Abortion

This is obviously one of if not the hottest of the the hot button issues. There are many who see this as the single greatest moral issue of all. I think reproductive rights are important too, but I have bigger concerns. If I was a woman this would be higher on my list.

For work I was asked to look up some information about a disease, I do this quite often for the nurses I work with, but this one was different. Normally its a fairly benign ailment that they need to explain to a client. This time it was not. I honestly don't know who the person was as they were not a client, but they apparently talked with one of our nurses who then wanted more information about the disease. I won't get into what the disease was because it could in theory disclose personal info. Anyway its a horrific genetic disease and this persons child was afflicted with the worst type. The life expectancy of the child was three days. They would have been severely retarded with a host of other debilitating problems which would have made life excruciating for mother and child alike. The chances of living a year were very slim and while those with less severe forms occasionally reach their teens, adults with this disease are exceedingly rare, and this child had the most severe form.

The mother chose to terminate the pregnancy. Even with all these reasons for an abortion I'm sure this mother struggled immensely when faced with such a choice. But how can we as a society tell this young woman that she cannot make this decision for herself? How can we tell her that she must carry this baby despite the fact that there is no hope for a good life for the child? There is no way I can convey the true weight of emotions attached to this issue so I'll just state my views. I want every child who is brought into this world to be loved the way that they deserve. I believe an important part of this is that pregnancy happens with committed parents who desire to have a child. Drunken adolescent sex that results in a pregnancy is not the ideal start for a life. Sure there are success stories but if a child can excel under those circumstances imagine the same child growing up in a home where the parents had planned on a child. Sex education is the key to making the choice a premeditated decision to get pregnant instead of getting pregnant and then deciding if they should continue the pregnancy. But even with a planned pregnancy there is always the chance of things going wrong, in these cases the parents must have the right to say I do not want to bring a child into this world which has no chance of a happy life. I mourn for those who are faced with this decision, there is no easy answer. So thats how I feel, how about you?