Pro-Life

Recently I've been talking to an online acquaintance of mine who is pro-abortion. I've had to take a break before I reply to her last message because what she said upset me so much I knew I would just lash out, and that isn't going to help my cause. Of course the whole idea of abortion upsets me, but this is one thing that hits me pretty deep. So what was it?

She said that babies who would be disabled should be aborted. So many people think this and it breaks my heart every time. I grew up with a girl with Down's Syndrome, for the purposes of this I'll call her Angela (after St. Angela Merici, a patron of the handicapped). Down's Syndrome can have varying degrees of severity and Angela's condition is very severe. She couldn't speak, she needed constant supervision and will never be able to live independently. A lot of people would say her parents should have aborted her. Her parents are devout Catholics and incredibly inspirational people. They cared for her with love and devotion and you could tell that not even for a second would they choose for her to be any other way. In their eyes, she is perfect. Angela loves and is loved. She may not be able to lead the same kind of life as her siblings, but she has always had an amazing life, full of beauty and love and joy. It angers me when people are so ignorant to think that someone like Angela doesn't deserve life, because anyone who has ever met her will tell you how wonderful she is and what a blessed and happy life she leads. I've worked with other disabled people over the years, some less severe than Angela and some more, and not a single one of those people deserves to be told their life is not worth anything because that is just so wrong.

A lot of people have told me it's "kinder" to abort disabled babies than let them live. Yes, I'm sure those babies would be thanking you for wanting to murder them. This thinking is eugenics attempting to masquerade as charity. These people are trying to decide who has the right to life. Where is the line drawn? Who has the right to draw that line? It's fundamentally wrong.

I think I posted this before on my other blog and it's just such a beautiful and inspirational video. The woman doesn't even speak, her face speaks for her. You can see the emotion as she goes through her story. I cried when I watched this, it's so emotional.

Where are we as a society when life itself is no longer respected? When the very sanctity of life is dismissed as outdated, what do we have left? Nothing. Without the sanctity of life, life itself loses meaning. If life is not precious, we have lost something fundamental to ourselves.

I'm sorry if this post is kind of incoherent. I'm not all that clear at the best of times and my mind is just feeling kind of foggy today.

Links
Abortion in Tough Situations
Abortion Question
What about abortion after rape?
Will the Church allow the child to die to save the mother?
Isn't this a just reason for having an abortion?