Rapper Fetty Wap, who came on the scene in 2015 with his hit single “Trap Queen,” is expecting a newborn daughter any day with his girlfriend Alexis Skyy, who is only 24 weeks pregnant.
According to TMZ, Fetty Wap (Willie Maxwell) and Skyy rushed to a Georgia hospital Tuesday after her water broke.
In a video posted to Skyy’s Instagram, she said that doctors say the baby is fine and that they’d like to delay labor for as long as possible. Fetty also updated his fans and said mother and baby are doing well. Meanwhile, fans and media outlets like VH1 offered their prayers for the family. Fetty and Skyy have already chosen a name for their daughter: Alaiya.
By Wednesday morning the contractions had stopped, meaning the baby may be able to stay in utero longer than expected.
If Alaiya is born in the coming days, she would need neonatal intensive medical care, but would be viable. The odds of such a premature baby surviving are now strong thanks to medical innovations. Studies that are as dated as 2005 show the percentage of baby Alaiya surviving out of the womb, if she were born today, to be upwards of 70%.
In a twisted form of irony, though, it would still be legal in Georgia for Skyy and Fetty to abort Alaiya at any point in the next four weeks — even though she would very likely survive if she were born today. In Georgia, thought to be a conservative, pro-life state, there are no restrictions on aborting a baby in its first trimester. Abortions remain legal up to 28 weeks if it’s done in a “licensed hospital or health facility.”
My question for Fetty’s fans and the likes of VH1 is this: where do you stand on abortion? You’re praying now for the successful delivery of a healthy baby, but if Skyy had chosen to abort Alaiya, would you say that it’s “her body, her choice”? If so, how do you reconcile that the worth you attach to Alaiya is entirely dependent on whether her mother wants her? If Alaiya (or any baby) can survive at 24 weeks, how can you support laws that allow abortions at 24 weeks?
Why the double standard? Why does VH1 — which has hosted panels featuring Planned Parenthood staffers and written glowing reviews of “brave celebrities” who come forward about their abortions — now offer up prayers for baby Aliya?
Baby Alaiya is lucky. Her parents are famous, which means millions of people know and say they care about her life. But there are hundreds of thousands of babies aborted in utero who are forgotten by the same people only because those babies’ parents aren’t stars.
If a celebrity baby at 24 weeks in utero deserves your thoughts and prayers — then don’t they all?