Conjoined twins Rachel Clare and Maria Therese LeBlanc spent one precious hour outside their mother’s womb, being baptized and held by their loving parents before they died.
The sisters were born and died May 16 after their parents, Nicole and Austin LeBlanc, a Catholic couple from Michigan, refused to abort the twins, the Catholic News Agency reports.
“They lived for about an hour until they took their last breaths,” their mother wrote on Instagram. “My girls were loved and held until their final moments and all that they knew their entire lives was love from Austin and I.”
Nicole LeBlanc said the girls also were baptized and confirmed.
“God designed them so beautifully in my womb and it was an absolute honor and privilege to carry them for as long as I could,” she wrote. “Their lives have touched so many and the support my family has received has been nothing short of incredible.”
The LeBlancs have been sharing their daughters’ story online for months as a way to help change the culture to one that respects and values every human life. Thousands of people have followed the family’s journey and prayed for them as they prepared to welcome their daughters into the world, not knowing for how long.
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Nicole, 24, a Latina American and a small business owner, said they learned that they were expecting their first child last year. Just 10 weeks into the pregnancy, however, she said doctors discovered that she was pregnant with twins – and they were conjoined, according to CNA.
The twins shared several major organs, including their heart, liver and bowels, and doctors predicted that they would not survive long. Doctors also suggested that the couple abort their daughters.
“They definitely pushed an abortion agenda on us and on our babies,” Nicole said in an interview with EWTN. “That is something that we were not okay with and something we are totally, completely against because even though I couldn’t feel them moving at 10 weeks, I could see them clearly jumping together off the side of my womb.”
The couple chose to trust God with the heartbreaking situation. Austin said they prayed the rosary together every day, and they believe “God has a plan for everything.”
The Michigan family said they believe one of their daughters’ purposes is to help change people’s minds about abortion. Frequently, parents are pressured to abort unborn babies with disabilities. Some even argue that killing a baby with a disability before birth is “compassionate” and allowing them to live is not. The LeBlanc family’s story disproves these lies and demonstrates how every child deserves to be protected, no matter how short their life may be.
“I really think that the pro-life community is growing and I know that our testimony will be part of that, and I hope to do more work in the future as well,” Nicole said.
