What about babies that will be born with deformities? Shouldn’t parents be able to abort out of compassion?
This is known as a quality of life ethic. Upon quick/short-sighted consideration, the quality of life ethic seems compassionate and therefore seems to stand on some moral high ground. Deeper reflection, however, shows that defining life based on functionality rather than its sanctity is what led to the burning of 6 million Jews in German incinerators.
I feel compassion for babies that will be born with abnormalities, the pain of the child and the parents. When 50 million babies are allowed to be killed, however, for the sake of the infinitesimal number of pregnancies that call for compassion we have a situation that pushes “compassion” up the moral high ground at all costs—it trampled over and buried justice along its way. This is a clear case of “the tail wagging the dog.” Bottom line—we do not find moral clarity in anomalies.
If that fetus is a human being it needs to be treated as such and afforded the same rights as any other innocent human being--regardless of mental or physical condition.
We value life based on its objective intrinsic value. This intrinsic value (i.e. the sanctity of life) is derived from the fact that we are created in God’s image. Our founding fathers recognized this – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator…”
If this issue is still not clear, consider the following: AFTER a mother gives birth to a child without a brain, or without limbs or born with—insert any ghastly deformity here—should that mother be able to kill her child in the name of compassion? If not, why not? You see that “quality of life” talked about above seems so compassionate when the human soul we are talking about is hidden away in that secret place called the womb. But when that human soul is outside it reveals a lot more to our conscience.
I feel compassion for babies that will be born with abnormalities, the pain of the child and the parents. When 50 million babies are allowed to be killed, however, for the sake of the infinitesimal number of pregnancies that call for compassion we have a situation that pushes “compassion” up the moral high ground at all costs—it trampled over and buried justice along its way. This is a clear case of “the tail wagging the dog.” Bottom line—we do not find moral clarity in anomalies.
If that fetus is a human being it needs to be treated as such and afforded the same rights as any other innocent human being--regardless of mental or physical condition.
We value life based on its objective intrinsic value. This intrinsic value (i.e. the sanctity of life) is derived from the fact that we are created in God’s image. Our founding fathers recognized this – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator…”
If this issue is still not clear, consider the following: AFTER a mother gives birth to a child without a brain, or without limbs or born with—insert any ghastly deformity here—should that mother be able to kill her child in the name of compassion? If not, why not? You see that “quality of life” talked about above seems so compassionate when the human soul we are talking about is hidden away in that secret place called the womb. But when that human soul is outside it reveals a lot more to our conscience.
Consider the story of Nick Vujicic (video right). He was born without arms and legs.
Nick once said, “I thank God that He didn’t answer my prayer when I was begging him for arms and legs at age eight. Because guess what? I have no arms and no legs, and He’s using me all around the world. We’ve seen, so far, approximately (and this is conservative) 200,000 souls come to Jesus Christ for the very first time in the last six, seven years.” In the last decade, Nick has shared his story in 24 countries to over three million people. Consider all the lives (including his current wife and child) that would not have been impacted the way they have if Nick’s parents forced the quality of life ethic on him that so many espouse today. |
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