“His smile lights up a room,” Mollie Keen says about her son, Nash, who has just celebrated his first birthday. A year ago she didn’t know if he would ever leave a hospital. He was born at 21 weeks — 133 days premature. Nash is now the youngest of survivors.

“He was just so young,” Mollie remembers. She and her husband, Randall, were hopeful, but the doctors were trying to help them be realistic all along the way, too. Nash’s heart, his brain — everything was underdeveloped.

Today, his parents and some of his medical team at the University of Iowa talk about the medical “miracle” that he is here — even the scientists use that word, attributing his success to the love of his family, too, not just technology,

More in a local news story here.

Meanwhile, in Chicago this month, Hope Clinic (of all names) opened, offering all-trimester abortions. On Instagram, they proclaimed: “And OMG we couldn’t be more excited.” On their website, they explicitly shout about the availability of 34-week abortions. “Everyone deserves access to abortion care, whenever they need it. Because deciding and acting on what’s best for you shouldn’t be on anyone else’s timeline.”

New life — especially when it has added challenges — can be terrifying. But with love and effort, Nash is possible. He and his family and medical team — and all the people supporting them — are a profile in hope.

May the mainstreaming of the Nash news — world-record-holder, baby! — be an inspiration and call for something better than abortion, and maybe especially in the latest days of a pregnancy, when wonders are being worked on other little ones, fighting for their lives.