Christ’s miracles every day.

The fact of the matter is that people are reluctant to admit that abortion is a disability issue. We don’t like the ugly reality that some babies are aborted because their lives are considered less full because of a disability. We cringe from the truth that many are reluctant to embrace people with disabilities and don’t see our value. Mothers are understandably terrified by grim odds and scary prenatal diagnoses and feel that they have no options. But a life is no less worthy just because it is not necessarily healthy. It is my hope that women choose to place the lives of their babies in God’s hands and to choose life. Not perfect life. Not glossy magazine life.

It is my hope that women choose to place the lives of their babies in God’s hands and to choose life. Not perfect life. Not glossy magazine life. Life that is wacky and amazing and challenging and absolutely no less wonderful for it. Looking at all my medical complications, surgeries, and hospital stays on paper is bleak. But a diagnosis can never capture someone’s ambition, love, courage, and zest. This is the true Power of One- just one person who can say, “I did it. I believe you can do it, too.”