JoAnne Cascia's baby Gabriel was diagnosed at 20 weeks of gestation with Thanatophoric Skeletal Dysplasia, a lethal form of dwarfism that affects the ribs, making them too small for lung development. The doctor advised Cascia to abort, and when the Metuchen, N.J., mother called a clinic, the counselor told her that because it was so late in the pregnancy the baby would "not be intact" after removal. In other words, he would be taken out in pieces. 

  "When I heard that, I just about dropped the phone. I thought, 'I just can't believe people choose to do this to a baby!'" At that moment she realized: "I'm his mother. My job is to protect him." 

Cascia's doctor dropped her case: "I went four weeks without having a doctor at all because nobody wanted to touch me." She eventually found a medical group at St. Peter's, a Catholic hospital that specialized in high-risk pregnancies. 

  Cascia gave birth to Gabriel on Feb. 24, 2004. He lived for 90 minutes. Hospital staff gave out wristbands for easy access and brought in muffins and coffee to ensure that her 35 family members and friends could spend as much time as possible with him. 

She dismissed abortion: "Even if my baby were not going to survive, I would want to spend whatever time I could with her and meet her at the end." 

  But a specialist soon discovered that Celine had been misdiagnosed; she had Right Heart syndrome, a condition that offered slightly higher chances of life.

Celine underwent three surgeries—at 6 days, 9 months, and 18 months—to "replumb her heart," ensuring that it could function on one ventricle. Now 8 years old, she lives her life "full speed ahead." 

  Rafie had already been active in the pro-life community. In 2002, she launched benotafraid.net, a website that offers encouragement and resources to parents who are faced with a serious prenatal diagnosis.

Liz Ledoux of Farmington, N.H., learned of her baby's medical condition at 26 weeks, when doctors told her that baby Cynthia had Exencephaly—her brain was forming outside of her skull. The doctor pressured her to terminate and said that her daughter would "look like a frog." 

  "It was not my choice to make," she said. "We knew that the condition she had was not 'compatible with life.' But in my mind, it was up to God when she returned to Him." 

  Cynthia, born on Dec. 5, 2009, died that day after living for 90 minutes. "My daughter did not look like a frog," Ledoux said. "She was beautiful . . . the smile, and the perfect little fingers, and the perfect little toes. . . . Was it difficult? Absolutely. But I don't regret it. I had—in my eyes—one of the most beautiful babies in my arms for an hour and a half."