Choose Life! The value of a baby.

So the day has finally arrived when we will have our next child. It will be sometime today… it is weird knowing that on a given day for sure by hook or by crook your child will be born, bu that is what is happening.

The night before last my wife began having contractions, and then suddenly they stopped, as did all fetal movement. So we did what any rational couple would do, we sought medical advice. It appears that the things that have gone wrong with the pregnancy in its last weeks are numerous. One of the things at issue is that there is too much amniotic fluid. About three times too much.

So what was the doctor’s initial advice? An abortion. My wife is currently at 41 weeks, or just over nine months. But this was the advice. Why? Because one of the things that an excess of amniotic fluid can indicate(1 in 5 pregnancies as we later found out) is that there is a genetic disorder, and why would we want to take the chance. To get an idea of what they wanted to do here is a late term abortion demonstrated on a anatomical model. WARNING: somewhat disturbing imagery.

I was shocked, and greatly disturbed. I am living in Israel, the Jewish nation, and the doctor at the hospital was religious. It is a procedure which here in Israel is called fetuscide(which is latin for fetus murder). They got that one right, as halakhically the baby is fully “born” and a separate human at that point. From the time the baby crowns or, if breach, the naval passes the cervix, for the purpose of mila we begin counting the eight days, even if it takes another seven to finish the delivery. So this is absolute murder of the infant.

I never thought I would be in a fight with a Jewish doctor over the right to life of another Jew. Yes I know that raising a downs syndrome child is a hard lifelong process, but quite honestly so is raising any child. I have a daughter who at the age of two has already figured out how to blow a shofar and the basic mechanics of playing a guitar. She can identify when a song is in a major or minor key, what music is “happy” and what is “sad”. She even has favorite genres. She is outgoing and artistic. All qualities that I want to see blossom in her life, and which the Israeli educational system(and especially the religious one) will try to quash within her. Each child has its own unique challenges, this one, even if we fall into the 20% category(by the way we did have a detailed ultrasound at 28 weeks which indicated that there was no birth defects or genetic disorders), but assuming that just now something went horribly wrong, and truly there is a problem, that child while its difficulties will be unique, every child has its unique difficulties in rearing it.

So I am shocked and stunned. Today we will induce labor(or have a c-section) so I will keep you informed. Stay tuned.

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