June 26, 2019

"When I was a kid, a strange woman would visit our house. Short, with stubbily cut hair, she would almost never turn to you..."

"... not responding even if you called her name. She dressed flagrantly, in patchwork clothing that she had sewn herself, and spent the entirety of her visits in a maelstrom of cleaning. Whipping the record player with a rag, banging colored pencils into a souvenir plastic cup, she appeared as some hybrid of the Tasmanian devil and a hobo clown. Yet she did appear, every month, and at the end of her appearances, I would hug her, tell her I loved her, and give her two kisses: one on each cheek. A strange woman, a strange ritual—even stranger because, as I knew, this strange woman was my mom."

So begins "Love and Other Disabilities/A British judge is forcing a disabled woman to have an abortion. As the son of a disabled woman, I can tell you: The decision is evil" by Harold Braswell (Tablet)(note that the British judge's decision has been overturned).

16 comments:

JML said...

Great read. Thanks for sharing. And he is correct - the ruling was evil in a very pure form. Hiding behind the 'greater good' to demean and destroy a completely innocent life.

Steve Austin Showed Up For Work. said...

"In a society that, too often, undervalues disabled people—making their very status as “persons” a topic for debate—Catholics have consistently advocated for the intrinsic worth of their lives. I may not agree with the theological presuppositions based on which they do so. But I am grateful nonetheless.

It is my hope however that this does not remain “just” a Catholic issue: That there is a broad public outcry both in England and internationally, and that the decision is reversed. If that doesn’t happen, I hope that the Vatican does what it can to intervene. It may not come to that. But my fear is that it already has."

wildswan said...

In the prolife movement you lived with stories like this one because abortion is always asking the question: does this unknown life have value. Those who say yes, it does have value and act on behalf of this unknown person always have a deep story, like this story, as the reason for their conviction. That's who the people inside prolife really are. Planned Parenthood depicts the whole group as hypocritical misogynistic, unscientific, religious fanatics the better to keep the killing going.

Phil 314 said...

As a family medicine resident in the 80’s on my Pediatrics rotation I remember caring for an extremely disabled 13 year old. I don’t recall her particular acute illness, probably pneumonia. What struck me was how dependent this child was and how devoted her mother was. Did I mention the family was on VACATION!?

I was both in awe of and disdainful of this mom. I couldn’t understand how she put in that much energy every day. I thought “Doesn’t she know how hopeless this? Doesn’t she know that this pneumonia won’t kill her daughter but another one in the future will. Doesn’t she know?”

This was my first insight into the developing professional disdain of “the hopeless”. I began to notice physicians who capitalized on a patient’s hope with ineffective treatments and other physicians who would “encourage” patients to give up hope and “go quietly into that good night”. Eventually I learned that hope was not something I prescribed but something I should look for and support because I knew as a physician my reactions to “unreasonable hope” were dangerous.

Sebastian said...

"As the son of a disabled woman, I can tell you"

Why "as the son of"? Does the judgment depend merely on identity or experience, or might an actual principle be involved?

"The decision is evil"

By what reasoning could he convince a pro-abortionist that it is so?

Ann A., famous pro-abortion law prof emerita, might say that forcing an abortion is itself a violation of female autonomy, of the right of women to act as moral actors in contemplating birth or death. But of course that depends on a pregnant woman being able to exercise her autonomy. If she is not capable, who gets to decide? That becomes the pro-abortionist's pragmatic conundrum. But the pro-abortionist has already decided that simply killing the baby cannot be intrinsically evil. If the rightness of abortion depends on women exercising choice, then the identity of the aborted baby cannot invalidate the act.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

"As the son of a disabled woman, I can tell you"

Sebastian asks: Why "as the son of"? Does the judgment depend merely on identity or experience, or might an actual principle be involved?

I would think the principle involved is that HE (the son) would have been the one aborted by the court because of HIS disabled mother. The life he lives now and the relationship with his Mother, however weird, would not exist.

Even though the case in the news has family members who are willing to step up and take responsibility for raising the future child, the Court (who seems to think that they are God) as deemed the future child's life as unworthy of existing.

Poof...You are gone by court order. Never to exist. Aborted. Cut off from life. Never to love or experience anything...loving even your odd mother.

His position as the Son carries a great deal of weight, since it could have been he.

wendybar said...

It happens all the time. Andrea Bocelli is one person who praises his mother for ignoring her Doctors advice. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/7810902/Andrea-Bocelli-praises-mother-for-rejecting-doctors-advice-to-abort.html

Dust Bunny Queen said...

The children of disabled parents are not doomed to become wards of the State. Nor are they doomed to failure because their parents might be disabled. In fact, sometimes the challenge of the situation causes a person to rise.

I went to school with the son of two disabled parents. (I only knew him from being in the same school. We weren't friends or socialized because you just didn't hang out with younger kids. He really didn't hang out with anyone much. He was a few years ahead of me in classes)

His parents were both blind. He was from very poor circumstances, Mexican and Native American Indian. Uneducated parents. He had to do everything for them and still attend school and try create a life for himself.

He worked hard in menial jobs to support his family. He worked hard in school. He worked hard on his sports talents.

Jim Plunkett.

Abortion wasn't an option in those days. There were of course options that equaled the same thing.

Abortion isn't the point here. It is WHO gets to choose life or death for another innocent person. The mother and family members have chosen life......This court has chosen death.

The Minnow Wrangler said...

This is a good story. I have an adult son who is probably about the same level as the woman who was almost forced to have an abortion, at least academically. He is more like a teenager in self-care, he takes his own meds independently, and keeps himself clean and well groomed for the most part.

I try to treat him as an adult in every way possible. I have resisted becoming his legal guardian since we have never had a situation where he actually required a guardian (medical decisions, finances, etc.) He listens to me and usually follows my advice.

It is easy to forget that adults with cognitive disabilities have the same dreams and desires as everyone else, even though those might never be fulfilled.

The unanswered question in this story is how did she get pregnant? Needs further investigation, possibly criminal charges, and certainly child support from the father.

TerriW said...

In ancient Roman culture, the paterfamilias got to decide whether a child born was worthy to live or die. This pesky Jewish rabbi had some other ideas about the value of individual life, but I heard they took care of him.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Interesting how the human experience is so varied, so unlike the bland categories Progressives are always striving to impose upon us.

n.n said...

Andrea Bocelli, the blind Italian opera singer, has praised his mother for rejecting the advice of doctors to abort him on the grounds that he would be disabled.

The doctors were right. Vision aberrations can render someone nonviable. His mother was right. Thanks, mom.

Fernandinande said...

Andrea Bocelli is one person who praises his mother for ignoring her Doctors advice.

"In his tribute, Bocelli did not explain why doctors recommended an abortion at a time when it was still illegal in Italy."

Sounds fake.

n.n said...

Pro-Choice is a real and progressive condition.

n.n said...

For first time in 2020 cycle, Trump makes abortion a reelection issue

Progress.

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