Science Without Compassion: Disposing of Inconvenient Babies

Is your unborn baby less than perfect?
Find out and kill it so it will not
make your life inconvenient in any way

A few months ago I posted here about a couple who brought a "wrongful birth" action against a company which tests for birth defects because the testing company did not detect their unborn child's down syndrome.  The couple said that if they had been aware of their unborn baby's condition, they would have aborted her and thus not be burdened with the responsibility and cost of taking care of a less then perfect baby.  The jury in this case unanimously decided for the couple and gave them $3 million to take care of a human being whom they say has no right to life.

Now we are told that scientists have developed a way to test unborn babies for 3500 genetic faults.  Our world today cannot and will not deal with any imperfection or anything that might make us uncomfortable or inconveniences us in any way.   It's ironic that our society has made laws that will supposedly help all of those who have physical handicaps, yet at the same time, we want to make it as easy as possible for their parents to detect "flawed" babies and then kill them so that neither they nor any of us will ever have to deal with physically imperfect people. 

Here is the story from The Telegraph with all the Orwellian and gruesome details.

Unborn babies could be tested for 3,500 genetic faults 

Scientists could soon be able to routinely screen unborn babies for thousands of genetic conditions, raising concerns the breakthrough could lead to more abortions.

18 Week Old Fetus

A team has been able to predict the whole genetic code of a foetus by taking a blood sample from a woman who was 18 weeks pregnant, and a swab of saliva from the father.

[Description of 18 week old fetus:
The fetus is now 6 inches long and weighs 7 ounces.
The fetus measures about 15cm and weighs almost 200 grams.
They can hear sounds and may be startled by loud noises.
Recognizable active and rest periods.
The skin is building a protective wax layer (vernix).]

They believe that, in time, the test will become widely available, enabling doctors to screen unborn babies for some 3,500 genetic disorders.

At the moment the only genetic disorder routinely tested for on the NHS is Down’s syndrome.

This is a large-scale genetic defect caused by having an extra copy of a bundle of DNA, called a chromosome.

Other such faults are sometimes tested for, but usually only when there is a risk of inheriting them from a parent.

By contrast, the scientists say their new test would identify far more conditions, caused by genetic errors. [And thus give parents even more reasons to kill their babies]

However, they warned it raised “many ethical questions” because the results could be used as a basis for abortion. These concerns were last night amplified by pro-life campaigners, who said widespread use of such a test would “inevitably lead to more abortions”.  [What other reason would there be for parents to test their unborn children?]

The American scientists were able to map the baby’s genetic code principally from tiny traces free-floating DNA, which makes its way into the mother’s blood. Blood sample DNA from the mother was also studied as well as DNA extracted from the father's saliva. Fitting pieces of the genetic jigsaw together, scientists in the US were able to reconstruct the entire genetic code of an unborn baby boy.  

They were then able to see what spontaneous genetic mutations had arisen. Such natural mutations - called ‘de novo’ mutations - are responsible for the majority of genetic defects. By checking their prediction of the baby’s genetic code with actual DNA taken after the birth, the team from the University of Washington in Seattle, found they were able to identify 39 of 44 such mutations in the child. De novo mutations are thought to play a role in a number of complex conditions such as autism and schizophrenia.

Six Week Old Fetus

The team also tested their approach on a woman who was earlier in her pregnancy than 18 weeks, and found it still worked.

Dr Jay Shendure, the lead scientist, said: "This work opens up the possibility that we will be able to scan the whole genome of the foetus for more than 3,000 single-gene disorders through a single, non-invasive test."

Jacob Kitzman, who worked on the project, added: “The improved resolution is like going from being able to see that two books are stuck together to being able to notice one word mis-spelled on a page.”

In future, a more refined and less costly version of the procedure could make pre-natal genetic testing far more comprehensive than it is now, the scientists say. [Isn't that nice?  They're going to make this test less expensive and more available to parents who wish to dispose of any baby who is less than perfect.  Planned Parenthood, who make the vast amount of their money on killing babies, is rejoicing.]  

