I feel like I just got punched in the stomach.
Michael Gerson at Real Clear Politics provides an analysis [1] of a piece of the political news of the day that may just break your heart. At the center of the excitement and controversy over Sarah Palin being thrust into the national limelight is the story of her son Trig, only 4 months old, born with Down Syndrome. Please, read the piece by Gerson [1].
Gerson’s analysis includes a startling statistic: 90% of pregnancies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted. 90%. That’s 45,000 last year who were killed because they might be too much of a “burden” to their families and society.
How could we?
I have a dear friend today, and others in the past, with Down Syndrome. She is a sweet person, very sensitive and engaging.
The thought that we have already crossed the barrier to deciding who lives and who dies before they have a chance to prove themselves, and that we do so with little fanfare or concern, is worse than I had ever imagined.
When I was young, I remember a short movie we had seen where scientists could look at a fetus and see the future entire of the life the child would live, and then decide whom would be allowed to live and whom would be killed. At the time, I recall thinking this was science fiction and would never happen.
And yet it is happening now.
And I thought that Eugenics was dead. Of course, Eugenics originally involved sterilization because killing was considered too horrific to consider. Hitler, of course, carried it out both ways.
How do we ever stop the madness?
Hat Tip to Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard [2].
Update: Fixed a major boo-boo. David Chung at HawkeyGOP.com [3] noticed I referred to Trig as Sarah’s daughter. I don’t know why I thought that, but I have since I’ve heard about the baby’s condition. Ask my wife, I’m a dope!