My child was perfect

A mother reflects, two years after a life-changing diagnosis

Emmy posting the letter in May 2016 (Photo courtesy of Courtney Baker)

In 2014, already a mother to two girls, Courtney Baker was told that her as-yet-unborn third child had Down syndrome—a chromosomal disorder that occurs in approximately 1 in 1,000 babies delivered each year—and that her best option was to terminate the pregnancy. Despite an abortion b…