The research is reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.  

The scientists said the test would be a considerable improvement on current techniques, which involve inserting a probe into the womb to take fluid from the foetal sac or placental samples. This can be dangerous for both mother and child. [Oh, but we're told by such websites as webmd.com that "amniocentesis presents a small risk for both the mother and her baby".  So which is it - "dangerous" or "small risk"?  The medical community lies to us all the time, especially when it comes to abortion.]

Amniocentesis - see how dangerously close
the needle is to the baby

Such existing methods only enable doctors to check for a relatively small number of genetic disorders. These include Down's syndrome and cystic fibrosis - which are both large-scale genetic defects - as well as muscular dystrophy and spina bifada, which can have hereditary elements.

As well as testing for thousands of genetic defects, the scientists said their test could give a wealth of information on the baby’s future health.

However, they warned: “The less tangible implication of incorporating this level of information into pre-natal decision-making raises many ethical questions that must be considered carefully within the scientific community and on a societal level.

22 Week Old Fetus

“As in other areas of clinical genetics, our capacity to generate data is outstripping our ability to interpret it in ways that are useful to physicians and patients.”  [Pope Benedict XVI gave an excellent talk on what happens when science is divorced from God, as I have posted here.  As the Holy Father said in this speech:  "Without love, science also loses its nobility. Love alone guarantees the humanity of research."]

Josephine Quintavalle, founder of the Pro-Life Alliance, put it more baldly. She said: “One always hopes, vainly, that in utero testing will be for the benefit of the unborn child.  But, whilst this new test may not itself be invasive, given our past track record, it is difficult to imagine that this new test will not lead to more abortions.”

Not Perfect? You Have No Right to Life

I posted a few days ago about an Oregon couple who are suing because the results of a test of their pre-born baby did not show that she had Down Syndrome.  If they had known this, they would have killed the baby while it was still legal so as not to be burdened with raising a handicapped child.

Well, the verdict came in last Friday, and the jury unanimously voted to give these parents $3 million for a "wrongful birth."  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is such a thing as wrongful birth in our society - babies who have no right being born.   And because they insist on being born anyway, the price tag has been set at $3 million. 

This is an unbelievably horrific consequence of abortion.  The child in this particular case is mentally handicapped, so hopefully she will never know or understand that she has no right to life.  But her brothers know, and everyone else in the world now knows it. 

Here is the story:

Jury awards nearly $3 million to Portland-area couple in 'wrongful birth' lawsuit against Legacy Health

A jury this afternoon awarded nearly $3 million to a Portland-area couple whose daughter was born with Down syndrome even though a prenatal test found she didn't have the chromosomal abnormality.

The jury voted 12-0, taking less than six hours before reaching a verdict in the case of Ariel and Deborah Levy vs. Legacy Health System. The decision capped a 10-day highly emotional trial in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

The money will cover the estimated extra lifetime costs of caring for a child with Down syndrome.

Deborah Levy, who had held her emotions in check throughout the trial, began to cry as Judge Karin Immergut read the verdict. The couple nodded and mouthed "thank you" as jurors filed out of the courtroom. A few nodded back, smiled or reached out a hand toward the Levys. One juror visibly held back tears. Another wished them peace.  [Does anyone care about the child?  Do the jurors realize that by rendering this decision, they have said this child should never have been born, that she has no right to life?]

After jurors left the room, Ariel and Deborah Levy shared a long embrace.The couple sued Legacy Health, claiming that Deborah Levy would have aborted her pregnancy had she known her daughter had the chromosomal abnormality. The lawsuit blames Legacy's Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in North Portland and a Legacy lab for allegedly botching the test.  

