Brazilian mother gives birth to baby who developed outside the womb

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 10, 2008 / 14:42 pm

A Brazilian woman has given birth to a baby boy who developed outside her womb. Despite the possibility of being aborted out of concern for the life of the mother, Valdir Gabriel was born healthy, and both mother and child are recovering normally.

Gabriel was born at a Sao Paulo hospital at eight months, the second child of Maria Benedita. Five months into her pregnancy she discovered the baby was developing outside her womb, in an area next to the stomach.

Experts say such cases occur in 1 in 40,000 pregnancies, with only a five percent chance of survival for the baby.

The case of Maria Benedita was even more complicated, since she was above the age of 40. Nevertheless, she decided to save her baby.

“We overcame, thanks be to God. We never turned back,” she said of her decision not to abort.

The child developed in a space between the stomach and the uterus and was protected by a layer of fat that surrounded the placenta, serving as a substitute for the uterus.

Doctors said the baby was conceived in the fallopian tubes and was never implanted in the uterus.  Brazilian pro-life groups have pointed to the case of Gabriel as another testimony that life begins at conception and that drugs that prevent implantation are in reality abortifacients.