Posted by
voiceoftruth on Friday, December 12, 2008 11:22:11 AM
The public has been aware for some time that the rise of eugenic abortions continues to increase. In Canada 90% of Downs Syndrome children are aborted. Babies with minimal deformaties such as cleft palates and club foot are being selected for termination. For the strongest pro-lifers, no handicap no matter how severe validates abortion, but many others have less stringent critera. There are amazing testimonies of parents who chose to bring trisomy 13 babies to full term, knowing that their lifespan will be only days, or in the best cases a few months. But each day of that child's life is a blessing to the parents, even in the knowing of the pain of separation that is bound to follow. God does not give us any burden we can not handle, as long as we lean on Him. I believe most Christians simply do not believe that scriptural promise deep in their hearts, and in the end chose the option of making of life easier on themselves, not carrying the burden or trial God has allowed into their lives. Every child is a blessing and completely worthwhile human being no matter their physical state, some are just much greater challenges than others. We see the things of this life through a glass darkly, not through the eyes of God.
Two stories worth discussing were reported on Lifesite News today.
Both center around what we could call "eugenic abortion."
Why has the British health ministry really decided to start covering up eugenic abortion statistics at this point in time? The claim of confidentiality does not ring true. Are the chilling facts that perhaps more and more women are willing to abort their babies for what might be considered more a cosmetic defect that can be corrected with sugery, than a severe physical handicap? We knew this was a natural part of the abortion slippery slope, should the general public be suprised by this? It's common knowledge that there is gender based abortion in certain culture groups, how long before one has the option to abort their child because their hair color will be brown and not blonde? Right now though, in society's eyes the definition of disability is an acceptable criteria for performing an abortion, considering the cosmetic ones as reasonable for most people are "future tense".
The other article takes a hard look at the "ethics" behind a Catholic hospital in Canada. Because abortion is not acceptable in church teachings, they have been performing "early inductions" (instead) which result in the death of pre-term handicapped babies within a short amount of time. One expert has said, (by definition) this fits the definition of Euthanasia. Others agree this is abortion, the intent is to terminate the pregnancy and end the life of the developing child. Many people in today's world have no ethical problem with this, but the issue that goes well beyond that is that this is happening at a Catholic hospital which is supposed to be adhering to church teachings and protecting life. You can try to reframe abortion any way you like, but it is still abortion. However, to me this seems like some Euthanasia-Abortion hybrid which meets no currently defined term.
In the United Kingdom...
UK Government Refusing to Release Eugenic Abortion Stats
"The Information Commissioner, a U.K. government body that promotes access to official information and protects personal information, has accused the Health Ministry of refusing to obey an order to release the numbers of eugenic “terminations” in the UK.
“Ground E” of the UK’s 1967 Abortion Act allows an abortion on request up to full gestation of children suspected of having a “severe” disability. The Health Ministry has refused to release the information, however, claiming that to do so would endanger the privacy of mothers and abortionists.
In the past the numbers on eugenic abortions from the Health Ministry revealed that children were being killed in the womb for “severe” disabilities that were in fact as mild as club foot or cleft palate, a revelation that caused a public backlash against such eugenic abortions..."
In Canada.....
Exclusive: Twenty Years of Eugenic Abortion at Ontario Catholic Hospital
Special Report presents hospital policy document approving the procedure
Quoted...
"Fr. Prieur explained the procedure, saying, "Routinely, when we get them we would meet with ten to fifteen people to make sure of the diagnosis and the prognosis. We always pray. Because this is a very difficult area - what's called a conflict area. So we always pray. And then the decision is made to have an early induction."
Fr. Prieur insisted that such procedures were not abortion. "Now it's not called abortion. We're not killing the baby. We're bringing the baby out and allowing the baby to die. That's a very important distinction," he told LifeSiteNews.com. When removed from the womb at 21 weeks gestation, however, even a healthy baby could not survive without highly specialized intensive care treatments..."
"Dr. Paul Byrne, a neonatologist and former President of the Catholic Medical Association, disagrees. Speaking on early induction for lethal fetal anomaly he said: "Every time I have been contacted over the many years that I have practiced neonatology, I instruct and encourage the mother to keep the baby in the uterus. It does not help the baby or the mother to deliver early."
Byrne told LifeSiteNews.com, "Parents usually do what they are led to do. Parents ordinarily are not equipped to deal with all this. Parents and clergy need guidance from a pro-life physician. Induction is the frequently given direction and answer to many, if not most situations these days. It brings an end to the immediate problem, but parents and clergy eventually realize that they did not have to impose or encourage death."
Dr. Byrne suggests that babies in utero with lethal fetal anomaly are "not dying, but living in the mother's womb." He adds that "they will die quicker if brought outside the uterus." Dr. Byrne concluded: "Killing is killing even when the baby has an abnormality and short gestation. We must not hasten or impose death. Sometimes when the baby gets out after natural labor, they live better than predicted.".."