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VIDEO: Grey's Anatomy's Sarah Drew Reveals the Real-Life Inspiration Behind April's Baby Story Line

Why April's "emotional roller coaster" is personal for her

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Liz Raftery

For Grey's Anatomy's Sarah Drew, her character April's story line --finding out that her unborn baby may have a potentially fatal bone disease - is personal in more ways than one.

Drew - who last December gave birth to a baby girl, her second child with husband Peter Lanfer - was actually the one who proposed the idea to Shonda Rhimes and the Grey's writing team, based on a similar situation that friends of her parents found themselves in.

Grey's Anatomy: Should April terminate her pregnancy?

"I kind of accidentally pitched it," Drew told TVGuide.com during a recent set visit. "My parents are pro-life, and I had talked to them about this whole kind of discussion, and they had offered a not so black-and-white reaction to that scenario, that came in the form of this story of their friends. I sent an email to the writers, to let them know, 'Hey, there are multiple ways to look at this scenario as a person of faith.' And, when I found out my character was pregnant, I said, 'Oh, you're totally gonna do that story that happened to my mom's friend, right?' ... Shonda said, 'Well, I wasn't planning on it, but now that you pitched it, yes, I will.'"

April and Jackson (Jesse Williams) get their test results back on Thursday'sepisode and, if the news isn't good, they must decide whether or not to terminate the pregnancy - something that is sure to create a rift in the newlyweds' relationship. "For the medical-minded Jackson, this scenario seems pretty clear," Drew notes. "For April, it is much more unclear. ... For a person of faith who's pro-life, do you wait for a miracle? Do you wait for God to heal this baby, even though it seems a complete medical impossibility? ... Those are the kinds of conversations that could arise once we find out what the diagnosis is."

Though this season has been an emotionally harrowing one for April, Drew says she hopes the narrative will be a launching pad for larger discussions. "It's really thought-provoking," Drew says. "It's a crazy emotional roller coaster, but it makes you ask big questions and think about things in a new way and see things from lots of different sides, and wrestle with things in a way that I think is really amazing and interesting."

Watch the video above to get more of Drew's thoughts on what's next for Jackson and April. What do you think they should do about the baby?

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.