Mother speaks out against aborting babies with Down syndrome

Lori Schneck is the mother of a child with Down syndrome. She shares her thoughts on the abortion of children like hers:

“When I hear about people who have aborted such a child because they didn’t want him to have to “live a life like that,” I am incredulous. How someone comes to the conclusion that not allowing a child to live at all is somehow better than living as a special needs child is beyond comprehension.

Aborting a disabled child removes the option looking at the glass as half empty or half full. Abortion takes the glass and heaves it over the side of a cliff while the pieces shatter on the rocks below.

While it may eliminate the disappointment, sorrow and frustration, it also eliminates the hope, joy and pride of accomplishment that a child can bring. What a travesty. What arrogance. What right to have to destroy that little person because he doesn’t measure up to someone’s standard?”

Lori Schneck “A Normal Life” Concerned Women for America, November 23, 2005; Quoted in Mary E. Williams, ed Abortion (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2007)