Wrongful Life Lawsuit in OZ

The ongoing pogrom against babies with Down syndrome continues.  In Australia, from whence I recently returned, two couples have sued their doctors for failing to diagnose their then unborn babies as having Down—thereby denying them the right to terminate the pregnancies.  From the story:

Two Victorian couples are suing doctors for failing to diagnose Down syndrome in their unborn babies, denying them the chance to terminate the pregnancies. The couples are claiming unspecified damages for economic loss, continuing costs of care of the children, and “psychiatric injury”. Both say they would have aborted their pregnancies had they been told their children would be born with Down syndrome.

May these children never learn that their parents would have preferred that they were never born!

We claim today to be a society steeped in equality and tolerance for differences.  But too often, that doesn’t apply to people with cognitive or developmental disabilities.  I hope this suit fails because there should be no such thing as a “wrongful life.”

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Moral Certitude and the Iran War

Steven A. Long

The current military engagement with Iran calls renewed attention to just war theory in the Catholic tradition.…

The Slow Death of England: New and Notable Books

Mark Bauerlein

The fate of England is much in the news as popular resistance to mass immigration grows, limits…

Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War

R. R. Reno

What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…