Pregnant Connecticut Teen Who Tested Positive for Zika Virus Says She Will Keep Her Baby

[tabasco]

Source: People

Pregnant Connecticut Teen Who Tested Positive for Zika Virus Says She Will Keep Her Baby: 'God Has Given Me a Miracle'

A pregnant Connecticut teen who tested positive for the Zika virus has decided to carry her baby to full term despite the risks of birth defects. Mujica and her fiancé, Victor Cruz, 19, learned they were pregnant on March 14 – just four days after she started exhibiting symptoms of the Zika virus, which has been linked to severe birth defects, including microcephaly.

"I'm not happy that my baby is going to be born with Zika but God has given me a miracle," Sara Mujica tells PEOPLE.

The 17-year-old from Danbury, Connecticut, says that doctors told her she would never be able to conceive because she had meningitis at age 15.

"Doctors said that I would never get pregnant so this is a big miracle for me," she says.

Mujica and her fiancé, Victor Cruz, 19, learned they were pregnant on March 14 – just four days after she started exhibiting symptoms of the Zika virus, which has been linked to severe birth defects, including microcephaly.

Read more: http://www.people.com/article/sara-mujica-pregnant-connecticut-teen-zika-virus-will-keep-her-baby

---

Very sad.

[In_The_Wind]

1. Good luck to her and her baby.

[riversedge]

2. I do hope she will have lots of support.

[EL34x4]

5. Then I trust you've kicked in some $$$ to her gofundme account?

She's only $80 towards her $50,000 goal.

[cheapdate]

7. Good catch.

Expressions of sympathy not followed up with concrete action are hollow and disingenuous and must be called out every time!

[Demit]

33. I don't agree with this at all.

You cannot possibly act on every situation you feel sympathy for, in this world. But that doesn't negate the emotion. It isn't a reason to suppress expressing it, either. You go too far.

[cheapdate]

35. I don't either.

It was directed toward the preceding poster. Their post was simply poor manners.

[Demit]

36. Ah. My sarcasm detector must need recharging. :)

[Hassin Bin Sober]

12. I'm sure the fundy anti-choice groups are organizing efforts to take care of the child.

Although, I think the parents would have a better result if they claimed evil liberals were forcing the baby to bake a gay wedding cake.

[FLPanhandle]

18. If they can't afford the baby, then they shouldn't have it.

Even healthy children are extremely expensive.

[24601]

21. Pro-choice means her body, her choice. Shaming her for making her own decision to keep it is no

different than shaming her for aborting it.

What you expressed is the kind of sentiment that enables the right to claim pro-choice = pro-abortion.

[FLPanhandle]

29. Pro-choice does not mean have children even if you can't afford them.

In fact, one of the best things about the option of abortion is people understanding they aren't in a position to have children at that time.

[24601]

45. By that logic, pro-education means not attending college unless you can pay for it yourself.

Pro-choice means a decision freely made by the mother in consultation with her doctor without people arhuing that she will go to hell is she has an abortion or will suffer financially if she does not.

It means that it's her body and her choice.

[uppityperson]

55. Yes it does. Pro-choice means the pregnant person has the choice. It's not up to you to decide

in what conditions someone should be allowed to have children.

[daa]

78. So how much is this going to cost me? Nt

[uppityperson]

79. If you want to send me money, that's neat. Thanks. But I don't usually charge people to reply to me.

[smirkymonkey]

66. +1000

[Demit]

34. I don't see how expressing an opinion is "shaming her."

The poster didn't say anything remotely like "she should be ashamed!"

Lots of luck to her getting people to kick in $ for the baby, but having a baby at 17 is more romantic than sensible. Especially a baby that might have special needs. Her choice, all right, but then and forever after, her responsibility. Hope she accepts that.

[lbrtbell]

51. Willfully exposing a fetus to a high risk of major birth defects is child abuse - n/t

[womanofthehills]

61. It's not high risk

The only high risk numbers are in Brazil - Columbia had thousands of Zita cases and no rise in microcephaly.

Who knows - it could be a combo thing - Zito virus + the unknown = microcephaly.

[LiberalArkie]

3. I have not see the phrase "learned THEY were pregnant on March 14", I like it.

[hamsterjill]

71. It's common among the younger generation.

I've heard it many times from my daughter's contemporaries. I like the idea that it is inclusive of the father in situations where a pregnancy is a positive event.

I don't like it because, in my opinion, it's not factual and it degrades the idea that choice is a woman's decision in situations where pregnancy might not be a positive event.

[old guy]

4. This is her "choice".

A "choice" she would be denied if she had chosen to abort.

[enlightenment]

15. Come again?

If she had chosen to abort, it would have also been her choice. That's the thing with choices; choosing one thing often precludes choosing something else - but whatever the end result, it was still a choice.

What a weird thing to say.

[snort]

19. Papa, don't preach.

[old guy]

27. I'm not your papa and I don't preach.

Save your foolish snark for someone else.

[snort]

48. Buh bye, daddy.

[greymouse]

37. old guy

So it's only a choice if it goes your way?

[old guy]

39. I think you miss my point folks.

She had every right to make the choice she made, but if her choice was to abort would that choice be accepted? Not a chance.

