Does Any Life Have Value Anymore?

I've previously mentioned on my blog that I have diabetes. It's a drag, but I make the best of it.

But diabetes is a disability, so you can imagine my horror when I read on Pajamas Media tonight about a couple who were awarded $4.5 because their child was born disabled, and they were not told that he was disabled while he was in the womb. They got a huge settlement because they missed the opportunity to abort their son.

From PJM:

On September 9, a West Palm Beach jury awarded parents Rodolfo Santana and Ana Mejia $4.5 million because they did not get accurate information from Dr. Marie Morel and OB/GYN Specialists of the Palm Beaches. Their son Bryan Santana, now age 3, was born disabled. He has no arms and only one leg. The argument made by his parents was that if the clinic had told them their son was so disabled, they would have aborted him. And since they didn’t get a chance to terminate Bryan in the womb, and obviously they can’t legally do it now, they wanted millions of dollars.
The woman, who certainly will not win any mother-of-the year awards, told the jury during the two-week trial:

Definitely, I would have had an abortion.

I hope when little Bryan grows up he never Googles himself or his parents. I can’t imagine the horror when he reads that his parents wish they would have killed him. I wonder how quickly he will grasp that his parents think his life, since he has disabilities, isn’t worth living. I wonder if that jury considered how the disabled community would feel if they knew that a jury awarded these parents millions because they missed the opportunity to abort their disabled son.

There are some things in life that are so, so, out of left field that there are no words for. Can you imagine what will happen if poor Bryan ever asks his parents if they would have aborted him if they knew he would be disabled? Once, in a deep fit of despair, I asked my mother if she would have aborted me if she would have known that I was going to have diabetes. (It's a long story; my journey with diabetes has had some bumps in the road.) She said no, and I believe her. I know where she stands of the issue of life. I cannot imagine what will happen to poor Bryan if he ever asks his mother if she would have aborted him. And even if she does lie and say she would have kept him, one quick Internet search will debunk that.
 
Continuing:
 

Few people realize how much sentiment exists out there that the disabled are less than human. If you want proof one only has too look at abortion. In the UK, for example, there are limits on when you can abort a baby unless that baby has severe disabilities. The UK law does not define those disabilities but allows abortion up until the moment of birth if the child is disabled. Why? Obviously the message is that a child with disabilities has less value or reason to live. The West Palm Beach jury would agree with that atrocious idea.

The numbers should shock you. In America, 90% of non-life threatening disabled babies are aborted. If you have a disability in the womb, you have a 1 in 10 chance of being born. You have a 9 in 10 chance of your parents deciding your life isn’t worth living. In 2003, a Gallup poll revealed that almost 6 in 10 Americans think it is okay to abort if a child has a mental or physical disability. Imagine if instead of a disability, 6 in 10 said it was okay to abort because a child is black or female.

Thankfully, these numbers are so shocking that even some on the pro-choice Left see this as a problem. The Left is conflicted in being pro-rights for all types of minorities, but being pro-choice on abortion...

We need more on the Left to realize their own double standard. Ted Kennedy, who was a huge pro-choice advocate, understood the poor treatment of the disabled. In 2005, Kennedy co-sponsored the Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act. That bill expanded federal financing to teach parents of children with Down Syndrome how to help raise them. Kennedy understood that parents needed to learn that disabled children had equal value, and if parents learned those skills, then they wouldn’t feel the need to abort. The goal of the bill was to stop the atrocious rate of abortions based on a child being diagnosed with Down Syndrome. That bill was co-sponsored by big pro-lifer Sam Brownback, it was signed into law by President Bush, and it was actually backed by the pro-abortion NARAL.

Proving that even Democrats get it right sometimes. I cannot believe this. Thank you world, for proving how little value you ascribe to lives that don't fit your standards. You know, I enjoy life. No, I really do, and that includes my life with diabetes. Sometimes I don't think I'd be who I am today if I hadn't had diabetes. Don't get me wrong, I want a cure for this disease, and life has not always been easy with it, but who's life is ever easy? You disgust by your morally bankrupt insinuation that my life is worth less than yours!

Perhaps it's my diabetes talking here, but all life has value. It doesn't matter if a person have diabetes or Down Syndrome or missing limbs or any combination of the three. All life has value whether disabled or not.

Maybe only people with diabilities will ever realize that.

Related: Canada allows infanticide