Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Deleting the defenseless

Doubtless by now you've all heard about the British Medical Journal which printed an article about the ethics of "after-birth abortion," otherwise known as killing a kid. (Here's a link to an article on the subject, sent by a reader.)

The argument says that "a foetus and a newborn both lack a sense of life and aspiration... this justifies 'after-birth abortion' on the proviso it is painless as the baby is not missing out on a life it cannot contemplate."

The outrage over this conclusion rocketed around the world, as it should. Supporters say people shouldn't criticize those parents who want to kill a handicapped baby because hey, we don't know what it's like to take care of a handicapped baby.

In our case, as in the Lewis family's case, they're right. We don't know what it's like to care for a handicapped baby. But the "handicaps" specifically cited in the article reference babies born with Down Syndrome.

I confess I have a soft spot for Down kids. A few years ago I attended a regional homeschooling conference in Spokane and saw an enormous number of Down kids, a phenomenon that puzzled me until I realized – duh – that here was a segment of the population with the strength and integrity not to abort a “flawed” baby.

Let me relate just a trivial example of what I saw at this conference. There was a little girl with Down, probably about three or four years old. Her father, who was talking with another man, reached down and picked her up. They exchanged a lot of face-patting in what was clearly a loving ritual. Then the father handed the little girl over to the man he'd been talking to. The man had a beard (the father did not) and the little girl was fascinated by the beard. In a modification of the face-patting game she played with her daddy, this child patted the man's face to feel his beard, grinning all the time. The father was smiling. The friend holding the child was smiling. The combined love was so tangible it rolled across the room to where I stood, riveted, watching this scene.

And yet most Down babies are aborted, and some people want to kill them at birth.

If you were to poll parents of special needs kids (whatever the nature of those special needs) and asked if they would rather have killed their babies at birth rather than let the kids "suffer" in life, I believe the reply would be 99.99% of parents responding with horror at the idea.

We have a local child, nine or ten years old, who is severely handicapped. She is blind, unable to walk, and has the mental faculties of a toddler. My girls and I were at the lake one hot summer day when the mother and a friend brought this child to the lake as well. She is so severely handicapped that she could only have been marginally aware of her surroundings, yet I watched these two women tenderly carry the child into the shallows, splash her and talk to her, and let her enjoy the beautiful day. You can't tell me these women wanted that child dead.

Here's an earlier blog post about a woman who survived a botched saline abortion which left her disabled. Her testimony is riveting and demonstrates that the disabled are just as interested in living as the able-bodied.

But enough about disabled babies. The article continues, "However, the pair [the "scientists" who wrote the article] also want the principle of killing newborns extended to healthy babies, because a mother who is unwilling to care for it outweighs an infant's right to life."

This just leaves me speechless. Hello, have you ever heard of adoption? I have dear friends who were so desperate to adopt a baby they had to go through foreign adoptions because they couldn't find a domestically-born child. If a mother is unwilling to care for a baby, give it to someone who can. That's how we got my youngest brother. That's why I have a niece and nephew. That's how hundreds of thousands of parents became parents.

There's so much wrong with the logic of this article that it leaves me sputtering. Yet it's clearly a prime example of the slippery slope of ethics that have come into play in the last few decades. Whenever a concerned person points out the slippery slope of some new progressive agenda, those concerns are dismissed with contempt about how they're "overreacting."

Still think this is overreacting?

"A liberal society protects humanity," noted a comment at the end of the article. "It does not delete the defenseless!"

Well said.

25 comments:

  1. This is exactly how it started in pre WW2 Germany. The Nazis started killing the defenseless first.

    History is repeating itself.

    And we're letting it happen.

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    1. First the Natzis had to make people think the Jews were something less than human (a fetus is not a baby) before it became "all right" to murder them. This is the way euthanasia will go also. Once a human becomes non-human, it is all right to kill "it."