[jwirr]

52. I think I agree with you. This is a choice that I have to

struggle with because my oldest daughter is severely disabled. But if she had chosen to abort there would have been a stigma. That is why I struggle and remind myself that it is none of my business. I am glad that I did not have that choice when I was carrying my daughter.


The world had better get busy finding an answer to this disease because this is going to cost a fortune - the same way that my daughter has cost the taxpayer a fortune. Now multiply my daughter time the number of babies this is going to produce.

[uppityperson]

56. Accepted by me? Of course her choice, whether abort or not, is acceptable to me and many.

[LiberalElite]

63. Some would accept it and some wouldn't nt

[secondwind]

6. They are so young, I hope they have thought this through.. apparently, they made their choice

[awoke_in_2003]

42. Religion means never needing to think. nt

[Kelvin Mace]

8. God "gave" you a miracle?

That is one asshole of a God you got there.

[iandhr]

10. Yup

6:20 talks about god being a prick

and here is the follow up video

[CarrieLynne]

16. rofl

[CountAllVotes]

24. No kidding

Sad reality she will be facing, very sad. She'll be needing a lot more that $500,000 before this thing is over.

[FLPanhandle]

9. How much is this "miracle from god" going to cost taxpayers?

Her little miracle may be long term care.

[dembotoz]

13. oh i dunno....in good republican fashion there kid will be expected to pull himself up by bootstraps

seems the way we are heading and how special needs are being funded

[3catwoman3]

76. Even if he...

...has no boots.

[24601]

23. Why don't you reconsider your words as they come across as pro-abortion rather than pro-choice?

[dembotoz]

41. well that is silly I am tired of trying to be pleasant to zealot antiabortion freaks

I have can more more forthcoming if you wish.....

[24601]

44. Look at the tree - I was not commenting on your post.

[dembotoz]

64. i would extend my coverage to include the other post

[womanofthehills]

54. Probably not

The last numbers I saw from Columbia, were 2 cases of Microcephaly among 5000 pregnant women with Zita. The numbers are way less than Brazil.

The chances of her baby being normal are very good.

[LanternWaste]

72. I'm quite sure we all cost the taxpayers at one time or another.

I'm quite sure we all cost the taxpayers at one time or another. No doubt though, many idiots pretend they have absolute knowledge of who is worth what, and imply as much...

[Moostache]

11. Nothing to see here...

Unless they start making public appearances for rightwing nutjob anti-abortionists...

I loathe the Palins for a lot of reasons, but chief among them was the crass parading around of their son with Down's Syndrome and promotion of their choice as some sort of moral beacon. Congratulations on choosing a lifetime commitment to caring for someone else's needs, but stop thinking that its a public good deed.

Private choices should remain private or they become publicity stunts. Palin has proven over and over that she never was anything but a living and breathing publicity stunt and grifter. I hope these kids don't try to tap that same well, but after watching the GOP and rightwing nuts make Kim Davis a "star" for being a biogted hate monger, I have very little doubt how this is going to turn out as well...

[stonecutter357]

14. she had a choice.

[CarrieLynne]

17. i wish people would think more about the baby than themselves

what a torturous life

[Ineeda]

47. That's actually an anti-choice POV

We can't have it both ways.

[CarrieLynne]

70. i see your point

I just cant imagine the hell that baby would go thru

[RobinA]

80. I Disagree Completely

As a parent or potential parent, part (if not all) of your responsibility is to think about the child. Choice isn't all about me, me, me. It's about making a decision weighing what you believe to be best for all involved. People's mileage may differ as to what is best, but choice should never be, although it often is, What do *I* want?

[Ineeda]

81. Your opinion totally differs from mine.

You say "Choice isn't all about me, me, me. It's about making a decision weighing what you believe to be best for all involved." I would choose differently than this young woman, but in the most basic way, that choice would be about me, me, me and my evaluation of how I would deal with things. I'm honest enough to admit I would be unable to emotionally, financially and physically handle the lifelong challenges associated with having a severely disabled child. So call me selfish, but the "best" for that child would be debatable. We should not judge other people's choices, even when they differ from ours. That's what CHOICE is all about.

[LanternWaste]

73. If a mere 1% is too high a risk, what then is the number and on what is it that measure on?

Normally, microcephaly occurs in about 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 10,000 of all births. Scientists analyzing outbreaks of the Zika virus in French Polynesia and northeast Brazil have estimated that the incidence rose to nearly 1 in 100 births nine months after those outbreaks peaked.

If a mere 1% is too high a risk, what then is the number and on what is it that measure on?

[NutmegYankee]

20. There is no guarantee the baby will be damaged.

I thought I saw recently that the incidence of birth defects was still low.

[JI7]

22. she thought she would never be able to get pregnant

[CountAllVotes]

26. Well hopefully she learned

n/t

[JI7]

28. learn what ?

[CountAllVotes]

30. That she could get pregnant, that is what

[JI7]

32. it was a doctor that told her she could not because of meningitis

That's why she is calling it a miracle

[womanofthehills]

60. I know a women in my town named "Miracle"

Her mom was told she could not get pregnant.

