Great Britain Abortion Reform
December 7th 2007 11:46 am
Today I am going to be writing about a controversial subject that affects every woman. This is a very touchy subject and if I offend anyone I apologize in advance.
Each year there are millions of women in the world who choose to end their pregnancy with abortion. On November 29, 2007 Baroness Masham of Ilton, Great Britain introduced an amendment in Parliament making it illegal for women to have an abortion if the fetus is found to be disabled. Currently, it is legal for women to undergo an abortion if during testing it is discovered the fetus will be disabled. Baroness Marsham claims it is wrong to kill an unborn disabled fetus if they can endure medical treatments for their illness.
Many people believe it is immortal to have an abortion if you discover your child has a disability. Women are devastated when they loose their child, whether they experience an abortion or a miscarriage. When women have an abortion, it becomes very emotional for them because pregnancies are usually planned and often it is the only child a woman will conceive after many months or years of trying to conceive. It is difficult for a woman to move forward with her life after having to abort her unborn child because the woman felt the fetus move, visualized what the infant would look like through an ultrasound, and in some cases had selected a name for the baby based on sex.
Learning there is a possibility that the fetus could be disabled, women want to terminate the existence of their own child, not wanting to keep their baby because it is not considered “healthy or perfect”. When we discover that we have conceived, women plan their future knowing they will have a perfect baby girl or boy. Aborting a fetus is considered helping the child because they are “better off dead” than living in a world where they will be subject to stereotypes because of their disability.
Personally I do not believe in abortions unless it is medically necessary, such as the child will only have a short amount of time to live or if the woman was raped. I would rather give the baby the opportunity to live whatever time they have on this earth, than not know the child, watching them grow and learn. Children should be given the opportunity to live their lifespan, whether that is 5 months, 5 years, or 50+ years.
Would you rather live your life and know your own child for five years, or would you rather live your life, without knowing them? Knowing your baby is disabled should not affect your decision to keep the fetus. What are your thoughts? Do you think it is moral to terminate a pregnancy if you are told your child will be disabled?
Denise Naspinski
* The opinions expressed in the above entry are those of the individual and are not necessarily shared by the Home Access Program or its Sponsor.
Aborting a Disabled Child responded on 30 Jan 2008 at 6:27 am #
You will find quite a lot of children are aborted, due to club feet or other minor disabilities. Its a controversial issue. On hand it seems unfair and unjust however, if parents have certain expectations of a child or cannot afford to look after a heavily disabled child then there reasoning is understandable.
Pam Loree responded on 21 Feb 2008 at 3:29 pm #
This note is from one who has been on both sides of this issue.
My oldest child (a daughter) was born with Down’s Syndrome, which involves a variety of both physical and developmental disabilities. I knew early in the pregnancy that she would be born with this disability, but I choose to continue the pregnancy against medical advice, which was to abort the pregnancy. My daughter is now 36 years old and she has been a total delight in my life even with the heartaches of caring for her needs.
I had a normal pregnancy with no complications 2 years after the birth of my first child, but then, 4 years after my first child, I found out I was carrying a baby boy with Down’s Syndrome.
At the time of this pregnancy, I had married into two stepsons,and had adopted two other boys. One of my stepsons had juvenile diabetes, one of my adopted boys had autism and cancer and the other adopted boy was seizure-prone.
I felt total overwhelmed by the prospect of yet another disabled child (I was 24 years old at the time), so I had an abortion. It was probably the biggest mistake I ever made in my life. I miss my little boy every day and wonder what he could have been and done.
So often we see disability as an absolute, like the person is the disability rather than the disability simply being an attribute of the person. We are ALL disabled and enabled in a variety of ways. I am extremely artistically challenged, but my oldest daughter can draw and paint wonderfully.
I believe that parents need to consider what they are doing very carefully before having an abortion of any type, even if it is medically recommended. This is something that will stay with you for life, even if it does seem like the right decision at the time.