Wrongful Life
A number of years ago a married woman of our acquaintance underwent prenatal testing. She and her husband received the sad news that their daughter would be born blind and deaf. She was strongly urged by medical professionals to abort the child (my word). Her faith would not allow it, and her stubbornness gave her the strength to stand up to the new gods.
But how many women have that strength, and how many men support them? In a previous post, in a footnote comment, I linked to a chilling article by George Neumayr, executive editor of The American Spectator titled The abortion debate that wasn’t in the Seattle Post Intelligencer. The statistics are horrifying.
Most of us know at least one person with Down Syndrome. Most lead fairly normal lives. I seem to recall one teenager starring in a television drama several years ago.
Some experts believe that since 1989, 70% of all conceived Down Syndrome children (my word) have been aborted.
Read the article for the rest. It will make you sick, I hope.
As a lawyer and former judge, I am particularly concerned with the part played in all this by the courts. Under our system of Common Law, causes of action are developed over time not by the legislatures, but by the courts. Trial lawyers push the limits all the time, which is how, without any action taken by elected bodies, suits for Wrongful Birth and Wrongful Life have cowered the already ethically challenged medical profession into not only acquiescing in, but actually promoting the New Eugenics.
A doctor fails to perform prenatal testing, or fails to discover a potential birth defect, or fails to adequately inform the mother (my word) of her “options”, including the RightThatDaresNotSpeakItsName, and the doctor or his insurance company can be on the hook for all the trauma caused the parents, and the support of the child forever. Is it any wonder that doctors use their professional status to urge, even demand, abortion when there is the slightest chance of an “imperfect” child?
The Culture of Life says that every life is a gift from God. The greatest triumph of our humanity has been our care for the weak and the helpless and the hopeless among us. In the Church we call such things works of mercy. Their essence is contained in the Beatitudes.
Will the Culture of Life prevail, or will the attitude of Senator Clinton, who argued that the partial birth abortion law should be defeated because it did not contain an exception for the mother (my word) to abort a disabled child (my word)?
Even if medical science can show us with absolute certainty the physical future of our progeny, by what right does anyone destroy that life?
Our friend gave birth to a baby girl who is, by the way, a perfectly normal high school kid today.
