Woman Whose Baby Was Cut From Womb Leaves Hospital

The Colorado woman who survived the horror of having her baby cut out of her womb by an attacker with a kitchen knife is out of the hospital and on the "long journey towards recovery and spiritual reconciliation," her family says. Relatives say Michelle Wilkins, 26, is now in a safe place, accompanied by her partner, Dan. "We have all been deeply moved by the many people who have reached out to Michelle and her partner to share their own personal stories of tragedies they've endured and how they managed to first just survive and then eventually start to heal," the family writes on a GoFundMe page. An uncle tells the Denver Post that the love the family has received after the March 18 attack helps them keep believing that "humanity is good."

Wilkins was seven months pregnant and her baby girl, Aurora, did not survive the attack. "We have no guidebook on how to navigate this crisis, or a checklist on what to do next," the family says, and the AP reports that the road to recovery is indeed largely uncharted: Out of 17 "fetal abductions" since 1987, only one other victim has survived, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Republican Colorado lawmaker Gordon Klingenschmitt, meanwhile, has blamed abortion laws for the attack, calling it part of a curse for America's "rebellion against God," Raw Story reports. (In January, a bereavement doula warned that alleged attacker Dynel Lane, who could face murder charges, "may do the unmentionable" if she was around a pregnant woman.)