Insurers' ethics

I am writing in response to the Aug. 26 article "It's Their Call: Couple Embrace Joy as They Live Through Troubled Pregnancy." I cannot imagine enduring such a heartbreaking experience and making such a difficult decision. I feel fortunate that I have never had to make such a decision.

Pregnancy -- especially first-time pregnancy -- is hard and filled with unknown variables, especially when a woman discovers she is carrying a fetus with severe birth defect anomalies that indicate it may not even make it to term, or will die soon after birth.

Kelly Frey is carrying her fetus to term. How revealing that Ms. Frey's initial decision was to abort the pregnancy, but she changed her mind after learning from her husband's insurer that abortions are covered only when the health of the mother is at risk. I have to ask myself how the insurer knows the pregnancy will not be life-threatening to Ms. Frey, especially since the fluid building up in the baby's brain will cause the head to be larger than normal in the final stage of pregnancy and may make a Caesarean section necessary.

Maybe next time the Post-Gazette will report on women who opted to terminate their pregnancy, whether their insurance provider covered health costs for abortions and, if not, question the insurance providers' medical ethics for potentially putting their clients' lives in danger.

EVE GOODMAN
Wilkinsburg