Birth (The Republican candidate for US vice president, Sarah Palin...)

[Jamie (K)]

The Republican candidate for US vice president, Sarah Palin, is a woman who knew while she was pregnant that her fifth child would have Down syndrome. She gave birth to the baby anyway. Many Americans agree with her decision.

We are already hearing a few American women criticize her and say that if she knew the baby was going to be retarded, she should have had it aborted. Today in the US, 84% of the babies with Down syndrome are aborted before they are born.

Do you agree with the woman who gave birth to the baby, or the people who think it should have been aborted?

[Prezbucky]

IMO, that baby has a right to live. Palin made the right decision in respecting life.
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Prezbucky]

If people can tell if a baby is deaf and may go on to live a difficult life, should they be aborted too?

Or fat...

Or a sociopath...

Or schizophrenic...

Or blind...

Or is it that these people are too lazy to raise a child with special needs, or too selfish and spoiled? "We'll only accept a perfect baby."
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Jamie (K)]

Or black? (You forgot that one.)

Part of how they justify abortion to themselves is to cook up some kind of phony theory of probability in their heads. They decide that if a child is born with this or that imperfection that he or she "will have a bad life". Of course, many people are born with the same imperfections and live very illustrious lives, but when you point it out they just look at you bug-eyed.

I often play the "you just killed Beethoven" trick on people, but I do it with actual friends of mine. I tell people the circumstances under which these friends were conceived, and they're all dead sure the baby should be aborted and that it's liable to be a criminal or a burden on society. When I reveal that the person is a college professor now, or a factory foreman who mentors poor kids and helps them through school, or whatever they are, again, the people who predicted their imminent social pathology just stare at me.

Once I saw an interview with a woman who was conceived in a rape. Her mother figured two wrongs don't make a right, so she lived with the trauma of the rape while she carried the girl to term. After the girl was born, her mother let a very good couple adopt her. The woman is now a lawyer, and she explained how she feels when unknowing people walk up to her and tell her that women who are raped should abort their children. It's like walking up and telling her, "You should be dead."

[Lost_Soul]

We should consider the baby's feelings about its imperfections, after it was born and has grown into a fully-fledged man/woman. Would a thalidomide baby feel happy and lead life of the average American when it has been reared? I would not. I would rather be put down at birth than struggle through life and have my peers pick on me.
I know that maternal instincts tell a mother to keep her baby and bring it up no matter what defects it has, but this point is totally oblivious to the baby itself and its further problems as a grown-up.

[Prezbucky]

So it's better to be dead than to have a chance to live what might become a difficult life?

Which is worse, being dead or having a hard life?
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Najlaa]

Hi Jamie,

I agree with the mother because i think she took her decision and knew her baby`s case and needs. I think it was difficult decision for her .

[Molly]

[Molly]

[Molly]

[Molly]

Has anyone here ever heard a disabled person say "Why did you have me?" to his/her parents?

[Skrej]

A man and woman were celebrating their golden 50th wedding anniversary. Many people showed up to congratulate them, and wish them well. During the party, somebody happened to comment, “How did they ever manage to stay together for so long? What do you think their secret is?”

A neighbor and good friend of the old couple said, “Ah, well, that’s no secret, I can tell you how they did it.”

With that, the old timer told the group a story about when the man and woman were first married. The story goes as follows.

The man and woman were driving home from their wedding, in a horse drawn carriage. As part of the wedding gift and her dowry, the couple had a brand new carriage with a young, strong, beautiful horse to pull their carriage. Along the way, the horse happened to stumble slightly over a rock. The husband, who was of course just a young man at that point, said loudly “That’s once!”

The wife, who was at that point in history a beautiful young woman, was completely confused, and didn’t understand what her new husband meant, but figured that instead of asking, she’d just see if it was a peculiar habit or something of his. About half way home, the horse stumbled again, this time over a small hole in the road. The man immediately said, in a stern harsh warning voice, “That’s twice!”

The woman was a little concerned now, because she didn’t know why her husband was getting upset, but she decided to wait and see.

As they were almost home, coming in through the front gate, the horse stumbled for a third time. The husband immediately stopped the carriage, stood up, and without another word pulled out a gun, and shot the horse dead between the eyes.

At this point the young woman couldn’t contain herself. She yelled out “What is wrong with you, are you crazy? Why did you shoot that horse?”

The young man just calmly looked at his new bride, and quietly but firmly said. “That’s once…”
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Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.
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Did you hear they arrested the Energizer Bunny on battery charges?
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[Jamie (K)]

[Jamie (K)]

[Jamie (K)]