When Pope Paul VI warned in Humanae Vitae that acceptance of contraception was a slippery slope toward abortion and then homicide, he was widely scoffed at. Who’s scoffing now that Britain’s Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology is proposing the murder of newborns. The doctors’ group suggests that severely disabled newborns should be “actively euthansized,” which is just a nicer-sounding euphemism for murder. But then what is the real difference between murdering a baby with his head 3 inches still inside his moth (i.e. partial-birth abortion) and plain-old murder?
The Royal College claims that killing the children will benefit the families.
“A very disabled child can mean a disabled family,” the proposal said. “If life-shortening and deliberate interventions to kill infants were available, they might have an impact on obstetric decision-making, even preventing some late abortions, as some parents would be more confident about continuing a pregnancy and taking a risk on outcome.”
Yes, a disabled child can be a burden. God forbid that anyone be a burden on others. I recall the story of a married couple who were actively involved in the “death with dignity” movement years ago. When one of them suddenly was diagnosed with cancer, the other spouse handed them a bottle of pills and said, “You know what to do.” Such attitudes are the height of selfishness. It is the opposite of Christ’s commands in the Gospel: “Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers you do unto me.” Or the Golden Rule: “Do unto others a you would have them do unto you.” Instead, we’re returning to a barbarous age in which we only look out for Number 1.
Note also that they phrase it as a means of cutting abortions, as if murder is better. Imagine this: “We’re cutting the rate of death from heart disease by 90 percent! Yeah, we’re ‘actively euthanizing’ anyone who has a history of heart disease in their family.”
Let’s be clear though that this isn’t about concern for families. In a country with socialized medicine, where costs are controlled by the bureaucracy and health care is rationed, severely disabled children make an inordinate demand on the system. This is a cost-cutting measure. More evil has been done in the name of cold, calculating bureaucracy than all the evil done through passionate hatred.
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