When Tissue is a Person: How Thomas Gray Helped Me Think About Planned Parenthood

His name is Thomas Gray.

Thomaswas born with a birth defect, anencephaly, that caused parts of his brain to not form. Born to Sarah and Ross Gray, Thomas lived for six days before he died. Because the condition was discovered during the pregnancy, Ross and Sarah had prepared for his short life and made arrangement for hisorgans to be donated.

I heard about Thomas while listening to the Radiolab podcast “Gray’s Donation.” Two years after Thomas’ death, Sarah Gray began wondering what happened...