Eliminating Disability and Genetic Defects

This blog is not a soapbox, and I intend to keep it that way. The majority of my readers probably think and feel the same way I do, and I hope I am able to put into words our thoughts, and horror, with grace. For my readers who might disagree, I plead with you an open mind.

This is not about choice. It's about Truth.

Last night I watched an ESPN story about Kyle Maynard, who is missing all four of his limbs due to a birth defect. He's an athlete (a Crossfit gym owner and a mountain climber!), a motivational speaker, and a loving family man. But, like many people with disabilities, he struggled to find kindness and acceptance from others while he was growing up.

At the same time, here's a story entitled, "Killing babies no different from abortion, experts say" about a couple of scientists who make the argument for infanticide (for any reason) in the Journal of Medical Ethics. (ETHICS!)

John Knight's blog The Works of God has covered the story and the horrific response the scientists have received from some people very thoroughly and graciously. It's interesting to me that he points out (as does the Journal, in its hasty reply) that the argument for infanticide is nothing new, and in fact occurs legally (or at least without punishment) in the Netherlands and China.

People are outraged. I am outraged. And I am deeply disturbed by the blatant disregard for human life and the ease with which these scientists speak of what cannot be called anything except murder, simply in the name of science.

But I am not surprised.

Abortion never, under any circumstances, would have crossed my mind. I don't say this proudly, but with gratitude to the One who gave me life and has, in His limitless grace, allows me to believe in His sovereignty with such passion that I would not question the child He gives me, disabled or otherwise. I actually believe I would rejoice in it (not every second of every day, probably). And I am reminded to rejoice, then, in all the challenges I will face as a parent.

The world has a pro-abortion response to all our arguments on behalf of unborn children. Ad nauseum they tout a woman's "choice."

What of this argument on behalf of born children? I desire that my children will not only understand and accept disability in others, but celebrate and rejoice in it. God knows best. I want them to believe that from the top of their heads all the down to the depths of their souls. If all their potentially disabled peers are aborted (or, now, killed upon birth?), how will they learn? With all the anti-bullying activism right now, one would think that people want such acceptance and respect for people with any kind of difference. Abortion proponents say that of course they value life (whenever it actually is life, which gets later and later, it seems). Do living people have a right to believe they have a right to be alive? The message sent to the disabled is that they never should have been born.

And, eventually, if enough people believe that, there won't be any kind of limit on when a life can be ended.

(Desiring God offers a way to remember and fight this battle (which is not of the world!) in the post, "Tell Your Children What Hitler Did.")