The case was one of just a handful of so-called "wrongful birth" suits estimated to be filed each year in the United States, bioethics experts say. It was one of an even rarer few to go to trial -- and garner a multi-million dollar verdict. In the process, the case stirred passionate public debate nationally and even internationally. The judge prohibited media in the courtroom from photographing or recording images of the couple, whose attorney said had received death threats.

Experts say so few parents choose to file wrongful birth suits because it forces them to take an awkward position: They must be willing to say on the record that they would have aborted the pregnancy, and that they feel a burden -- albeit financial -- of raising the child.  [At least there are some people who still realize the terrible message this sends to the child and to the rest of the world.]

The Levys' attorney, David K. Miller, said his clients deeply love their daughter but worried about being portrayed as heartless. [Who would ever think that a couple who would have preferred to kill their baby is "heartless"??] Miller said they sued because they worried about providing all that their daughter would need over her lifetime. [And just how have people down through history provided for their children?  They didn't go around suing people.]  Experts testified that she will continue to need speech and physical therapy and face a concerning list of possible medical problems over her lifetime. Professionals have told the Levys that she will likely never be able to live independently, or earn a living.

According to several studies, 89 percent or more of expectant mothers who learned their children would have Down syndrome chose to terminate the pregnancies.

Jurors said they found Legacy Health negligent on five fronts, including that the doctor who performed the prenatal test took too small of a sample from Levy's womb to be useful. They concluded that employees -- including the doctor who took the sample and lab workers who analyzed it -- failed to communicate, leading to the erroneous result.

"I don't think there's a winner in this," said one juror, who like others, declined to be named because of the high profile of the case.  [Ah, but there is a winner in this case - his name is Satan, who has been highly served.]

The Levys spoke of the challenges of raising a special-needs child, including concerns about her health, her ability to communicate and whether she'll get the attention she needs once she starts public-school kindergarten in the fall.

"I have two children," the juror said, "and it's hard to watch another mother, another family, go through all that."  [Is there anyone who cares about the child and what she has to go through??]

The Levys were the parents of two young boys when in November 2006 they were surprised to learn Deborah Levy was pregnant again. Because she was 34, she and her husband were concerned about the possibility of genetic disorders. Experts testified that about 1 in 250 women that age give birth to a baby with Down syndrome. A first-trimester screening estimated Deborah Levy's chances were even higher: 1 in 130.

Roughly 13 weeks into her pregnancy, Deborah Levy went to Legacy's Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in North Portland, where Dr. Thomas Jenkins performed a prenatal test called chorionic villus sampling, or CVS for short. A Legacy lab tested a small amount of tissue that the doctor had removed from Levy's womb. The results showed the Levy's daughter had a normal chromosomal profile.

Although in the following weeks two ultrasounds showed abnormalities that sometimes indicate Down syndrome, the Levys testified they were assured that their daughter would not have the chromosomal abnormality. Legacy staff did not advise them to get an amniocentesis, which is another prenatal test that detects Down syndrome.

Within a week of their daughter's birth, they were devastated to find out that the girl, Kalanit, did indeed have Down syndrome.

The Levys contended that Dr. Thomas Jenkins removed maternal tissue -- not fetal tissue -- during the CVS procedure. The suit alleged that Jenkins and lab workers didn't recognize that the tissue was from the mother.

Legacy's attorney, Robert Keating, called on experts who said the CVS was properly done, and that the results showed the girl has a normal genetic profile because she has mosiac Down syndrome, meaning a significant number of her cells don't contain an extra 21st chromosome.

The Levys are Jewish.  One would think that they would be even more aware than the average person that what they proposed to do with this child is exactly what Hitler did in Germany - kill all "undesirables."  They and all who think like them are no better than Hitler or any other mass killer.  They have decided they are the ones who make the decision about who lives and who dies.  They have no right to ever criticize Hitler or anyone else like him. 

God bless this little girl and all others like her, those whom our society has decided are undesirable and have no right to life. 

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.

