On 'The short life of baby Milo'
On March 3, 2023, Milo Evan Dorbert was born and died.
Deborah Dorbert’s pregnancy was normal until she and her husband Lee discovered their baby was suffering from Potter syndrome. Potter syndrome is a rare and terminal condition that prevents the formation of kidneys. Without kidneys, a fetus cannot produce the amniotic fluid that allows the lungs to fully develop, and that cushions the fetus. As a result, most babies born with Potter syndrome are deformed from being compressed against the uterus wall and all die within a few hours of birth.
Deborah Dorbert asked for her pregnancy to be terminated. Because of Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, doctors said no.
In ‘The short life of Baby Milo’, the Washington Post chronicles the torture of what came next, culminating in Baby Milo’s 99-minute life. After birth, he never opened his eyes, instead spending his entire life gasping for breath from lungs that weren’t wholly there.
It’s a devastating and urgent read.
The state-sponsored torture of the Dorberts and Baby Milo is now a very real possibility for a majority of American women and families. The Dorberts were just a couple, who wanted and loved their baby all the way to the end, caught up in the cruelty of anti-choice rhetoric and legislation.
The state forced the Dorberts to carry a fetus to term whose life was guaranteed to be painful, suffocating, and short. Florida’s pro-life law “protected” an unviable fetus and compelled the real, agonizing death of a living human.
Deborah Dorbert’s bravery in speaking out raises a chilling question. For the lawmakers writing these draconian laws, is cruelty the point?