The abortion that wasn’t
Cheeky looking little bugger, ain’t he?
When Leeann Phelan was told her unborn baby had an incurable brain abnormality, she faced an agonising decision.
Doctors said he would be stillborn or severely disabled and advised her to have an abortion.
But Miss Phelan and her partner Stephen Crane stoutly refused and carried on with the pregnancy.
Now at six months old, tests have proven that little Jayden was wrongly diagnosed and is a fit and healthy little boy.
Due to pregnancy complications he had to be induced 13 weeks early, and bravely fought for life.
At 23 weeks, he was one week short of the current abortion limit of 24 weeks, which was set with the received medical wisdom that babies born that premature do not survive.
Last week MPs defied public opinion and voted to keep the current six month abortion limit, despite pressure to cut it to 22 or even 20 weeks.
Last night a pro-life group said Jayden’s birth ‘flew in the face of the government’s denial that babies do not survive if born before 24 weeks.’
Miss Phelan, 23, said: ‘We got the results on Friday and the doctors found he was not suffering from this syndrome.
‘We are delighted but it makes my blood run cold to think we could have aborted him and they got that wrong.
‘They told me to get rid of him, but I said no from the start.
So here’s the deal: Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, you must certainly agree that it shouldn’t be a statistician who decides if your baby should live or die. It should always be up to the mother (or even better: both parents). The odds should be in her hands, not in the hands of some dude with a clipboard and a calculator.
Remember that in countries like the UK and Canada, healthcare is socialized. Every decision made by hospital staff is made with a little dollar sign in mind. To bring a child into the world that needs serious neo-natal care, or that has a terrible disability, is expensive. The hospitals have to invest a good deal of resource in a child like that. So simple eugenics says: Kill it.
Do you want a eugenicist with a calculator deciding your child’s fate?
UPDATE: I see I should have been clearer about the rules in Britain. If a baby is born under 24 weeks, the hospital is not obliged to provide neo-natal care. The baby can be considered a miscarriage at that age, and not viable, even if born alive. Sweet, huh? But Jayden’s parents must have fought pretty damn hard to get him care. Good for them.
What’s ironic is that many of the people behind the founding of socialized medicine were also eugenicists.
Comment by BillyHW — May 26, 2008 @ 1:03 am
Like our all-too-beloved Tommy Douglas.
RG
Comment by Right Girl — May 26, 2008 @ 1:24 am
“It should always be up to the mother (or even better: both parents). The odds should be in her hands, not in the hands of some dude with a clipboard and a calculator.”
When did anyone suggest otherwise?
It’s “pro-choice”. You know, as in giving the mother (or both parents) a choice? It’s not “pro-state-mandated-eugenics”.
Comment by Alex — May 26, 2008 @ 5:26 am
[…] above? Yes, the diagnosis was grave…but one wonders if the question was ever asked concerning whether the diagnosis was accurate. When Leeann Phelan was told her unborn baby had an incurable brain abnormality, she faced an […]
Pingback by now with caching! » Abortion for the wrong reasons (Time Immortal) — May 26, 2008 @ 10:22 am
hi i am the father of jayden and i would like to correct your article in that jayden was actually born on the 13th dec’07 at twenty seven weeks. I would also like to praise the great job that the nurses and staff at whipps cross university hospital in east london did over the three months that jayden was there fighting for his life. The nurses in britain dont receive the recognition which they deserve and we as a family feel that its about time our countries goverment gets behind its medical staff and gives them the support that they so rightly deserve. Without the staff at whipps cross jayden wouldn’t be here today so even though kings college made a great mistake which shouldn’t have been made we would once again like to praise the staff at whipps and say how lucky we are to now consider them as part of our family because we owe them everything. Feel free to contact myself.
Comment by stephen crane — May 27, 2008 @ 11:39 am
[…] GIRL ON THE RIGHT: “The abortion that wasn’t” …. […]
Pingback by WebElf Report News Blogroll « The WebElf Report — June 8, 2008 @ 4:00 pm
July 10, 2008-07-10
Dear GirlontheRight:
Saw you on Michael Coren’s show - liked what you had to say but would like to scold Michael for not giving you enough time to talk. Marilyn talks too much, she talks out of turn, she interrupts and will not shut up!!
What you said about Dr. Morgantaler & the Award was inadequate. Just because he has been given the Award does not close the matter. In fact, we should use it to re-open the topic of a country (Canada) which is purportedly part of the world’s civilized, humane society. For such a country not to have a law restricting the terms of abortion is barbaric!!
The abortion debate has failed to focus on some very important issues. So far, we only hear about women’s right to choose – no mention is ever made about the human life that is snuffed out, usually under the most horrible conditions. No right should be unlimited and this should also apply to the woman’s right to choose to be pregnant or not. There should be a compromise where we allow the woman to decide in the 1st trimester & after that, her right to choose is limited. This would negate the argument that women are not allowed freedom to decide. If a woman cannot decide in the 1st trimester, she forfeits her right to kill the foetus. The argument that a foetus is not a human being & does not deserve protection of the law cannot be accepted in a society that prides itself in being intelligent & humane.
We need a political party that is strong enough & brave enough to bring in a law that will set a limit on abortion after the 1st trimester which should be allowed only under extenuating circumstances. As a minimal measure, we should not allow pre-birth abortions & if more Canadians know how these babies are killed as they are being born, they would work for these practices to be declared inhumane & horrible.
Kim
Comment by Kim McConnell — July 10, 2008 @ 1:36 pm