[Mrs. Don-o]

Innocent, lovable babies are born with defects all the time. I was. And my younger son was. We have a reasonable certainty of what "healthy" means and what "unhealthy" means. We would love him in any case, but it's bcause of our love for him that we want him to be healthy and whole.

If you think we should fail to correct my son's club foot and cleft lip and palate because as an innocent baby he was born that way, there's really not much more I can say to you at this point.

If he had a defect of his sexual anatomy or physiology rather than of his face and limbs, we would react the same way: by corecting his problem to the best of our ability, while loving him all the same.

[KeepUSfree]

No, I understand that there are defects all the time. That is my point...there is no "right" way to be.

A club foot and cleft palette are a physical defects which prevent many physical activities and cause outward defects in speech and eating.

And, there is no implied mental "defect" to go along with that physical one.

However, you would want to change - by surgery and/or hormone therapy - a perfectly happy hermaphrodite into one sex or the other....when there is nothing wrong with them except for the fact that they don't fit into your view of "male" or "female".

You would never even know if a person was a hermaphrodite - unless they told you.

But, you would want to "fix" them.

Why?

The difference is, if I had a child born with both sex organs...I wouldn't consider it a defect. I would just think they are different than most people. And, whichever sex they fell in love with, I would support and love them.