Nothing makes me more spitting angry than the partial-birth abortion hoax. I debated a NOW Dr who tried to tell me it was necessary, but when I pressed her about the c-section option, the only answer she had for refusing that alternative was that c-sections are risky and scar. Unreal.
I still can't believe the levels to which they'll stoop in this debate.
On the other hand, I had a friend years ago, who had 3 little ones and got pregnant with her 4th. At her first neonatal visit, they found aggressive [cervical or ovarian] cancer. She refused to have even that early of an abortion. Her husband, a physician himself, and the rest of her family tried to convince her, but no.
She had the baby, then died within months, leaving him with 4 children under the age of 7. The resentment will never go away.
One of my best friends now has a very rare blood disease that causes severe clotting and frequent mini-strokes. She was told she was barren years ago, and has come close to dying many times over the last 2 years. She got pregnant, and is going to wait to see how she does, and only abort if she's on death's door.
That means the abortion, which is likely, will now be mid-term, and I find that to be horrendous.
The woman you describe is heroic, in my opinion. In the situation she was in, someone was going to die - her, or her baby. She chose that it be her. As Christ said, there is no greater love.
your first friend sacrificed her life for her child, and your second may. That is part of "choice," too. I don't know if I'd be that Christ-like.