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Aborting the Disabled?
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
CoE curate wins judicial review over decision to abort a child with a cleft palate afetr 24 weeks
I personally feel that interfering busybodies like these, especially those driven by religious bigotry, should keep their ill-informed noses out of issues like this. I doubt the motehr chose to do this on the spur of the moment as a laugh, so to drag the decision through the courts again is grossly irresposible and morally unjustifiable.
But Im uinsure as to whether the woman should have been allowed to have the abortion. I think she probably should have been allowed to, because a deformity like that, whilst not life-threatening, would have had serious impact on the quality of life of the child AND of the mother. The woman would have had to look after the child, or face the heart-break of having to give it up, and obviously the disability was severe enough to require diligent care for a very long period of time, so I think the decision was right.
But just how disabled is disabled?
I personally feel that interfering busybodies like these, especially those driven by religious bigotry, should keep their ill-informed noses out of issues like this. I doubt the motehr chose to do this on the spur of the moment as a laugh, so to drag the decision through the courts again is grossly irresposible and morally unjustifiable.
But Im uinsure as to whether the woman should have been allowed to have the abortion. I think she probably should have been allowed to, because a deformity like that, whilst not life-threatening, would have had serious impact on the quality of life of the child AND of the mother. The woman would have had to look after the child, or face the heart-break of having to give it up, and obviously the disability was severe enough to require diligent care for a very long period of time, so I think the decision was right.
But just how disabled is disabled?
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
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To think that someone can abort their baby because of that, disgusts me to be honest. I do believe in womens choice, in the case of ACCIDENTS (which don't really need to occur now there is easy access to emergency contraception), but this is going too far.
Why wait 24 weeks..that is too late
But according to the doctors in the article it CAN in serious cases be life-threatening, and can take a lot of corrective surgery just so that the child can feed in a semi-normal way. I would assume that for the abortion to take place it would be serious, but besides which the dopey reverend doesnt KNOW how serious it was.
Also it depends how late the disability was noticed- it often isnt noticed till late, apparently.
As far as I know, in the majority of cases, a cleft palate does not cause serious problems.
We are lucky in the UK, we have an excellent health service, anyone who says differently wants to go and try some other countries. Children born with disabilties are given the best treatment and it just makes me very sad that this happened.
Maybe I would feel differently if it was myself expecting a child but I feel that my child would be my child, whether they had health problems which required extra worry and risk, or not.
But the mental aspect should not be the only determining factor- what if the child was born blind, deaf, mute and paraplegic?
It is very sad, but I suppose the deciding factor was if the best treatment would be good enough? I suppose it depends on severity, but I would trust the doctors judgement without evidence to the contrary.
Under normal circumstances I do agree though- eugenics is not a disability.
I would too, but I suppose again it comes down to not knowing the details of the case. Which means that someone who isnt party to it, such as an interfering reverend, shouldnt be issuing legal threats.
Its just tragic, but I suppose it depends on the facts. It only says after the 24-week deadline, it could only be a matter of days.
Still, nothing to do with this busybody either.
A cleft palate can be operated on, its not a life threatening illness. A good surgeon could make it look like new. Obviously with any operation their is a risk factor, but to abort it is wrong imo.
I'd rather read the doctors notes and the patients records before making any judgements though. Anyway, what's done is done, I'm sure there are many other people who could benefit from the reverends energy and help, it was World AIDS day yesterday afterall...
i think that anyone that has a child with LD is very strong and i have a lot of respect for them, i just know im not strong enough myself. which is sad in a way:(
I also wonder about what these people would do if a child became disabled after it was born. If they are after the perfect child, would they want to keep this one?
This is a troubling issue.
Yes in most cases it isnt a very big thing but in some cases there is only a very small amount of skull be seperating the mouth from the rest of the brain needing multiple and serious surgury right through into when the kid is adolesant.
its quite possible that the baby could well be absolutely fine, and have no problems later in life, although there is an equal chance of it not turning out ok.
however she is continuing the pregnancy with no second thought, which i think is right.
If you could look into the future during your pregnancy and know that you're child was going to be killed at 5 years old by a peadophile, and cause you all the heartache and traumer that it will, would you have it terminated?
I think aborting the disabled is acceptable in extreme cases, but a cleft palate is usually easily corrected, isn't it? If a child was going to suffer, and not have a very long, or a good life, then I'd say abortion was something worth considering, because to havree child would just cause pain and heartache for the parents, and for the child. A cleft plalate isn't often a life threatening condition, so I don't see why the mother wanted an abortion. At risk of sounding heartless, perhaps she's one of these people who can't live with deformities?
Argh.. perhaps I should just go now. Call me an idiot - Duck xx
Its not disabled, facial disfigurement yes (until it has an op), but not a disabled baby.
what would she do if when the baby was born and reached the age of 5 years old and the child had Rehumatoid Arthritis (sp) which is a very painful disablement ?
A cleft palate can not make someone be classed as being disabled.
Regardless of the ifs and buts here this termination was after 24 weeks and should never have been allowed IMO
But it *is* a severe incapacioty, or it can be. Most cleft palates are not, but I seriously doubt that a doctor made this decision for shits n giggles.
So if it had been 3 minutes before the deadline it would have been perfectly acceptable, but not three minutes after it? Care to justify that?
Yes it is servere im not disputing that, what im saying is that you are not disabled with it. You can have an operation maybe 3 or 4 even but afterwards you will run a normal life.
At the end of the day it was done after 24 weeks so there you have it, when you can tell me exactly when it was done then I may be able to give you more of an opinion, but because I dont know wether it was 3 mins, 3 days or 3 weeks after I cannot comment.
But Becky, the law is that an abortion can be comitted after 24 weeks if there is a serious abnormality or threat to the mothers life.
And the point is that a cleft palate CAN be a serious abnormality, a respected paediatrician even said so in the article, so if that is the case then the abortion was legal. Im sure the doctor would not have performed it without it being serious, because it *is* illegal.
Though this busybody reverend should be ashamed of herself. I would be.
and on gmtv i was watching about the minister woman, they said that cleft pallate can lead to other very serious disabilites
No, thats just an excuse.
It had nothing to do with her. To drag it into the public domain, with no consideration for the mothers feelings, smacks of selfish dogma in the face of human compassion.
And thats the trouble with religion generally.
Im not against termination so please dont take this the wrong way, but at 24 weeks I dont see a foetus I see a fully formed baby and to me it really is like murder, for the fact that it is fully formed. Obviously I know someone will throw something at me because of what I have just said, but this is how I feel and I just cant accept that someone could have a baby terminated at 24 weeks for the reason she did.