Further Thoughts: "Wrongful Birth"

I just recently posted about a couple in Oregon who are suing their doctors because their unborn baby was not diagnosed with Down Syndrome in time for them to abort her.  Because the baby was not diagnosed until after birth, the parents are "stuck" taking care of her, and they want the doctors to pay $3 million to cover all the costs of taking care of their child for her entire lifetime.

If this couple wins this lawsuit, it will set an extremely dangerous precedent.  All gynecologists and obstetricians and anyone else involved in caring for pregnant women and/or delivering babies are going to be hypersensitive when it comes to diagnosing birth defects in pre-born babies.  If there is the slightest chance that a baby will not be physically perfect, they will be pushing for abortion.  And most likely, women would have to sign some sort of release form saying they have been warned of possible birth defects in their babies and have chosen not to abort, thus leaving the doctor legally off the hook if the baby is born with a defect of any kind.  This, unfortunately, will scare most women into having an abortion if there is so much as a hint of an abnormality in the baby.  Just as the doctors were wrong in this case when they told the parents in Oregon that their baby was completely normal, doctors can be and have been wrong when telling their patients that their babies had birth defects.  Tim Tebow is a case in point.  The doctors told his mother that he would be born with major birth defects and urged her to have an abortion.  She refused, and the result is the major professional athlete that we see today.

If this lawsuit succeeds, it will also push more women to undergo amniocentesis, a dangerous and invasive procedure in which the doctor inserts a needle into a pregnant woman's abdomen in order to extract amniotic fluid from which they can test for any abnormalities in the baby.  Most doctors will tell you that it is basically a safe procedure, but at the same time, there are tremendous risks involved, including sticking the baby with the needle, infection and miscarriage.  No one and nothing should be invading the womb of a pregnant woman. 

Our society continues more and more on the downward spiral, descending into the depths of moral depravity and disregard for human life.  We need to stand up against this, uniting in prayer and not being afraid to speak out if we are given the opportunity.  The most precious creation in the universe is human life, because it was for the salvation of humans that our Lord came to earth and poured out His Precious Blood on the cross.  If He thought human life was important enough for Him to allow his own Creation to crucify him in order to save them, we have no right to hold human life in any less regard.