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  2. "the baby is not missing out on a life it cannot contemplate"

    Isn't the whole point that *we* can contemplate said life of the child?

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  3. I have to agree with them on one point. There really is no difference in abortion and what they refer to as "post-birth abortion." Killing babies is killing babies, no matter when you do it.

    What a sick, disgusting world we live in.

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  4. Oh how God must weep at the wickedness of his children. Each baby, born and unborn, has a spirit, unique and gifted, that is eager to come to earth to experience life and prove his allegiance to God. We are not at the top of the slippery slope, we have gone over and are rapidly sliding to the bottom.

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  5. I have become so weary at the state of things in this country and the world. The relentless attacks on all I hold dear are simply exhausting.
    I have come to learn the futility of contacting government representatives. So, I ask myself how can I peacefully change the course we are on. Prayer of course. Maybe only God can do it.
    If any of your readers have suggestions, please let us know.
    LCL

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  6. When I read the article I was appalled. How anyone could kill a newborn is beyond my comprehension.
    There was also a story recently about a woman who adopted a Russian boy. She bought him a plane ticket and sent him back with a note that she didn't want him anymore. Sad. If there was swap meet for kids, I'll bet people would be standing in line to take them.
    God help us all.

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  7. How Nazi can you get? To me, after conception, it's genetically human,and killing it would therefore be murder. These "scientists"(they aren't, if you ask me) apparently don't understand the concept of potential,much less morals. Maybe you just killed the guy who later invents faster than light drive, or fusion power plants. Or the woman who will discover a cure for all cancers.
    History is a loop tape. It is, has been, and probably always will be.

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  8. "The father was smiling. The friend holding the child was smiling. The combined love was so tangible it rolled across the room to where I stood, riveted, watching this scene."

    What beautiful words you gave us here. It brought me to tears, having to bite my tongue to hold them back.

    I saw a picture several years ago; of a Japanese mother bathing her child. The child had been affected by the Hiroshima Bomb, I believe. The look of love on the mother's face was so beautiful. You just knew this was what true love is about.

    I was going to link to the photo but realized that it was immodest. Funny, all these years later I don't remember the immodesty. I remembered the mothers face of love for her child.

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    Replies
    1. I know **exactly** the photo you're referencing. I've seen it too. If you have a link to the photo, by all means include it. It's too beautiful to miss.

      - Patrice

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  9. I'm the blessed mother of four children .. the youngest (age 16) has Down syndrome. He is the joy of our family. If you want to peek into what it's like nurturing this precious young man ... here is a blog link dedicated to our joy.

    http://scentedgeranium.blogspot.com/search/label/Down%20syndrome

    Exposing evil for what it is .. thank you for bringing this topic to light.

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  10. I wasn't able to "contemplate my life" until I was 8 years old.

    I couldn't finish reading this post. It upset me too much to think it.

    Just Me

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  11. Our 15 year old son has Downs syndrome. He is a wonderful young man. I don't think he would have appreciated my husband or I killing him as a baby. Why someone would even believe that is "fine" is beyond me.

    Now, in our society, some people are arguing for the murder of the just-born, defenseless babies and somehow that stance makes us more human? What an absurd notion!

    I have a friend with a 7 year old son who has Autism, she's originally from Germany. She relays stories she's heard from her grandparents and some of those stories that make your hair raise have begun here in America. We often talk about what we will do if the government (perhaps under obamacare with the "death panels") decide our children with disabilities are not worthy enough to justify some medical procedure, or they want to "take them" somewhere "safer".
    Well, I'll just leave unsaid the outcome of that.

    All that said just to say, How sad that my friend and I are having discussions like that in America. How horrible that reality proves our fears Justified!

    I'm just glad God has a plan and Christ is going to set everything right in His time. The waiting while watching the world fail though is not easy.

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  12. I've seen the article you're referring too. I could only read a portion of it, because it too made me very sick at the thought.

