That taboo topic - again -- Fetus aborted at 6 months because of a cosmetic deformity

Toronto Sun ^ | December 13, 2003 | Michael Coren

[cupcakes]

Absolutely disgusting. My best friend's son was born with a cleft palate. It was repaired and he is a healthy 7 yr old boy now. I just can't imagine. These people should lose any oppurtunity at another child. Wonder how this couple would have handled an autistic child where the disability is not evident until 18 months or later?

[cupcakes]

I agree with you. And it is being used as that. I had the displeasure of reading a couple of posts to a pregnancy list from two women, one of which had had 5 abortions in the past 5 years and the other 3 in the past 2 years. The latter of the two claims to be a health nut too and expounds on personal responsibility for one's physical fitness. Almost makes one laugh when you consider her complete lack of personal responsibility for her sexual behavior and the children she helps to create in her womb.

[cupcakes]

And I'll tell you what, any woman with an ounce of decency will push those limits with her own health too. I am 16 weeks pregnant now and have hypertension, which thankfully is under control with medication for now. At some point, it may be that the baby needs to be delivered. I am praying beyond prayer that things stay quiet until I get to the 7 th month at least and then who would abort when a baby can be delivered? I'm in favor of a mother's life abortion, but I gotta tell you, if I had to deliver my baby tomorrow and it obviously still would not survive out of the womb, I still do not want it sucked out of me. I want recognizable remains that I can bury. My point is that there needs to be an upper limit on abortion even for a mother's life. When a baby can be delivered and survive outside of the womb--let's say 28 weeks because of the very horrible complications that can happen to an infant before that time, then abortion should not be an option, but immediate delivery unless the woman is so sick that she can not handle labor or surgery(c-section). In most cases though, in the 3rd trimester, the baby can be delivered alive and the mother treated.

[cupcakes]

I think some freepers are in that 10%. Ever seen the comments about obese folks on this forum? You either love life, even if it's physical form is disgusting to you or you don't.

[cupcakes]

That's because they usually aren't 3rd trimester. Women in this country have the technology to find out between 18-22 weeks if they are carrying a child with a severe disability ie 2nd trimester. I know of two women personally who had abortion from severe disability. One was for a Down's baby and the other is a family member who DELIVERED at 5 months pregnant a baby with no brain, but she requested that the baby be delivered, not aborted, so she could bury her baby. The ancephely baby would have died shortly after full term birth. She had no brain whatsoever.

[MainFrame65]

First and most important, I wish you and your child the best.

You are, of course, correct. My comment was insufficient, in that I failed to include my own opinion that once a fetus is viable, live delivery by normal or ceasarian must be the primary option, with abortion considered ONLY to save the mother. My wife has produced two sons in five pregnancies, and I vividly recall both her feelings and mine with each of them. Each child is a precious gift, and deserves our full respect for his humanity. The lost ones remain in our memories.

One coincided with the death of her father. He had a small dairy farm that he operated by himself after his divorce. He had a stroke out in the barn, and lay out there for about 36 hours before he was found and taken to the hospital. My wife, 3 months pregnant, flew up to visit him, but immediately started bleeding and was hospitalized herself. My employer, IBM, located an IBM family in Louisville where my 3 year old son and I could stay, and we drove up there to be with her and her father.

She was treated successfully at the time, and I drove her home a few days later. She had visited her father in the hospital only twice, both times in a wheelchair due to hospital policy. We had to tell him that she had sprained her ankle.

Two weeks later, with her father still critical 350 miles away, she started bleeding again and was hospitalized here in Memphis. On the second day of this episode, I received a call that her father had died. Her doctor told me that he would not allow me to visit her unless I promised not to tell. I told her brother about the situation, and sent flowers. Her miscarriage was on the day of the funeral, and she came home from the hospital two days later. She asked about her father, but I waited another day to tell her what had happened.