Tennessee Woman Chooses Child’s Life over Her Own

LifeSiteNews ^ | 3/2/07 | Hilary White

[wagglebee]

NASHVILLE, March 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Thursday, February 15, at the age of 31, Jennifer Ann Carlisle gave up her life to cancer after refusing an abortion that doctors told her might have extended her life.

Jennifer had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2005. At two months gestation, long before any chance of saving the child’s life outside the womb, Jennifer was told that she would die from the soccer ball-sized tumour if she did not abort the baby.

“Even though the doctors did say it would extend her life to have the abortion, she and her husband made the decision to let God choose," said Carol Day, Jennifer's mother.

“They decided God would make that decision, not her,” Jennifer’s aunt, Jackie Murdock, told the Niles Daily Star. “She wouldn't decide somebody else's life.”

Murdock recalled her niece saying, “Whether she lives or dies she will not abort her baby.”

Gabriel Carlisle was born in January 2006 and Jennifer underwent aggressive chemotherapy but after a brief summer remission, her condition worsened. She attended church services Sunday February 11, and died the following week.

“I told her that I loved her," Joshua said, recalling when his wife died in his arms surrounded by family. "And I told her that she needed to go on, that God was calling her home.” They had been married ten years.

“I held her and she took her last breath. There was a peace at that last minute that's just indescribable,” Joshua told Nashville’s TV News Channel 5.

The Carlisles’ church and community are rallying to assist the family. A benefit auction and concert to help pay for medical expenses were held at Christ Community Church in Franklin Tennessee.

Joshua told local news media, “I’m hoping that we don't get any more doctor bills but they're still coming in.” 

“I guess she knew the secret of life and it is not in receiving but giving,” Joshua said.

[Alberta's Child]

Amazing ping.

[Carolinamom]

God bless her, her little one, husband/father, and all who love her too. Mother Love personified.

[presidio9]

Tears in my eyes reading this one.

[wagglebee]

It doesn't get any more real than this.

[Suzy Quzy]

STRAIGHT to HEAVEN she went!! God bless and keep the whole family!!

[wagglebee]

She certainly did!!!

[California74]

Inspirational woman. I will tell you that I am pro-life and against abortion in nearly every circumstance. However, I would not have blamed her or looked down upon her if she had an abortion in this circumstance. It would have been self-defense, that she might have saved herself to be able to care for the little ones she already had a while longer. Yet she chose instead to bring this little one into the world. God bless her.

[Marine Inspector]

Agreed!

[Pinkbell]

This woman is a modern day Saint. I rarely cry, and this story put a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. I think this hits hard because I've been viewing a board of radical, leftist feminists. These women seem to have a hatred for the child within the womb, comparing the child to a parisite. The child within the womb is no parisite, that's for sure. They claim in order for women to truly be equal and have the same rights as men, they have the right not to bear children or have another being attached to their bodies. My response is that women and men should have equal rights, but women and men are not biologically equal. A real feminist would celebrate the life giving power of women, not treat that life giving power as a defect that must be butchered. A real feminist would celebrate that only women can have the gift of motherhood, and that gift should be embraced, not destroyed. This woman celebrated motherhood and the beautiful gift that she was given. She loved her child so much, she was willing to lay down her life. God bless this woman!

[6SJ7]

Well, this story turned on my water works.

[Jaysun]

This woman was an angel on loan from God.

[California Patriot]

Outstanding.

[asburygrad]

The article just says that having an abortion would have "extended her life" but it isn't clear to me whether that means they could have cured her or just provided her with a few extra weeks/months of life.

I mention this because I think if I were in a similar situation I would make the same decision if the only difference was a few weeks/months but I might make a different choice if I knew there was a real possibility for a cure from the cancer and forgoing treatment meant leaving the children I already have.

I'm not trying to start an argument but I often wonder how I would react in similar circumstance. It's much easier for me to talk about hypotheticals when there's no real cost involved. It would be supremely difficult for me to voluntarily travel a path that I knew would permanently separate me from my kids.

[RXSalesman]

http://newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?s=6138340

[little jeremiah]

May God bless this woman and her family!

There are good, decent, moral people in the world.

[Giant Conservative]

Great family. And bless the child who lived.

[azhenfud]

A true American Hero.

[Giant Conservative]

Best to celebrate that men and women together create new life, and enshrine the right of both to protect and care for the life of their child from conception forward, with neither having any legal authority to kill the baby.

[colorado tanker]

Tears in my eyes reading this one.

[ContraryMary]

God bless them!