If anyone ever needed evidence for the slippery slope oozing from legalized abortion and the degradation of the value of human life…sadly, it’s here!
Two philosophy and ethics researchers recently reported that in “circumstances occur[ing] after birth such that they would have justified abortion, what we call after-birth abortion should be permissible”.
Simply put, if abortion is legal then termination of the newborn should be as well. The legalization of abortion in 1973 may ultimately be the legalization of infanticide in America.
Researchers Alberto Giubilini (Monash University in Melbourne) and Francesca Minerva (Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne) do not state at what age an infant would be considered ineligible for after-birth abortion.
Say it isn’t so!
Ah, but it is…and the steps are already in place.
The Groningen Protocol, established in 2004, attempts to set a standard of practice for doctors to end the lives of severely impaired newborns. (In the Netherlands euthanasia has been legal for people 12 and older since 2002.)
The protocol was created by a committee of physicians at the University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands, in consultation with the Groningen district attorney and has been ratified by the National Association of Pediatricians.
Under the Groningen Protocol the termination of a child’s life (under age 12) is acceptable if four requirements have been properly fulfilled:
- The presence of hopeless and unbearable suffering.
- The consent of the parents to termination of life.
- Medical consultation having taken place.
- Careful execution of the termination.
Reportedly, only the parents can start the procedure. The physicians must then report the baby’s death to the local medical examiner, who then informs the district attorney and a review committee.
The ‘culture of death’ that began with killing the preborn baby (abortion) now allows the same for the sick newborn baby (infanticide). We can logically conclude that the ‘undesirable’ – the infirm, disabled and the elderly – will be next. For if we don’t value all innocent human life, what difference does it make when we kill it?
With this logic, my first grandson, Emmett William born July 20, 2013, could have been ‘snuffed out’. With this logic, the royal baby, Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge born July 22, 2013 could be killed in an ‘after-birth’ abortion if the parents decided it was best.
No doubt, the pro-aborts would surely scoff at this concept and call it ‘fear-mongering’.
They would be wrong.
The Gronigan Protocol attempts to deal with the issue of very sick newborn babies, but gives no protection or acknowledgement of the human nature of these precious children. There are ethical ways to care for special needs infants at birth, however. And, no surprise – killing is not among them.
Palliative care and an interdisciplinary team approach can harmonize the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of these tiny little patients and their families. The perinatal hospice approach is a good example of this holistic philosophy.
More than ever the pro-life movement is at a crossroads. If we want to stop abortion, prevent the Gosnells of the world from murdering innocent children and eradicate infanticide, then we mustprotect life from conception.
All life must be protected – in or out of the womb. There can be no middle ground.
Will infanticide become the new abortion? There is mounting evidence that this may be the case. In a recent article, Melissa Harris-Perry argues that a child’s life only begins when the parents have a “feeling” that it begins. She is not alone – Melissa and others actually support “post-birth abortion”, or the murder of newborns and children through three years of age.
With this logic, healthy babies, including my first grandson, Emmett William born July 20, 2013, could have been ‘snuffed out’. With this logic, the royal baby, Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge born July 22, 2013 could be killed in a ‘post-birth’ abortion if the parents decided it was best.
Personhood ensures protection for all innocent human life – the preborn, the newborn, the disabled, elderly and the infirm. Georgia Right to Life works to advance Personhood – the paramount right to life! Find out more about Personhood and how you can become involvedhere.