I’m disabled and it pisses me off so much when people use termination for medical reasons in the case of fetuses with non-fatal congenital conditions as a reason that abortion is evil and pregnant people shouldn’t be allowed to decide to end a pregnancy. I would not damn a dog to be dependent on the American medical system, much less a human being for the next 75+ years. Do not talk to me about eugenics until the mentally ill and physically disabled stop freezing to death on the street and dying of treatable illnesses because they can’t afford a caretaker OR their medication OR stable housing. If someone wants to terminate a pregnancy before that fetus becomes a living, kicking, screaming, breathing baby, you cannot compare that to the fucking vile things that happen to actual living disabled people in our society every fucking day. There are actual disabled people begging for help and you’re ignoring them to pretend like you give a fuck about unborn disabled “babies”.
Also I'd like to add that a person who doesn't want or can't afford a disabled child definitely has a good reason. They are unfit to raise a disabled child, and our adoption and fostercare system is full of pedophiles and human traffickers. I would not trust a child to the hands of our system at all, let alone a disabled one.
Yes, that too. I would much rather have someone abort a pregnancy because the fetus showed signs of a genetic or congenital abnormality than get rid of the choice and force people to become a parent to a disabled child and resent them or feel extreme misplaced guilt for their child’s challenges and pain. There is already so much of that in the world. Again, I’d recommend not having kids if you don’t want a disabled child but deciding to terminate a pregnancy because the fetus would be born requiring numerous invasive surgeries, lifelong medical intervention and high support needs is not necessarily a sign that person loathes the disabled and could not love a disabled child.
Also like. A lot of such disabilities are like "might survive until nine" or "going to be a rocky few years and if they get past thay they can have a long life"
As someone who saw a cousin over years go through regular surgery for birth defects, in and out of the hospital from the time we were kids to when they died of organ failure last year, basically gave up on having a happy life before we were done being teens and kinda just resigned himself to not following doctor orders because like....whats the point of maybe living into your thirties when youll spend most of it in the hospital knowing long term goals are impractical? Like family gave him shit for still drinking a ton after he was told his organs were failing, but I cant even blame him after the almost 3 decades he went through
And like, Ill be the first to admit Ill probably never be lucky enough to have the chance to have a kid. But I cant blame anyone for making a similar choice because like, I saw what my cousin went through. Id be hard pressed to decide to put a kid through years of surgery and painful recovery to *maybe* have a normal life. I cant just say I dont blame people because of healthcare costs, but also like, a lot of disabilities found in the fetus arent just "wont be able to walk" or "will have down syndrome" but stuff where their first years or entire life might be a line of surgeries and symptoms they never recover from, or only gives them a few years
Yes, I think this is important to note as well. A lot of parents are guilted and shamed for aborting pregnancies where the fetus had a severe genetic issue because “There is a child with that same condition that is 14 right now!” and “You should have put it in God’s hands.” and the truth is that if you give this anti-abortion ‘termination for medical reasons is eugenics’ some credit, they will always move the goal post for what condition constitutes a ‘justifiable’ abortion because there is no such thing as a ‘justifiable’ abortion to them. Because they do not care if the baby born of this pregnancy will make it out of the hospital alive, they do not care what that child’s life expectancy will be or if they’ll be in extreme pain their entire short life, they just do not want the pregnant person to have the right to decide things about their body and their pregnancy.
The decision to abort for medical reasons should be solely at the discretion of the pregnant person, with input on the child’s odds of survival and wellbeing from medical professionals, if asked. It should not be up to government officials writing a list of what conditions are ‘bad enough’ to be able to receive a termination, it should not be up to pro-life assholes on the Internet and it should not be up to everyone observing the situation secondhand. It should be a decision for the person who is carrying this pregnancy and deciding if they want to bring a baby into this world or not.
