I would hope not; if anything, the situation should be better now, not worse.
Repaired soon after birth, a cleft palate is not a disability or even a significant problem in attractiveness. There may be associated problems with functions like hearing due to the internal effects, which may be correctable as well. It boggles my mind that a cleft palate would be seen as justification for abortion.
My beautiful daughter, who is now almost 18, was born with a serious nasal defect (choanal atresia) which is sometimes associated with heart defects and even mental retardation. We dealt with the effects when she was an infant (the defect prevented her from breathing through her right nostril, and was a real mess at times), for a few years until she could undergo surgery, and then had it corrected. Fortunately, no other related problems developed, and she has grown into a wonderful, intelligent young woman, who just graduated high school with high honors.
If she had a cleft palate, we would have proceeded to deal with it as well.
I simply cannot conceive of anyone deciding that a congenital defect of these sorts would have been grounds for killing her in utero. The thought horrifies me.
Thank you for your post.
My son is unborn and about 3 months from delivery.
The sonogram shows a cleft lip.
The doctors kept insisting that we do amniocentesis to see if there is a chromosome problem.
There are no other indicators that there is any problem with this baby.
We have no genetic history of this, and two healthy and beautiful children ages 7 and 5.
I told the doctor no we aren’t taking the test.
We will love him until the day he dies or we die, but we aren’t going to kill him.
They admitted everything else looks good and the lip can easily be repaired.
I am horrified that people would decide these children aren’t worth it. And that is an understatement.
We believe he is going to be just fine, but will have to go through some surgeries.
That is just part of taking care of your kids as far as I’m concerned.
Anyway his name is Reagan, and im asking fellow freepers to please keep him in your prayers.