In the name of personal preference and for “social reasons,” some women now demand that their multiple babies be aborted so that they will have only the one baby they want. (Albert Mohler)
Today, I want to turn your attention to a couple of blogs/articles about selective abortion or pregnancy reduction as it is called in the medical world. By that, I don't mean a woman's choice to have a baby or not, but that a mother pregnant with multiples (twins, triplets, etc...) can choose the "best out of the litter" (or select boy or girl) and discard the other babies. Just like that. Here in America.
Surprisingly, it's not a relatively new concept. In 1988 a Dr. Evans introduced the philosophy and guidelines of pregnancy reduction in the wake of more and more multiple births as a result of fertility drugs. Read more about him and the secular side of pregnancy reduction HERE. (A New York Times article)
"Whatever the particulars, these patients concluded that they lacked the resources to deal with the chaos, stereophonic screaming and exhaustion of raising twins." (By RUTH PADAWER, August 10, 2011)
The quote below is from the NY Times article, quoting a mother whose partner is also a woman. Poignant thoughts from a woman caught up in cultural decadence; yet, deep inside was the feeling that what she was doing may not be right. Wrenches my heart in several ways.
“I’m very grateful that we had this option {pregnancy reduction} at our disposal, that it can be done safely and in a legal way, but it was very difficult for both of us. I still wonder, Did we choose the right one? — even though I wasn’t the one who chose. That idea, that one’s gone and one’s here, it’s almost like playing God. I mean, who are we to choose? Even as it was happening, I wondered what the future would have been if the doctor had put the needle into the other one.”
President of the SBC Albert Mohler's blog entry about this NY Times article is what got my attention about pregnancy selection. I must admit that I had not heard much about this, but after reading Mohler's article, I could understand why. It is not a highly promoted procedure. Read A. Mohler's article HERE. (This Isn't Meddling - It's Murder, 8/17/11).
How would you tell a child (at any age) that their brother(s) or sister(s) were eliminated so that he/she could get all the attention and resources of the parents? Could that in itself create an unprecedented psychological etching?
What reactions would we expect of children feeling guilty about their never-born siblings?
The ramifications are endless.....
