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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5348 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Fri Apr 4th, 2008 11:26 pm |
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In case you missed tonight's (Friday, 4/4/08) ABC World News Tonight, there is a news story you must read/see.
Jemma Leech is a 10-year old girl who beat out 1600 other kids her age to win an essay contest by a unanimous vote of the judges. Only later did they learn she has cerebral palsey. Like Stephen Hawking, the world-renouned physicist, Jemma speaks and writes through a computer; she is unable to communicate on her own.
Her writing is incredible, and she has no intention of ever letting her condition hold her back. Her goal is to win an Oscar, a Grammy, and a Nobel Prize for Literature …all in the same year.
You can read Jemma's story, and some of her writing, at the ABC World News Tonight web site. Jemma was their Person of the Week this week.
I am posting this in the "Sexuality and Life Issues" forum for a reason. It was not part of the story, but if Jemma's mom had been tested during her pregnancy and she decided to have an abortion, the world would be deprived of an incredible person. The same is true, of course, of Stephen Hawking. If Jemma's parents lived in the Netherlands, since she was unable to communicate until she was five, they could have decided to have her euthanized as "defective". In fact, they still could. She hasn't reached 12 years old, so they would still have the legal right to kill her.
We need to remember Jemma when we vote. Only God can give life, and only God should be able to take it away. All life is precious, from the moment of conception until the moment God decides to call us home. It must remain God's choice, or the world is deprived of millions of potential Jemma's and Stephen's and others.
Vote. Vote pro-life. It's important.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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mrsbmoo
Member
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 307 |
| First Name: | Becky | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | former Methodist. RCA, Presbyterian, Holiness, Wesleyan... Catholic as of June ... |
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Posted: Sat Apr 5th, 2008 12:47 pm |
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| Are you saying that in the Netherlands they can "euthanize" any child that doesn't meet the parents standards? I mean I have a bi-polar duaghter who started having issues at 6. Mostly odd, depressed behavior, do they kill even people like that or that don't get good enough grades in school? Like- "we wanted a child who gat all As and this one only gets Cs, please kill her?"
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Becky
Wife of Michael(called Moo) and stay at home mom to 5 daughters between 10 months and 17
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5348 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Sat Apr 5th, 2008 03:17 pm |
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mrsbmoo wrote: Are you saying that in the Netherlands they can "euthanize" any child that doesn't meet the parents standards? I mean I have a bi-polar duaghter who started having issues at 6. Mostly odd, depressed behavior, do they kill even people like that or that don't get good enough grades in school? Like- "we wanted a child who gat all As and this one only gets Cs, please kill her?"
No, I believe they must be able to show a physical "defect" which under the law would prevent a meaningful, productive life. Euthanasia is becoming more common in mainland Europe, but it's still primarily restricted to the elderly who are terminally ill or are no longer able to speak for themselves, but the fact that it is even theoretically possible to kill a "defective" child in some countries is horrible.
I am not an expert on the laws in Europe, so if anything I'm saying is not correct I'd appreciate a more accurate presentation. My primary point was that the parents of this child, Jemma, had every reason to believe she would never be anything but a burden, and certain elements of our society would practicallly insist that her mother's pregnancy should have been terminated. I am very happy to belong to a Church that respects life from natural beginning to natural end.
According to the Weekly Standard:
In the Netherlands, Groningen University Hospital has decided its doctors will euthanize children under the age of 12, if doctors believe their suffering is intolerable or if they have an incurable illness. But what does that mean? In many cases, as occurs now with adults, it will become an excuse not to provide proper pain control for children who are dying of potentially agonizing maladies such as cancer, and doing away with them instead. As for those deemed "incurable"--this term is merely a euphemism for killing babies and children who are seriously disabled.
Cerebral Palsey definitely falls under the category of "incurable" so doctors (not her parents, apparently) would still have the legal right to kill her, apparently not even needing parental consent.
But according to this article, have no fear, your daughter will soon be able to request her own murder since depression qualifies for adults.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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