Disposable Babies

We've all heard of "wrongful death suits".  Well, now we have "wrongful birth suits."  I remember back in 1973 when abortion, the murder of unborn babies, was legalized, we were told that all babies would be loved and wanted because people would be able to choose.  That doesn't seem to have worked out.  Just as we were warned by Catholic Church, the legalization of abortion has only served to devalue life.  Just recently I posted about an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics which is arguing to allow the killing of newborn babies because “both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons,” and that because abortion is allowed even when there is no problem with the fetus’ health, “killing a newborn should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.” 

Now there is a couple suing their doctors because their baby was born with Down Syndrome.  They are basically suing because their baby is "defective" and the doctors didn't catch it when the mother was pregnant and they could have legally killed it.  Hopefully their child will never be able to understand that if her parents had known she wasn't "perfect", they would have killed her without thinking twice about it.  Since her "imperfections" went undetected, her parents are now suing because they didn't get the correct information in order to make the decision to kill her.  If those at the Journal for Medical Ethics have their way, parents will be allowed to kill their newborn babies if the babies don't satisfy all the parents' needs and wishes. 

Blessed John Paul II wrote:

The Gospel of life is for the whole of human society. To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of the common good. It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop. A society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized. Only respect for life can be the foundation and guarantee of the most precious and essential goods of society, such as democracy and peace.

Can any society survive with this kind of mentality that can sue for "wrongful birth"?  We recycle bottles, cans and paper, but we throw away our babies.  God help us all. 

From oregonlive.com:

Portland-area couple sues Legacy Health for $3 million for 'wrongful birth' after child born with Down syndrome

By Aimee Green, The Oregonian The Oregonian

On the June 2007 day their daughter was born, Ariel and Deborah Levy were overcome with excitement, then shock when hospital staff told them their daughter looked like she had Down syndrome.

A doctor asked Deborah Levy if she'd had a prenatal test -- a chorionic villus sampling, or CVS for short -- and Levy said yes, the results showed they'd have a normal, healthy child.

Within days of her birth, however, a blood test confirmed that the little girl, Kalanit, hadDown syndrome.

The Levys filed suit against Legacy Health, claiming that Deborah Levy would have aborted her pregnancy had she known her daughter had the chromosomal abnormality. The lawsuit blames Legacy's Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in North Portland and a Legacy lab for allegedly botching the test. The Levys -- who dearly love their daughter, now 4 [they "dearly love" their baby whom they would have killed if given the opportunity??]-- want Legacy to pay for the extra life-time costs of caring for her. That is estimated at about $3 million.

This afternoon, after nine days of trial in a downtown Portland courtroom, 12 jurors began deliberating in a case that gets to the core of how we view and value a life, and asks who should have to pay when that life is less than optimal. Experts say such "wrongful birth" cases are extraordinarily rare nationwide, for one, because prenatal tests such as the CVS are as much as 99.7 percent accurate and when they fail, few parents are willing to endure the scrutiny of a legal challenge. But wrongful birth lawsuits may be becoming more common as technology advances, more women in their late 30s or 40s give birth and millions of expectant mothers come to rely on genetic screenings.

Internet commenters have assailed the couple as heartless. The Levys' attorney, David K. Miller, said the couple has received death threats.  [This response is just as bad as parents wanting to kill their children.]

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Karin Immergut banned courtroom photos of the couple for safety reasons.

Several studies show that more than 89 percent of women who learn they will give birth to a child with Down syndrome choose to terminate their pregnancies. [This is the horrendous consequence of allowing people to throw away their babies.] 

Miller, the Levy's attorney, contends that Dr. Thomas Jenkins removed maternal tissue -- not fetal tissue --from Deborah Levy's womb. The suit faults Jenkins and lab workers for not recognizing that the tissue was from the mother. The suit also faults Legacy for reassuring her that her baby didn't have an extra 21st chromosome even though two ultrasounds allegedly raised red flags by showing traits of Down syndrome.

