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Pregnant Connecticut teen with Zika virus says she will keep baby

Posted at 10:17 PM, May 10, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-10 22:17:46-04

DANBURY, Conn. -- A pregnant mother from Connecticut, who was recently diagnosed with the Zika virus said she has decided to keep her baby.

Danbury resident, 17-year-old Sara Mujica said she reached her own decision despite fears that the virus can cause birth defects.

Mujica said she contracted the illness while visiting Honduras.

She set up a GoFundMe siteto help pay for her and her baby's medical costs.

Eyewitness News spoke with Mujica last week, who said she isn't feeling her best.

Sara Mujica, who was recently diagnosed with the Zika virus said she has decided to keep her baby.

Sara Mujica, who was recently diagnosed with the Zika virus said she has decided to keep her baby.

"I had a fever and I started getting rashes all over my back, my legs, my face, my arms I had a rash everywhere," Mujica said.

She said she got pregnant at the end of February with her fiancé Victor Cruz, who lives in Honduras.

When she came back to Connecticut on March 30, she knew something was wrong.

"I knew it (Zika virus) was around and I was thinking it was Zika and of course I was thinking that. No one wants to go through that when they are pregnant and have a baby that might possibly come out deformed," Mujica said.

She went back to Honduras to be with her fiancé and to move forward with their planned wedding, and to figure out together what to do next.

"I am very nervous. I don't know what to do exactly. I don't want to say I don't know if I should have an abortion or just take what God gave me," Mujica said.

Her fiancé wants her to keep the baby. She said her mother, whom she lives with in Danbury, would like her to make her own decision.

In the meantime, she said she doesn't want to come back to Connecticut without her future husband.

He has no work visa, so she needs his government paperwork to be processed quickly once they marry so he can come to the United States as a spouse.

Also, her prepaid return ticket is not scheduled until July and she said she does not have the money to pay the change fee to come back earlier.

She will be treated at Danbury Hospital once she returns.