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Thursday, February 12, 2015
Carry to Birth Group Celebrates Defeat of Ireland Abortion Law by Sarah St. Onge
In 2010 my unborn daughter was diagnosed with a lethal birth anomaly. We continued our pregnancy, much to the consternation of our physicians, and she lived for almost two hours after birth.
As the mother of a child who was diagnosed in the womb with a life
limiting condition, I take a keen interest in abortion legislation which
seeks to destroy protections for the most vulnerable members of our society like my daughter Beatrix.
This includes
international legislation like that which was roundly defeated in
The Republic of Ireland earlier this week. Socialist politician Clare Daly proposed a
bill that would legalize terminating pregnancies in which a lethal birth
defect had been detected. These laws have often been used to weaken
limitations on abortion overall -- removing the focus from the child
involved, who has a right to life no matter how short that life will be,
and instead wrongfully focusing solely on the woman carrying the child.
During
the proceedings we heard the stories of women "compelled" to leave the Republic of
Ireland to end their children's lives. "Forced" to have their very
personal medical procedures preformed in a foreign land, these women were
not surrounded by their friends and family as they allegedly "deserved" to be.
Not
once did we hear about the value of the child whose life hung in the
balance as an individual, except in terms of how the parent quantified
that value. Not once did we hear about the humanity of the child
involved, except in terms of how the expectant mother viewed the
situation. This is disturbing to me, as the mother of one of these fragile children.
Unfortunately, the
attitude that a child's worth before birth is dependent upon a mother's
judgement is one shared by many Americans today. When you add a lethal
birth defect (or a sexual assault) to the mix, then even many pro-life
persons have trouble properly focusing on the issue of the child's humanity.
This
was abundantly evident last month when our own House of Representatives
scuttled a pain-capable abortion prohibition because of the lack of
"protections" for women who have become pregnant as a result of sexual
assault.
This bill was widely
viewed as one of the most significant pieces of pro-life legislation since the Roe v. Wade decision, was supported by the majority of Americans, and was considered to be an
easy win for House Republicans, most of whom ran on a pro-life ticket.
The votes were there. It was set to be passed on the 42nd anniversary
of Roe v. Wade.
But it failed.
It fell fast and hard over one small item. A rape exception.
Like
lethal fetal anomalies, sexual assault is a bullet point that
pro-choice activists like to use when trying to defeat pro-life
legislation. It's their trump card, and it's the last life breath of a
movement that has been slowly dying for decades.
Either
one of these exceptions can be called up at will when any pro-life
legislation is winning support, and portrayed in such a way that
progress in terms of pro-life legislation seems "anti-woman." They sway
public opinion with one sided emotional stories -- never sharing the side of parents who love their children conceived in rape or carried to birth, and because pro-life legislators fail to articulate a strong defense of all life. They throw out images of women suffering under the undue
tension of these negatively affected pregnancies, and like the arguments
by Clare Daly, they never address the humanity or worth of the baby
involved.
Because of the overwhelmingly negative association with carrying to birth, based on the inappropriately focused pro-choice narrative, parents are very rarely told of the benefits of continuing their pregnancies. This creates a dynamic where women are pressured into ending pregnancies with affected babies, thus denying families the opportunity to parent their child for the short life that they will have. During my own pregnancy with Beatrix, we faced doctors who unapologetically pushed termination even after we had clearly stated that we were not interested in ending her life.
Unlike our own
lawmakers, the Dáil seems to understand what is at stake, that the deceptively-named "Protection of Life" abortion
bill has everything to do with destroying life. The Irish legislators understand that a woman facing a
pregnancy in which a lethal diagnosis has been made is not the only
patient involved in the situation, that the child involved has the right
to protection. No person should have the right to decide when
another person should die, based on the circumstances of their
conception.
As pro-life
Americans, it would behoove us to remember that the reason we are
called "pro-life" is our unshakeable belief that all life is sacred --
even for those whose lives may not last long. In order to continue the steady
progress which has been made, we must remember that the baby in the photo below is equally as important as the women whom Clare Daly was purportedly trying to "save".
BIO: Sarah St. Onge is a wife, mother of 4, step-mother of 2, and pro-life blogger for Save The 1. She blogs on grief, loss, and pro-life issues pertaining to continuing a pregnancy after a lethal anomaly has been diagnosed, at www.shebringsjoy.com.
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2 comments:
Thank you for your blog. :)
Thank you so much for your Christian, Pro life Blog!!! <3
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