God bless Ashli for sharing this with us. He has already blessed Elliot's family. And if you don't understand that, nobody can explain it to you. But you can pray that your eyes will be opened and you will be able to see. I'll be praying for you, that you may experience the kind of awakening I experienced the day I looked at M., one of the men at the institution where I worked, and saw that he was a masterpiece of God's handiwork exactly as he was. My life was changed. And I wish that kind of change for everybody, as you would wish the sweetest gifts on those you love the most.
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4 comments:
The trisomy 18 website disgusted me. They refer to killing the disabled baby as "saying goodbye early." And talk about ways to "celebrate the life of your child." Yet, if you get the trisomy 18 diagnosis after birth, you'r directed to a page called "caring for your disabled child." Why can't we still say goodbye early after the child is born? I don't understand how people rationalize murder.
Do people not realize that "saying goodbye early" is dismembering their own child or birthing a dead baby?
I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, you're absolutely right -- "saying goodbye early" does mean "killing the baby." I particularly was annoyed that they referred to "interrupting the pregnancy." Excuse me, when you interrupt something, you can come back to it later.
On the other hand, I think that for their purpose, a shotgun approach is necessary. I think a site that doesn't outright condemn abortion would be more likely to reach parents who would be so turned off and offended by a site that addressed abortion honestly, as what it really is, that they'd not venture near the stories of the families that loved their children through to the end.
Sort of a "reaching them where they are." I'd send people there, but with a caveat about the fact that abortion doesn't erase the baby or the grief. It just means that you didn't get to ever see or hold or know him -- and he never got a chance to be loved, even for a moment.
I think the reality is, if you are encouraging families to say "good by early" you are inducing the pregnancy to terminate the pregnancy...."Abort the pregnancy." If done before the lungs are fully developed, you are insuring the child will not be able to survive outside the womb. This seems to be a new common practice, and done in some cases unknowingly to the parents. It is important for parents to get well informed, and to become their child's best advocate. Getting second opinions outside their medical group.
Some of these women are misguided thinking if they bring the child out early, they have a better chance at the child being born alive. They yearn to hold their child and are willing to take that chance. Having been told their child is likely to die within moments due to the expected abnormalities that come with trisomy 18 or 13 or any list of anomalies.
Sadly some of these kids induced early will only survive moments...where if their child were to be carried to term, although their life might be brief, there may be more time. Its a bit of a gamble these families choose to take. Hopefully after much research and looking at their specific situation.
I do think they're whitewashing "saying goodbye early" - trying to pretend that this isn't a way of killing the child. I'm just supporting the shotgun approach of the site, since overall it is encouraging the idea that these children's lives are worthwhile and that it's not a waste of time or love to nurture them for as long as possible.
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