Comments on: David Cameron on disability, termination and parental choice

By: Sarah Palin, Down’s syndrome, and the race for the White House « Welcome to Illinois

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 08:50:15 +0000

[...] with cerebral palsy. You don’t see him going out of his way to pro-disability issues. As he proved recently, he is a pragmatist on that issue. When it comes to legislation, political interests tend [...]

By: welcometoillinois

welcometoillinois — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:00:59 +0000

I appreciate your position Andrew and there are no simply answers here, but you seem to have very strong convictions about when a fetus should be considered a human being that not everyone would share. Disabled children being aborted up to 39 weeks is not David Cameron’s proposal it is the current law in the UK

By: Andrew Brereton

Andrew Brereton — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:54:11 +0000

As the father of a little boy who suffered profound brain injuries, who sadly passed away four years ago, I find Mr cameron’s views to be nothing short of monstrous.

There are several important points where Mr Cameron’s argument is fallacious; – they are as follows.

* This position presumes that people with disabilities are lesser human beings with fewer human rights than the rest of us. Mr Cameron’s view would mean effectively that these ‘lesser human beings’ could simply be ‘put down.’ What kind of ‘master race’ mentality is this?
* Although I agree that if it can be independently determined that a child is going to spend a life of pain and suffering, ocassionaly, this might be the correct solution, the question is, can we accurately detrmine this? Medical people have a nasty habit of making mistakes, that is how many childhood disability issues are caused, (Shall we terminate doctors who make these errors perhaps?), so are they to be relied upon to make an accurate judgement of a child’s future? I think not.
* Quality of life is a subjective measure. What might seem to be an unacceptable quality of life to you or me, might have a completely different perspective from the point of view of the person whose life it is! Who is qualified to judge? – Certainly not I!
* Mr Cameron’s proposal that disabled children could be aborted as late as thirty-nine weeks is simply monstrous and is tantamount to cold blooded murder.

All life is sacred. All people, no matter what difficulties they face, are valuable human beings. We cannot utilise our own subjective judgements to determine which people are allowed to survive and which people are not.

By: Tim Jeffries

Tim Jeffries — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:17:31 +0000

I don’t understand it either. I think it’s just a greater example of how our society wants to control everything and not deal with the reality of our imperfection. Personally I find it sad, so much life and potential lost.

By: welcometoillinois

welcometoillinois — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:02:26 +0000

I think this is an issue where most people – both pro-choice and pro-life – would agree that if the “problem” is fixable then termination is not really justifiable. I don’t think I know anyone who would disagree with that. And yet there are obviously a great many people out there who would. Whether they woul;d admit it is another matter I guess.

By: Rickismon

Rickismon — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:00:02 +0000

What I don’t get AT ALL is why things that are FIXABLE are a reason for abortion? Webbed fingers can be fixed. So can cleft palette. And I suspect, most cases of clubfoot.
(I personally am against abortion, but I REALLY can’t understand this///).

People really think their kids have to be perfect???!!!??? Boy, will they be in for a surprise when their “perfect” child turns out to have a mind of their own. Are THEY so perfect?