Patterico's Pontifications

12/15/2014

“It Felt Very Inhumane, To Be Honest.” Yeah, I’m Guessing That’s How Your Baby Felt, Too.

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:20 pm



[guest post by Dana]

(Trigger alert: Lifeydoodle post)

A woman in New South Wales aborted her baby at *7 months pregnant. Why? Because the baby had a deformed left hand. Not a life threatening deformity for the baby, nor one that would put the woman at risk if she delivered. The official name is ‘ectrodactyly’, or cleft hand.

According to “Cindy”, who grew up in China and saw people with physical deformities being treated poorly, she just couldn’t bear that for her baby:

“I grew up with many people who were disabled, and… there was discrimination,” she said. “I didn’t want my child to be discriminated against. The problem is… obvious because it is the fingers, and I think the child would have a very hard life.”

See, she was putting the emotional needs of her baby first. Because that’s the kind of loving mother she was, or would have been…

As a result of testing delays, Cindy had to wait until 25 weeks pregnant for confirmation that her baby’s hand was deformed. Another few weeks elapsed until she was permitted to have an abortion due to confusing abortion laws in NSW. Speaking for the couple, her husband – without any irony – made this statement:

“It felt very inhumane, to be honest,” Frank said. “We were being told that our only option was to give birth to a baby that we did not wish to give birth to at all. We felt we have been forgotten and abandoned through the political and judicial uncertainty of the abortion laws”.

I bet this guy is sure glad Cindy wasn’t his mom.

*A baby born at 7 months gestation has a greater than 90% chance of survival.

–Dana

29 Responses to ““It Felt Very Inhumane, To Be Honest.” Yeah, I’m Guessing That’s How Your Baby Felt, Too.”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (8e74ce)

  2. One of our early Christmas cards with a family picture shows a very happy married mother of 3 children, who has this deformity of her R hand. We met her family when she was in elementary school.
    The one thing I noticed about her disability from a distance, it was easier for her to learn to play the French horn instead of some other instrument.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  3. i just

    i can’t get excited about this anecdote

    there’s a lot of people out there making choices you know

    i just try to take care of my lil space

    happyfeet (831175)

  4. my next thing is this “bulletproof coffee” thing

    i think me and my friend d we’re gonna give that a whirl this week

    we’ll see

    holidays are really touch and go as far as nailing down plans goes

    but ideally his wife could join too

    boy married up

    happyfeet (831175)

  5. Well, yeah, these are the kind of people who have abortions.

    nk (dbc370)

  6. The slaughter of the innocents continues. Lord, have mercy.

    felipe (40f0f0)

  7. maybe we should nominate a presidential candidate wholly devoted to stripping women of their choices to where they will be forced to birth deformed babies to the glory of America

    hell no maybe about it

    why should pregnant womens have any say in these things whatsoever

    it’s really none of their business

    happyfeet (831175)

  8. is your vision of humanity constrained or unconstrained

    please to take the quiz

    happyfeet (831175)

  9. [Tosses head, looks down nose] [Haughtily] My character is far too complex to be described by 20 questions.

    nk (dbc370)

  10. true dat

    happyfeet (831175)

  11. Somebody should ask Cindy to make a fetus cake with a deformed hand on top for the healing.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  12. it’s ok to ask but nobody should ever be forced to make cakes unless thet really want to really really bad

    happyfeet (831175)

  13. *they* really want to i mean

    happyfeet (831175)

  14. Has this woman never heard of prosthetics? clearly, she never watched RoboCop.

    Michael Ejercito (45f52b)

  15. Dana, I’m sorry you have to read most of these comments. I appreciate your post and the sadness it describes on so many levels.

    Jokers gotta joke, I guess. I will never understand the need to make light of such a post.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  16. Hello.

    Denver Todd (5f001f)

  17. why should pregnant womens have any say in these things whatsoever

    The baby could not be reached for comment.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  18. I am pretty sure that such an abortion would be illegal TODAY in some states (not enough), and is completely unprotected by Roe.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  19. where they will be forced to birth deformed babies

    It’s not much of a deformity, as birth defects go. As a reference, look up Tom Dempsey. He used to be the place kicker for the Saints and later the Rams.

