When I see articles like this, I always recall the horrible situation a family friend experienced.
They had a baby that was born with only a brain stem. They knew it would happen, pre-natal exams revealed that the baby was not developing a brain. The doctor, a good Christian man, recommended an abortion. The family refused.
They later came to regret it. After the baby was born, it was like taking care of toadstool. He just laid there with a feeding tube for 18 months before he died. He never cried, never ate, never opened his eyes... it was as if he were a breathing piece of flesh and nothing more. It still creeps me out when I think of it.
It's a terrible thing. I had friends with a baby born with this same problem. They took care of him, kept him comfortable, and suffered and prayed. He died less than a year later, but the odd thing was that afterwards, both of them told me that somehow they really understood what it meant to be human and what it meant to be Christian, and that they had stopped looking at themselves and started thinking about God.
It's a terrible thing to have a child with horrible birth defects, but a lot of the suffering of the parents comes from the context in which they view it and the support they receive. Once upon a time, the Church used to provide the right context - in Christ - for understanding these things, although I am not sure it does any longer and much of our thinking, like that of the rest of the world, is based on expediency and utility. By these standards, there is no reason for suffering or even inconvenience; and at the same time, there is no support for people who for one reason or another do find themselves faced with a situation like this.
No good Christian recommends abortion, because abortion violates the fifth commandment: thou shalt not murder.
-A8
Suuuuuuuuuure he was.