Parents Of An Unborn Baby Girl With Two Faces & Two Brains Refuse To Abort Her (Photos)

The Australian parents of an unborn child with two faces and two brains are defying doctors' advice to terminate the pregnancy. Renee Young and Simon Howie, of Tregear in Sydney's west, say they were shocked when an ultrasound revealed the twin girls they were expecting were in fact only one child with two perfectly symmetrical faces and two brains. Three-dimensional scans show the child has two legs, two arms and one body with all the vital organs, including a strong beating heart.
Doctors  told Renee she should not keep the child 'because it would be looked upon by the public as a freak' and will be ridiculed. The condition, which is known as craniofacial hyperhidrosis or diprosopus, is so rare that only 35 cases have ever been recorded. None has survived. The last known case was born in an Indian village, the baby struggled to feed and died two months later.
But Renee and hubby Simon have refused to abort and instead have decided to go through with the birth and 'surround' the child 'with people who love it'.
Surrounded by the seven children they already have, Mr Howie said they won't end the pregnancy on 'moral' grounds.
'We thought it was the same as bringing home a child with autism or Down syndrome,' he said, 'I don't really believe in terminating a baby if it's healthy and growing fine.
His wife, Renee, said 'Everything happens for a reason'. She had never terminated a pregnancy before and they have a family 'that gives us a lot of support'.
Doctors insist there was a good chance the couple's child would not survive to a live birth but if she did, treatment could prove costly. But the burgeoning parents, who are currently not working, said they would 'cross that bridge as it comes'.
'If we have to go back to work, we will,' said Renee who is on a disability pension for her severe rheumatoid arthritis and is looked after by Mr Simon, who draws a carer's pension.