by Breaunna Stone
Many people proclaim themselves to be “pro life,” or “pro choice.” I claim to be both. I am pro life in the sense that I believe that a new life is created at the time of conception, and that every life created, has the right to live beyond life inside of the mother.
I am pro choice in the sense that every woman has a choice to be sexually active or not. That choice is a very personal one, but has major and life changing consequences. It is a scientific fact that the union between a man and a woman who engage in the sex act together, have the ability to create another human life. If one chooses to have sex, they choose to accept the natural consequence of creating a new life and being pregnant.
I am sensitively conscious and aware that there are many women who do not have a choice of whether or not they are sexually active. In the case of rape, women do not have the luxury of choice. I wish to address those who do have the choice to be sexually active or not.
Pregnancy is the natural consequence of sex. Many would like to pass over this natural consequence with the practice of abortion.
Recently, I came across an article that told the story of a divorced couple that filed a lawsuit against their prenatal doctors for “Wrongful Birth.” The title of the article caught my eye, and I was shocked as I read this family’s story.
Five years ago, before Pamela Plowman gave birth to her son, and during her prenatal care, doctors told her that her son looked to be perfectly healthy and was developing normally. In the following years after her son was born, Pamela noticed that her son was not developing normally, and was not meeting the key developmental checkpoints. He was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy and other disabilities. Pamela stated that if she had known that her son would have these issues before he was born, she would have aborted him.
If the doctor had caused the disease or disability in the child, they would have a good reason to sue. Rebecca Taylor put it this way in her blog, “Wrongful birth and wrongful life lawsuits are just plain wrong… In other words, the parents are saying we wish our child was dead. Because he or she is not, the doctor has to pay.”
A similar case in 2013, was won by parents who argued they were denied information about their unborn child that they would have lead them to abort their baby. They won $50 million in their case even though they knew there was a 50/50 chance of a genetic disorder being present.
Wrongful birth and wrongful life lawsuits should really be called wrongful choice to have sex. It is so devastating and appalling to me to hear of mothers and fathers who wish they had aborted their child, now that they know what life is like with them.
As the majority of us have the luxury of choice, let us make the choice that we are willing to responsibly accept, love, and foster the natural consequence that will undoubtedly come.