CNN published a piece with the headline “Doctors performed brain surgery on a baby before she was born and now she’s thriving.” (Note: “baby,” not “fetus.”)

A 30-week scan revealed that the baby had a condition known as vein of Galen malformation. More than half of babies born with the condition get very sick immediately and of those, there is a 40 percent mortality rate. Her parents opted for a trial treatment of in-utero surgery, which was ultimately successful.

Contrast this with another CNN report, published the day before: “Because of Florida abortion laws, she carried her baby to term knowing he would die.” (Again, note: “baby,” not “fetus.”)

In this case, the baby’s mother was warned at 24 weeks that her unborn child did not have kidneys, a condition known as Potter’s syndrome. She was told that her baby would not survive and that she was at high risk of preeclampsia. CNN reported that “Florida law allows abortions after 15 weeks if two doctors confirm the diagnosis of fatal fetal abnormality in writing, but doctors in Florida and states with similar laws have been hesitant to terminate such pregnancies for fear someone will question whether abnormality was truly fatal.” Therefore, “what followed was an agonizing 13 weeks of carrying a baby she knew would die and worrying about her own health. It left Dorbert with severe anxiety and depression for the first time in her life.”

This heartbreaking diagnosis was doubtless a cause of great suffering for the baby’s parents. But it is not clear how abortion would have solved anything. In one scenario you have the baby’s almost certain death by kidney failure. In another, you have the baby’s certain death by doctor-inflicted dismemberment (D&E).

The CNN story acknowledges that another couple with the same diagnosis opted for an experimental treatment that resulted in their baby’s survival.

The couple sought out an experimental treatment at Johns Hopkins Medicine in which doctors transfused saline solution into the uterus to help mimic amniotic fluid. After a series of weekly infusions, their daughter, Abigail, was born 12 weeks prematurely. She survived on dialysis until she was big enough for a kidney transplant from her father.

This positive outcome was exceptional. Still, doctors don’t have crystal balls. Neither should they be gatekeepers for who gets a shot at life. When doctors are unable to treat a patient’s illness, the proper course of action is palliative care, not so-called mercy killings.