A CHRISTIAN DECLARATION ON THE VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE

Excerpt from Chapter 2: STOP WAITING ON POLITICIANS

...Secondly, in late 2017, Republican Governor John Kasich of Ohio signed into law a statute that makes it illegal for unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome to be targeted for abortion on that basis alone.  Both Indiana and North Dakota already have similar laws on their books.

The announcement of this legislation was a victory for Frank Stephens, a grown man who just months before was shockingly forced to justify his existence before a Congressional hearing.  Born with Down syndrome, Frank has become a vocal advocate for those with the genetic disorder, telling the congressional committee that his life is "worth living" as he criticized those who believe fetuses with his condition should be aborted:

"Whatever you learn today, please remember this: I am a man with Down syndrome and my life is worth living.  I completely understand that the people pushing this particular ‘final solution' are saying that people like me should not exist.  That view is deeply prejudiced by an outdated idea of life with Down syndrome."

Frank’s concerns are sadly well-grounded.  The extraordinary advances in prenatal testing and research has led to many wonderful, life-saving, life-improving techniques and treatments for babies in the womb.  But as with any scientific advancements, those innovations can be used for nefarious purposes as well.

In Iceland, for example, the country now boasts a near 100% murder rate on unborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome in the womb.  You might recall that CBS News celebrated that devastating reality with this jarring headline: “Iceland is on pace to virtually eliminate Down syndrome through abortion.”  The story that followed was as bad as the headline, frighteningly bordering on congratulatory:

“With the rise of prenatal screening tests across Europe and the United States, the number of babies born with Down syndrome has significantly decreased, but few countries have come as close to eradicating Down syndrome births as Iceland.”

Missing from the report was the critical observation that precisely nothing has been done in Iceland about Down syndrome.  All that was occurring there was that Iceland was killing everyone who had the condition.  They weren’t curing anything; they were killing.  This is like solving the problem of poverty in the third world with nukes.   

Yet as states like Ohio, Indiana, and North Dakota move to affirm the obvious reality that humans like Frank Stephens are every bit as worthy of protection as the rest of us, a daunting and obvious inconsistency emerges.

Keep in mind it was the same Governor John Kasich who a year before (in 2016) vetoed a law that would have made it illegal for doctors to target any child in the womb whose heartbeat was detectable.  Think Kasich’s position through logically: if someone wants to kill a baby in the womb because she has Down syndrome, that is heartless, immoral, and illegal; but if someone wants to kill a baby in the womb because she is coming at an inconvenient time, that’s morally acceptable.

Kasich is smart enough to know what the rest of us know – such an inconsistent stance is morally, constitutionally, and intellectually absurd.  But since it is Position A, and Position A is where the votes are, Kasich will play along...