Posted by Dinah on September 29, 2009, at 21:32:10
In reply to Re: Regarding PBC on Sarah Palin » Sigismund, posted by yxibow on September 29, 2009, at 8:24:32
> I respected them and I do respect people with mental handicaps.
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> What I don't respect, and people can be free to argue on the religion board or wherever appropriate, are people who knowingly have amniocentesis or other tests of successful pregnancy and still bring someone with severe chromosomal difficulties to face this "cruel world".
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> I think those who knowingly chose so, are cruel themselves.Well, you know the old saying. What you think *should* be scraped out of a uterus and disposed of prior to birth, by anyone who isn't in your opinion cruel, is a treasure to Palin. And I hope would be a treasure to me.
I would never dream of calling someone cruel who educated themselves, considered thoughtfully, and decided that they did not have the emotional, financial, or spiritual resources necessary to parent a child with Down's syndrome, and thus decided to terminate the pregnancy. It is a painfully difficult situation for any parent.
However, I would have made the decision you refer to, and I would appreciate it if, no matter what you think, you refrained from calling me and people like me "cruel".
Had I been advised to get an amniocentesis, I'd have done it. I'd have wanted to be prepared ahead of time. And if I discovered that my child was going to be born with just a brain stem, or something along those lines, I would have terminated the pregnancy.
However, no one can tell ahead of time how badly someone with Down Syndrome will be affected. It varies. Moreover, whenever you choose to have a child, you risk problems and heartache. As heartache goes, I'd prefer Down syndrome to a child lacking in integrity or caritas.
Cruel world? It seems so sometimes. I'd rather work on making it a less cruel world than decide who is worthy of living in the world as it is...
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0121630/bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_syndrome
poster:Dinah
thread:918937
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20090827/msgs/919056.html