Babies are nothing to fear
12 Weeks not the issue? So I’m guessing the real issue for Justus Bowman, in his “Letter to the Editor” this past Sunday, must be people with disabilities?
The theme of Justus’ article has been one I’ve been hearing during the last few weeks while our legislature discusses when to not allow an abortion to occur.
I believe all life is precious. Almost four years ago my son Fenton came into our lives. Born with Down Syndrome, he has an extra chromosome, and it makes him different. Better, in my opinion, actually than most people I have met.
We declined the quad screen prenatal testing the doctors offered and chose to open our hearts and to love the child no matter his imperfections.
We all hope for perfect, healthy children. And you know that’s what most people get. There are three new prenatal tests that are available this year that will test for a chromosomal defect as early as nine weeks of pregnancy. And science will push that even earlier in the coming years.
What people like Mr. Bowman are set to do is cure Down Syndrome and other genetic abnormalities by choice, not by science. Bowman’s cure for children with disabilities is abortion. What’s next Mr. Bowman? If you think we should abort children with “vision problems” then I’m guessing it would be okay with you to abort a child that has the wrong sex than you wanted or even wrong eye color? Where is your line drawn? Mr. Bowman using genetic abnormalities like Down Syndrome in the same sentence as “a missing brain hemisphere” is a clear scare tactic bent on convincing readers that it’s okay to abort a child with disabilities.
The only people that fear children with disabilities is you, Mr. Bowman, and others that don’t have a child or have been touched by a child with disabilities. We aren’t a perfect society. And I don’t want a society bent on making all of its citizens perfect either. Ask any parent or countless adopted parents if they would have chosen to abort their child even knowing with 100 percent accuracy that they were guaranteed their child be born less than perfect. I know what I would say. I’d take my Fenton no matter what!
— Tim Jones,
Greenbrier