    But a larger question: how would this situation be any different from having a 6 month old child who lost his left hand in a car accident or dog mauling? Would the parents of such a child have the moral authority to starve it to death?

    Chuck Bartowski (3e0e89)

  20. The deathydotes will go out and snivel that heartless society does not make it easy for them, Chuck. Just like these degenerate descendants of Liverpool pickpockets and prostitutes are doing.

    nk (dbc370)

  21. The deathydotes will go out and snivel that heartless society does not make it easy for them, Chuck.

    Oh, I know, nk. I’m just wondering where these people get the idea that life is supposed to be easy? Life is a series of disappointments culminating in a disaster. Some people have it easier than others, but none of us survive it.

    Chuck Bartowski (3e0e89)

  22. Libs brains are deformed.

    Gus (7cc192)

  23. One minor question that I’d like someone on this woman’s side of the issue to answer:

    If 7 months is fine for this abortion, how about 11 months? What’s the difference?

    Russ from Winterset (30a992)

  24. This is the most horrible thing I learned about today. And there was competition.

    Dustin (2a8be7)

  25. So very sad. Inhumane? That may be too soft a word. Barbaric may be a better description. And in my opinion, this is not to say that an abortion at any point earlier in a pregnancy would be any less so.

    Terrie VanB (011fb1)

  26. Former L.A. anchorwoman Bree Walker — an recovering alcoholic who was a stunning beauty two decades ago — also has ectrodactyly. An April 2014 interview she gave at her former place of employment about her DUI arrest linked to “empty nest syndrome” included this (bold mine):

    LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Twenty years ago, Bree Walker seemed to have it all.

    She was a young, beautiful, talented TV anchor. She was beloved in Los Angeles. A great career and great family.Walker, now 61, even overcame a rare congenital disability from birth that affected her hands and feet…

    (snip)

    …The condition — which results in missing fingers and toes — did not keep her from pursuing a career in journalism or even one on camera. When a New York TV anchor asked her on camera if she knew if she was passing on the disability would she abort her child, she said, “Well, I would consider that a very personal question. I would not,” she said.

    Walker became an advocate and spokesperson for Ectrodactyly. Years later, she had two children who both inherited the condition.

    Like many moms, she told Harvey she put her high-powered career on hold to stay home and raise the kids. After six years with CBS2, she walked away from the anchor desk in 1994.

    Once her kids were grown and her marriage to Lampley ended (in 2000), Walker says she lost all sense of self worth.

    Walker doesn’t view the condition as the impetus for her crash, and apparently it wasn’t a barrier for her children, who left the nest, leaving her depressed.

    Regarding Jim Abbott: He was a feel-good story when he was an All-American college pitcher and the star of the USA Baseball Olympic team. He was a serviceable pitcher in the Majors for most of his career (87-108, 4.25; Won 18 games in 1991, lost 18 games in 1996). But unlike most fitting that description, he separated himself from the pack and wrote his name in the record books when threw a no-hitter in 1993.

    Abbott is now a motivational speaker. I’m guessing that he didn’t speak in Australia, which is a shame. Things might be different, maybe not.

    L.N. Smithee (986607)

  27. Greetings:

    I can see how this incident would infuriate the rampaging anti-abortion mobs, that’s why I calls it pre-natal euthanasia which will be coming soon to an Obamacare near you.

    11B40 (6abb5c)

  28. 14.Michael Ejercito (45f52b) — 12/15/2014 @ 7:58 pm

    Has this woman never heard of prosthetics? clearly, she never watched RoboCop

    This was not even a serious handicap.

    It was the left hand, and the baby would probably be right-handed, and it could probably be improved by surgery, although it could also be made worse.

    She wasn’t worried about that.

    She was worried about embarassment. Even there, Australia is not China!! Didn’t she know that? Didn’t the doctors know that?

    Sammy Finkelman (8bd44f)

  29. 23. Russ from Winterset (30a992) — 12/15/2014 @ 9:55 pm

    f 7 months is fine for this abortion, how about 11 months? What’s the difference?

    Probably the penal code. They don’t seem to have too many moral qualms about infanticide in China, were she apparently was from..

    Of course 11 months is 2 months after birth, and by that time the birth has been accepted – maybe she’d make the limit 10 months or 30 days after birth.

    Sammy Finkelman (8bd44f)


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