By Gudrun Schultz
EL PASO, Texas, January 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A toddler born with heart trouble who has survived one surgery already and faces more is seen by her parents as a miracle baby, Catholic News Service reported yesterday.
Sofia Alomia was born Jan.22, 2006, on the 33rd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe vs. Wade that effectively legalized abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
Diagnosed with severe heart defects while still in the womb, baby Sofia was threatened with abortion when several doctors repeatedly urged her parents to end the pregnancy.
Yvonne and Santiago Alomia, both strongly opposed to abortion, refused to follow the doctors’ recommendation and continued with the pregnancy. Yvonne said not only her doctors but also colleagues, friends and her own patients from her optometrist practice encouraged her to abort her baby girl.
She sought support and advice from other doctors, as well as priests and El Paso Bishop Armando Ochoa on how best to treat her baby once she was born. The extent of her cardiovascular abnormalities made it likely the baby would not survive long after birth, doctors warned, or would suffer from serious medical problems all her life,
Sofia was born with a defective heart, and underwent surgery when she was just three days old. She is scheduled for another surgery soon after her January birthday and will have to undergo more in the future.
Nevertheless, her parents are preparing a joyous celebration for her first birthday and say they remain optimistic for her future.
A devout Catholic, Alomia told The Rio Grande Catholic, El Paso’s diocesan newspaper, that she believes God planned Sofia’s birth at 3 pm—the time of Christ’s death—on the 33rd anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, for a particular reason. Alomia said she believes Sofia was given to them by God so they could “reach out to people who have had abortions and convince them of God’s infinite mercy and to let people know it is wrong to abort.”
She would tell couples faced with a difficult pregnancy that they are not alone, she said, “and that God has a special plan for each and every one of us.”
See coverage by Catholic Online:https://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=22723