From the "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish" files: This piece by Maria Eftimiades, "One Woman's Choice After a Prenatal Test Shows Down Syndrome, A Wrenching Decision." Here's an excerpt:
While I have no doubt there can be joys and victories in raising a mentally handicapped child, for me and for Mike, it's a painful journey that we believe is better not taken. To know now that our son would be retarded, perhaps profoundly, gives us the choice of not continuing the pregnancy. We don't want a life like that for our child, and the added worry that we wouldn't be around long enough to care for him throughout his life.
I'm sure pro-lifers don't give you the right to grieve for the baby you chose not to bring into the world (another euphemism, although avoiding the word "abortion'' doesn't take any sting out of the decision to have one). Only now do I understand how entirely personal the decision to terminate a pregnancy is and how wrong it feels to bring someone else's morality into the discussion.I was lucky. When I walked into the hospital, no one knew why, or cared. The nurses were kind and the doctor held my hand as the anesthesia took over.
As for that baby that will never be, I will remember him always. But I'm quite certain that I made the right choice for the three of us.
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