    My sis and I have had several discussions lately about the issue of abortion and how its affecting the world's population. According to one statistical study, there are roughly 163 million girls missing. Why? Sex-selective abortion, and its not just happening in Asian countries where traditional cultural bias favors sons over daughters. Its happening in Western countries too. In the old days, this would not have been a problem because people would just keep trying until they had at least one son, and the quota for the necessary number of girls to ensure every man could have a wife (or more depending on the culture) was met. This same study also said crime rates could be determined by the boy-girl ratio. The more boys than girls there are, the higher the crime rate. If I run across this again, I'll try to provide a link.

    We also got into a discussion about whether it was ethical to abort a child with a disability or disorder, even if its something that requires a trigger. My sis gave me a really good example: she asked if you would abort a child who had all these disorders (she gave me a long specific list of them. I should probably ask her for the list). Of course, my automatic answer was no, but for the sake argument we went with yes. Then she said, "Congratulations. You just killed Mozart. He had all those conditions."

    The world is a very sick place, indeed.

    ~Lily~

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  13. Anonymous 2:14 - I've said the same thing about the Obamacare plan in relation to our disabled population. I have a 13 year old son with autism. He's the happiest soul I have ever met. The idea that he would not exist chills my heart. But, the reality is, when healthcare is limited by government, rationing must at some point occur.

    The White House tapped Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel (brother of Rahm), a bioethics specialist to advise them on health care policies.
    http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/02/dr_ezekiel_emanuel_rahms_broth.html

    Dr. E. Emmanuel is one of the authors of a paper entitled "Principles for allocation of scarce medical interventions", aka rationing. He advocates something called the "Complete Lives System" which allocates resources based on what could be termed the useful life of the person. Old people, babies, disabled need not apply. CLS also appears to incorporate the WHO backed "Disability Adjusted Life year" (DALY) which weighs the value of disabled person as less than that of a fully functional person.

    "The complete lives system also considers prognosis,
    since its aim is to achieve complete lives. A young person with a poor prognosis has had few life-years but lacks the potential to live a complete life. Considering prognosis forestalls the concern that disproportionately large amounts of resources will be directed to young people with poor prognoses."

    http://econopundit.com/ezekiel_emmauel.pdf

    Becky

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  14. The "doctors" that wrote the thesis are in Australia. They are all ready murdering babies there. Of course, I count abortion as murder also, but to get back to the thesis:

    A woman in Australia was pregnant with twins. One had a heart defect that was deemed probably fatal. She was advised to abort, so she agreed. The wrong baby (no such thing, imo) was aborted, the mistake was discovered, and in order to abort the second baby they did a c-section. The article I read said the baby was delivered and then terminated. I could only call that premeditated murder. This was done about 32 weeks gestation if I remember correctly. I have two children born just after that time frame. I can't imagine doing something so barbaric or agreeing that it was in my best interests. Being a mom certainly means doing what is in the child's best interests, not yours.

    I read the article and the two responses. The second response was quite interesting, turned the rational on those that have bought into the argument that abortion is morally acceptable. Those people that agree abortion is okay, but if they were faced with murder after birth, would they choose differently, as abortion hides their murderous act.

    I apologize for rambling, I'm so stunned right now, somehow not surprised, though...

    sidetracksusie

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  15. I cried when I read this article. When I was in high school I wrote a paper detailing how I felt that abortion would logically lead to infanticide. It's so sad to see it play out.

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  16. As a mother of two disabled children I would give my life before I let anyone hurt my babies! Now or if I knew they were disabled before they were born. We (my husband and I) have decided not to have anymore children. The disability my children have is genetic and the likelihood of having more disabled children is great. Mentally, we agree we have what we can handle. May God forgive me.
    That said, I would adopt 10 unwanted children if I could. I LOVE my children and love being a mother. I wouldn't trade what I have for anything, but I would add to it especially to keep a baby from being "terminated" because someone didn't want him.

