Understanding the Value of ALL Life
Recently when Rev. Thomas Vander Woude, a Catholic priest located in Gainesville, VA, learned of a mother who was pregnant and planning to abort because her unborn child had Down syndrome, he offered to help her locate an adoptive family. He went to the world of social media to look for possible parents for the baby and hundreds of couples responded, proving that there are indeed plenty of parents out there looking for a child to adopt and call their own. At the time of this writing, the adoption agency working on the case has narrowed the search down to three families.
This situation hits home for me on many levels. First and foremost is the issue of protecting and standing for the life of the unborn by actions rather than words. It is pretty easy to tell someone not to get an abortion, it’s another thing entirely to take action and help someone make the right decision. Secondly, believe it or not there is a very real movement to abort babies who have Down syndrome. Of course it is wrong to abort any baby but for some reason there is a group of people out there who believe it’s not “as bad” if you abort a baby with a disability.
So when Rev. Woude caught the attention of the media with his efforts to protect this child the pro-abortion cockroaches came out of the shadows and immediately starting spewing their hate, especially liberal blogger Katie M. Baker aka “Jezebel.” She wrote a blog mocking his efforts while completely misrepresenting the lives of those with Down syndrome stating that people with the syndrome live “terrible lives.”
Baker called the baby in question a “nonviable fetus” and insinuated that instead of spending money to save this child they should abort and spend it on children who had already been born with the syndrome. I wonder if Baker knows what the term “nonviable” means? According to the dictionary, nonviable means “not capable of living,” so what exactly was she saying about people with Down syndrome? Was she implying they’re not capable of living? Her reaction is so typical of a liberal who has no understanding of the value of life in general. And in an effort to shame prolife people by saying they only cared about this particular baby because of the media she exposed the very ugly underbelly of progressives’ attitudes toward those with disabilities.
To add insult to injury she made the Reverend out to be some sort of prolife bully, that somehow instead of trying to help this woman he was pushing her to think like him. Baker said, “… the mother is still being coerced to carry to term.” She also played the “sin card” even though she was clearly not in the room when these two spoke about the future of the unborn child.
I’m not sure I understand what Baker gets out of writing a blog this ugly and hateful in nature. Honestly she comes off as someone who not only supports abortion but believes people with disabilities, especially those with Down syndrome, don’t have a right to live. I know that sounds very dramatic but the writing is “on the blog.”
I have the opportunity in my day job to work with many people with all types of developmental disabilities and their families and trust me, they have very full and valuable lives. A disability does not in any way define who they are – it is simply a part of them, like having blonde hair or blue eyes. If asked, they would be the first ones to tell you they are not living terrible lives. They are productive citizens who work, play, and go to school, get married and have children. I’m sure that would cause Baker’s head to explode – that someone with a disability is living their life the way they choose and being successful.
Reverend Woude understood this when he spoke to this mother, not because he’s a disability advocate, but because he believes in the value of all life. That’s the beauty of being prolife – understanding the value of all people, regardless of sex, color or ability.
