By Monsignor Charles Pope
I once spent the afternoon taking part in a webinar focused on providing support, Church teaching, and information to families who receive a prenatal diagnosis that their child will be disabled in some way. Perhaps they are informed that the child will have Down syndrome or perhaps a birth defect that will lead either to early death or to a lifetime of challenges.
The pressure on such families to abort is often enormous. They are told, “It is the right thing to do” or “You should not make the child suffer.” Some are even made to feel they are doing something “unethical” by bringing forth such children. There are also time pressures placed on such parents. Doctors often want the decision to terminate made quickly, within a matter of days.
A life not worth living?
There seems to be a notion on the part of many in our culture that there is such a thing as a life not worth living. We have stumbled upon the very unusual and tragically ironic concept that death is a form of therapy and that the “treatment” for babies with disabilities is to kill them. Of course, death is not a treatment or a therapy; it cannot be considered a “solution.” Yet tragically this is often the advice that many parents with a poor prenatal diagnosis receive.
All this pressure goes a long way to explaining that two-thirds of families with a poor prenatal diagnosis choose to abort.1 We in the Church cannot remain silent in the face of this. We must prophetically and compassionately reach out to families in such a crisis. Many of them are devastated by the news that their baby may have serious disabilities. Often they descend into shock and are overwhelmed by fear, conflicting feelings, and even anger at God or others. Sometimes the greatest gifts we can give them are time, information, and the framework of faith. Simply considering some of the following may help:
1. They do not have to rush. Serious life-changing decisions should never be made in a 48-to-72-hour time period. Pressure should never be applied to families by medical personnel, and the family should consider such pressure a grave injustice.
2. Prenatal diagnoses are not always right. We often think of medicine as an exact science. It is not. Data can be misinterpreted, and premises can sometimes be wrong. Further, there is a difference between the result of a screening and an actual diagnosis. Screenings can point to potential problems and likelihoods but are not an actual diagnosis of a problem. Further study is always needed if a screening indicates potential problems. Quite frequently, further tests after a screening reveal no problem at all.
To read the remainder of this article, visit the Celebrate Life Magazine site at clmagazine.org/topic/human-dignity/a-life-like-yours-on-the-dignity-of-the-disabled-and-the-call-to-save-them-from-abortion.
To read other inspirational and educational pro-life articles, visit clmagazine.org.