Legacy's attorney said Jenkins and other staff followed proper procedures and weren't at fault. Attorney Robert Keating said the CVS found only normal cells because Kalanit has mosiac Down syndrome -- meaning a significant number of her cells don't contain an extra 21st chromosome. Keating pointed to an analysis of Kalanit's cells -- taken after birth -- that showed nearly 31 percent are normal.

But the Levys' attorney told jurors they should discredit that analysis because it had been done by a Legacy lab looking to defend its legal position. Miller argued that 100 percent of the cells analyzed in the CVS were normal because they were Deborah Levy's cells. Meanwhile, other samples of tissue taken from Kalanit after she was born show an insignificant number of normal cells, less than one or two percent.

The attorneys called upon a series of medical experts with each side criticizing the others' experts as ill-informed. [No one is arguing about whether this child has a right to live.  That should be the only real issue.  Unfortunately, in our society, the child does not have an inherent right to life.]

Ariel Levy, 39, is a civil engineer. Deborah Levy, also 39, is a dental hygienist.

The two met in preschool, went to Wilson High School, and later, to a Boston-area college. They started dating in 1996, and in 2000, they married. A few years later, Deborah Levy gave birth to a boy, now a third grader. He was followed by another boy, now a kindergartner. The Levys considered their family complete and were surprised in November 2006 to learn that Deborah Levy was pregnant again.

Because she was 34, she and her husband were concerned about the possibility of genetic disorders. Experts testified that about 1 in 250 women that age give birth to a child with Down syndrome. A first-trimester screening showed Deborah Levy's chances were estimated to be higher than average, at about 1 in 130.

So when Deborah Levy was 13 weeks pregnant, she underwent the CVS. [Description of 13 week old fetus:  Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.  See the video below showing the "fetus" that Deborah Levy was ready to abort:]

Ariel Levy told jurors he remembers feeling happy when he and his wife were told the results were normal.

"We were told that we had nothing to worry about," he said.

Deborah Levy testified that after their daughter was born at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Northwest Portland, a doctor told her not to worry about the way the child looked because the results of the CVS were normal. One week after her daughter's birth, she said she arrived at the pediatrician's office eager to "show off my daughter." That's when she learned the blood tests showed her daughter had Down syndrome.

"It was devastating," Deborah Levy recalled.

The Levys said their sons are healthy, strong and bright. The oldest is a competitive chess player and has placed in the 99th percentile on standardized tests.

Their experience with their daughter has been much different. Her parents say they worry about future medical problems, her ability to interact with others and whether she will receive the extra therapy and attention she will need in school. Experts have told the Levys that she likely won't be able to live on her own, or support herself. [And hopefully the child will never know or understand that her parents wanted to kill her and sued because they did not get the chance to legally do so.  But do their two sons now wonder, if they hadn't been "perfect", would the Levys have killed them?  The answer is painfully obvious.] The Levys worry about who will care for their daughter once they are gone.

Kalanit speaks in two word sentences, and few other than her mother and father understand. Like many of those with Down syndrome, she doesn't like brushing her teeth.

"I literally have to pin her down with my legs while she's screaming," Deborah Levy said.

Despite all of this, the Levys say they have the same expectations for their daughter as they do for their sons: They want to help her reach her full potential. Deborah Levy said Karen Gaffney has been a role model. Gaffney -- a Portland area woman who has Down syndrome -- graduated from high school with a regular diploma, earned a Portland Community College degree and travels the nation speaking about overcoming limitations.

One expert estimated that a child with Kali's condition is likely to live into her mid-50s. The additional lifetime costs of caring for her --above and beyond that of a child without Down syndrome -- is nearly $3 million. [What kind of society puts a dollar amount on the value of life?  Our Lord - the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the One who gives us every breath of life - gave His Life for Kali and everyone else who has ever been conceived.  How is it possible to put a dollar amount on this?  Our society has truly descended into hell.]

The jury continues deliberating Friday.

I think the jury has already come in with the decision on our anti-life society, and it is not a positive decision.