When does life begin? When does personhood begin?

In June of 2007  a daughter was born to a couple in Oregon. The child had Down syndrome. A doctor asked the mother if she had a prenatal CVS (chorionic villus sampling) test. The mother said yes and the results showed she and her husband a normal healthy baby. The couple filed suit against Legacy Health, claiming the mother would have aborted the pregnancy had she known her daughter had the chromosomal abnormality.

We have come so far in our view of life that we now have a controversy over personhood.  Not just when does life begin but when does life become a person? This is the new debate. “The reason we would have killed you is because we love you; we would end your suffering as we perceive it”. Using the Giubili/Minerva or Peter Singers protocol, they would be justified in using this method to rectify the situation even at this late date.

The Oregon couple brag that they love their daughter with Down syndrome who is now 4 years old but would have killed her before she was born. They brag about their 8 year son who is in the top 99% and scores incredibly on tests. This couple obviously suffer from a severe case of selfishness, greed and entitlement.

Have we become so selfish and insensitive that we actually advocate a wrongful life. We don’t have a right to the baby we want and design and only perfect will do. Sound like we are looking for the perfect race, shades of Germany 1930′s.

Four years later the couple won their case in Oregon. The baby should have never been born.

What say you?

Selah, Elaine Marlowe Mitchell