I was told I probably could not get pregnant, but got pregnant 3 times. Dr. said you better start trying for a baby now because you might have a real hard time getting pregnant - I was pregnant the next month.

Anyway, Columbia is showing no rise in microcephaly despite thousands of cases of Zita.

[Iggo]

25. I don't think that's the smart choice, but it ain't my choice.

And yes. Very sad, no matter what choice she makes.

[awoke_in_2003]

43. Very true. nt

[Warpy]

31. I respect her choice, but prognosis isn't good

Early in the pregnancy seems to be when the virus is most dangerous, women either miscarrying or giving preterm birth to non viable infants.

I wish her the best and hope she's one of the exceptions.

[womanofthehills]

59. Columbia and Venezuela - not seeing a spike in microcephaly

Both countries have reported thousands of Zika cases: In Colombia, officials estimate more than 40,000 people have been infected with the virus, including more than 6,000 women who contracted it during pregnancy. In Venezuela, officials claim there are a few thousand Zika cases, but doctors on the ground peg the number far higher, possibly in the hundreds of thousands.

What neither country is seeing so far, however, is a spike in microcephaly. That's what experts are really watching for, because a replication of what scientists believe happened in Brazil would be ominous for everyone.

“Colombia and Venezuela are really the places that will verify whether Brazil is unique, or if the pattern will repeat,” said Uriel Kitron, an expert in tropical infectious diseases at Emory University in Atlanta.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/04/zika-spreading-birth-defects-arent-yet/82607406/

[Warpy]

62. Here you go

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/02/why-isnt-zika-causing-birth-defects-in-colombia-it-may-only-be-a-matter-of-time/

Colombia will tell us a lot,” said Marcos Espinal, director of communicable diseases and health analysis for the Pan American Health Organization.

Authorities there are monitoring pregnant women who have already been diagnosed with Zika, he said.

But one challenge is that the birth defects don't typically appear in a fetus until the end of the second trimester or the beginning of the third, according to experts. Other types of damage can't be detected until birth, or even later, they say — and many of the Zika cases are fresh. Researchers only detected transmission of Zika in Colombia last October, while it had emerged in Brazil at least five months earlier.

[TexasBushwhacker]

38. Make the doctor pay for everything

He/she is the one who told her she could never become pregnant.

I had a friend who was told she couldn't get pregnant because she had an inverted uterus. So she didn't bother with birth control. She got pregnant and gave the baby up for adoption.

[B2G]

40. There is much we don't know about this virus

There's also a good chance the baby will be born healthy. Not every pregnant woman who has contracted the virus has a child with defects.

If a pregnant woman is exposed ◦We don’t know how likely she is to get Zika.

•If a pregnant woman is infected ◦We don’t know how the virus will affect her or her pregnancy.
◦We don’t know how likely it is that Zika will pass to her fetus.
◦We don’t know if the fetus is infected, if the fetus will develop birth defects.
◦We don’t know when in pregnancy the infection might cause harm to the fetus.
◦We don’t know whether her baby will have birth defects.
◦We don’t know if sexual transmission of Zika virus poses a different risk of birth defects than mosquito-borne transmission.

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/pregnancy/question-answers.html

[CTyankee]

68. I do hope the baby is all right. I wish her the best.

[valerief]

46. What a stupid girl. Fuckin' religion. nt

[Coventina]

49. Very shocked at the attitudes of some on this thread.

This young woman was told she would probably never be able to have a baby.

How can someone get on their high-horse and deny her this unexpected opportunity?

The baby might turn out to be perfectly healthy. It might not.

Every pregnancy has its risks.

This is her CHOICE and she's allowed to make it.

[cannabis_flower]

50. I wish her luck

Not every baby born to a Zika infected woman is born with birth defects. Hoping her baby also is not.

[Zoetrope]

53. Meningitis causes infertility?

This claim sounds dubious. She is free to make any decision she chooses, but I don't think that this is a miracle, just unprotected sex.

[LisaL]

57. I agree.

I wasn't able to find that meningitis is linked to infertility and so why would a doctor tell her she would be infertile?

[3catwoman3]

77. That jumped out at me, too.

Infection of the Fallopian tubes, sure. Mentingitis? Dubious, indeed.

[Blandocyte]

58. She has a point. So might also her baby's head

Thank you. I'll be here all week.

[truthisfreedom]

65. She's an idiot

and the people around her supporting this decision are idiots.

[LanternWaste]

74. I'm sure your bias compels you to allege as much

I'm sure your bias compels you to allege as much, much as mine compels me to think that same of you.

[truthisfreedom]

75. The difference being, facts and logic are on my side.

The Zika virus has been proven to deliver the most horrific of birth defects.

Only an idiot would wish this outcome on an unborn child, when there's an alternative.

[Vinca]

67. She might think God has given her a miracle, but it could turn into a nightmare really fast.

I can't begin to imagine being only 17 and suddenly responsible for a severely disabled child. Maybe a sonogram will rule things in or out at some point and she'll change her mind. I hope she's getting better advice than "it's a miracle."

[smirkymonkey]

69. +1000