The Abortion Debate No One Wants to Have

Patricia Bauer, former Washington Post reporter and bureau chief, honestly talks about how people see her child, Margaret, who was born with Down syndrome, and about what those attitudes tell us about us. She also speculates how she might have responded had she known in advance that her child would be born with disabilities.

From the Washington Post:

If it's unacceptable for William Bennett to link abortion even conversationally with a whole class of people (and, of course, it is), why then do we as a society view abortion as justified and unremarkable in the case of another class of people: children with disabilities?

I have struggled with this question almost since our daughter Margaret was born, since she opened her big blue eyes and we got our first inkling that there was a full-fledged person behind them.

[snip]

Imagine. As Margaret bounces through life, especially out here in the land of the perfect body, I see the way people look at her: curious, surprised, sometimes wary, occasionally disapproving or alarmed. I know that most women of childbearing age that we may encounter have judged her and her cohort, and have found their lives to be not worth living.

To them, Margaret falls into the category of avoidable human suffering. At best, a tragic mistake. At worst, a living embodiment of the pro-life movement. Less than human. A drain on society. That someone I love is regarded this way is unspeakably painful to me. More . . .

This is the second column in less than a month written by a current or former Post staffer to challenge the reigning pro-abortion tenets. It highlights the tendency of our culture to write off a whole group of people as having no value simply because they are not "perfect."

Thanks to National Right to Life.