Thursday, July 10, 2008
Letters to Gabriel

Karen Garver Santorum is the author of Letters to Gabriel and the story is about her life and the life she was carrying inside her for nine months. The baby lived two hours after birth, but to her and her family their little boy was alive and part of their family the entire time.

The book is 100% nonfiction and the family in the story was very much in the public eye since the father, Rick Santorum, was a Senator at the time.

Karen was over joyed about her pregnancy and all was going very well at first. However, further into the pregnancy complications arose and they were severe enough that the doctors offered the option of abortion. There was a very slim chance the baby would carry to full term or survive after birth.

It just so happened they found out their baby had a small chance of surviving during the time the partial birth abortion was up for debate in the Senate. And they are a pro-life family.

Karen and her husband decided to move forward and do everything they could to help their baby grow and survive. There were many tests and trips to distant hospitals. Baby Gabriel's kidneys were not functioning and his lungs were not developing properly. There wasn't enough fluid in the placenta and as the pregnancy progressed the percentage of survival diminished.

Gabriel Michael, was born prematurely and died two hours after birth.

Karen writes letters to her unborn son and after he dies she continues writing. As a reader you can feel her anguish and despair. You can also feel her faith and bravery. The book was hard to read, upsetting to say the least, but it was beautiful. And to know Rick Santorum was leading the charge against partial birth abortion in the U.S. Senate at the very same time this was happening makes the story even more powerful.

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