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  17. This post really got to me. I have an autistic daughter and am in the process of adopting a 3 year old with cerebal palsey. Both girls are amazing and because of therapy and parents who love them, will both be productive members of society. I cannot imagine killing a baby, its beyond words. You have no soul if you do this. Two years ago a good friend found out late in her pregnancy that her baby had a birth defect that would mean the baby would die very soon after birth, if she made it all. It was devastating to them. There was no question of termination, she delivered her baby on time and cuddled her until she died. She had a name, a family and a proper burial. She was loved. It was very humbling to watch those parents tenderly care for that baby for the very short time she was here.

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  18. When abortions were made legal, people said it was okay, because they were just removing a "lump of tissue" from the mother's womb during the first trimester. It wasn't even a baby yet, they insisted. NO BIG DEAL! I told my wife at the time that I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they didn't eventually start removing the "lump" AFTER the first trimester. She thought I might have been over-reacting just a tad. Then, sure enough! That "lump" was being aborted in the second and even THIRD trimester! When I told my wife to expect them to begin killing babies AFTER THEY WERE BORN, she no longer thought I was over-reacting. She began to be concerned. Unfortunately, her concerns have become reality. Tragically, "safe as a babe in its mother's womb" no longer applies in this day and age! I say to every liberal progressive and everyone and anyone who supports abortions, CONGRATULATIONS! Satan no doubt is quite proud of you all! --Fred in AZ

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  19. I have a complete different perspective on this: I am an Agnostic, a Liberal, Tree-Hugging Vegetarian. My decision to become a vegetarian over 20 years ago was a moral/ethical decision due to my views about 'Life'. I see no distinction between killing the human and the non-human Being. It's all murder. I find the buying, selling, slaughtering, exploitation and yes...aborting of sentient being to be amoral, repulsive and repugnant. ' If ' there is a God, I can't imagine that he would create beings that are sentient, having the ability to feel, joy, love, fear and pain for any other reason but to live out their life until their God calls them home. We humans are not the The Creator of Life so how is it our right to end another Beings life. Do no harm. Just my opinion....

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  20. Sorry (maybe not!) for posting so late but I just read this one. There's a wonderful new movie / video jut out by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort re: abortion. Free to watch on-line. Go to www.180movie.com

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  21. I am greatly saddened by this article. My husband and I are both physicians. 2 1/2 years ago I gave birth to a son with Down Syndrome. I was scared and sad at the time. Time and experience have turned that sadness and fear to joy and hope. He is the light of our world, and wherever we go, people are drawn to his gentle nature and constant smiles. He lives life just like our other son, just delayed.

    If the world could spend a day with him, their fear of a child with disabilities would fade. All of the tests offered today, abortion, and proposed "infanticide" feed on people's fears. They do not present to the families who find out their child has a disability anything else. I would love to run an ad for people to see my two children, one typical and the other with Down Syndrome, playing together with the caption, "You Don't Have to be Afraid. You are Stronger than You Think You Are." Life is different for us than for my friends who have all healthy children, but our life is just as full of joy and love. We are no less happy than any we would be if our son did not have Down Syndrome. Sometimes, I think we are happier. We appreciate the beauty and meaning of life more than the superficial things we valued before he was born.

    A world without disabled children is a sad world without empathy and compassion. I hope I never live in that world. I am appalled that any medical journal would publish such an article.

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  22. Saw a baby girl the other day with the facial features characteristic of Down's. I was probably very rude-- I looked and looked and looked, with a big goofy grin on my face.

    She was clearly in love with her Daddy. It was a beautiful thing to see.

    Even more beautiful to me was seeing that a family had the courage both to allow her life and to take her out in the world, where she will learn the skills she needs to most likely be, in fact, a contributing member of society.

    Those things shouldn't be acts of such great courage that they leave me grinning and marveling at the wonderful miracle before me.

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