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Carol’s fetus was killed by the procedure, but it was virtually identical to those that result in live births.

“I want people to understand what these women have been through before they start accusing the doctors who helped them of being murderers,” said Carol.

In 2010, 537 Canadian women underwent abortions after 21 weeks of pregnancy, not including Quebec. According to Wendy Norman, a clinical professor at the University of British Columbia, “almost everyone” in those cases “has some different anomaly.”

Some have fetal anencephaly, a condition in which the fetus fails to develop a brain.

Others fail to develop kidneys, a condition known as Potter’s Syndrome that kills the infant hours after birth.

Many times, said Dr. Norman, the specific defect is so rare that it does not even have a proper medical name.

After an ultrasound at 21 weeks, Carol’s fetus was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disorder that results in severe bone fragility.

Less severe versions of the condition are survivable, although they result in physical deformities into adulthood. Carol’s fetus, however, had one of the most extreme cases.

“What I was told was that it could die at any moment,” she said.

If the baby was naturally stillborn, said Carol, she would have needed to select a name, learn the child’s gender and make funeral arrangements.

Carol requested a late-stage abortion, adding that the procedure was never broached by medical staff, and even finding a physician qualified to perform it was a challenge.