Sick, Sick, Sick

RedState today covers the story of a delightful 2-year old girl whose parents love her, but apparently wish they could have aborted her, because she has spina bifida. Her mother's complaint is that 'we were never given a choice.'

You decided to have a child and then you wanted a choice? This isn't a shirt or a pair of gloves! It wasn't even an adoption agency. There are lots of choices in life that get made for us, and the child born to you is one of them. Even to the extent that you can choose - not to have a child with spina bifida, or a cleft palate, or down syndrome - it's an illusion. The important things that make a person unique are things that you'll never be able to screen, and they are far more important.

I don't know what it is like to raise a child with a disability, but at the risk of sounding (even more) preachy, every life is a gift, and no person is perfect. I hope that this little girl realizes how wonderful she is, regardless of any message that others may be sending her.

Leon at RedStates marvels that the parents could discuss this openly in a national magazine. I will only add that they have apparently discussed it in newspapers before. Peachsummer blogged it here (last post on the page; I can't find a permalink), and a local California paper has the story here.

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