Would you abort a disabled child?

Peter: - Hi everyone, today we will discuss a highly important topic about (abortion for
handicapped babies), a handicapped person is someone who has a physical or mental disability
that prevent him from living normally.
So we have two highly respected ladies Haidy & Jana to present their points of view and let me
start this discussion with an imagining situation. If the doctor told you that you are pregnant with
a handicapped baby would you keep this fetus or abort it?

Jana:- I’ll abort immediately if I received from my doctor that my child would suffer from such a
physical or mental abnormality as to be seriously handicapped.

Haidy:- My point of view is that abortion is considered as killing, unless this pregnancy threats
my life. So definitely I’ll keep the baby.

Peter: - OK now we have different points of view Jana said that she will abort this fetus
immediately but Haidy elaborated that abortion was considered as killing. So Jana do you think
it’s a manner of woman choice or the right to live.

Jana:- yeah, abortion is a woman choice and I don’t consider those people who claim that
abortion is killing.

Haidy:- Obviously, he has the right to live. According to science, most of the organs of a fetus
are developed within 40 days after fertilization.
Therefore, killing a fetus is equal to killing a human being.

Jana:- I don’t think that is really true because according to Dar Elefta abortion is legal until
pregnancy exceeds 4 months. After the mentioned 4 months the fetus is considered alive and
completed. However before that, it is just fetus and an unborn fetus is not alive yet. This is a
biological fact.

Peter: - So Jana you agreed that it’s a women choice until pregnancy not exceeds 4 months.

Haidy:- I don’t think that’s so accurate. It’s a fact that, most of the organs of a fetus are
developed between 6 to 7 weeks. Let me explain this fact based on the National Institutes of
Health statements. Your baby’s heart has begun to beat during this period. As you can see this
slide shows that lots of other organs are developed, like arms, eyes, brain and nervous system.
That means your baby’s skeleton has been set.

Peter: - let me ask you Jana to elaborate more about your abortion decision as you are against
the idea of keeping this fetus if it born with such disabilities .
Jana:- the way I see it, I don’t want my child to suffer since day 1. You are trying to force me to
suffer with my baby. This is why I recommend ending this suffering. If they live they could
loose tons of opportunities and many more, because of how? You it is. Don’t you think it is
selfish?

Haidy:- That may be true from one hand. From another hand, my positive thinking is that you
can end this suffering with love and respect given to the abnormal baby. From the moment the
family decided to keep the fetus, they gave him the right to live, which is respect. Then they
could surround him with love and support, and treat him the same way they treat his siblings if
they are exist.

Jana:But on the other hand they(family)are stressed, fear and worry:1-about their child’s pain
and suffering .2-their child’s future. And thinking all time questioning them selves if they are
doing the right things to help their child . Onther important thing the loss of hopes and dreams
you had for your child , not having the parenting experience you had imagined.
So before you decide to keep it you need to ask yourself these questions: 1-Am I ready to raise
up a handicapped baby?
2-how would my baby feels when he grow up and sees that he is different.

Peter: - Haidy you said that you could end this suffering with love & respect, what about other
issues which are out of your hand such as psychological abuse and community challenges.

Jana:- Community challenges is an interesting point, they will be the victims of our culture. They
will be neglected and they will face a lot of bullying. These reasons of course affect their mental
health. In addition to that there journey is going to be full of doctors’ visits to be developed. So
they will not live a normal life as any child.

Haidy:- I agree that they may face bullying or discrimination, but we have to consider the
attention of the community to such cases. For instance, Paralympics Games are Olympic games
specially tailored for humans with disabilities. 49 great Egyptian athletes joined Tokyo 2020
summer Paralympics. Not only in the sports sides, but also the government turned their attention
to making their life easier, by adding lots of services to them. So if psychological abuse is a
reason for abortion it’s not an issue any more in Egypt. We call them the determined ones ‫ذو الهمم‬
So if community and government support them, everyone will do accordingly.

Peter: - Haidy you showed that our government supports them by adding a lot of services to
make their life easier but what’s your opinion about handicapped persons with mental
disabilities, such as Down syndrome, it’s a big challenge that faces our government.

Haidy:- I agree that Down syndrome is a big challenge, but in Egypt we came over this challenge
by creating special classes at schools, where lots of down syndrome children were graduated
having powerful capabilities. for instance, Rahama Khaled who is now a TV presenter with
Down syndrome. She became an active member of society.
Jana: Take a minute to think about that it is probably to find a disabled person as rahma Khalid
according to many researchers there are 10% of disabled persons here in Egypt and 44%of those
who is disabled is working and put yourself in their shoes. Mentally or physically the disabled
persons is very sensitive everything could affect their health. If we didn’t stop this disaster more
and more children with disabilities will be born.

Haidy:- you have a point here . But I believe that abortion for disabilities fetus is killing.

Peter: - Thanks for your fruitful thoughts about this important topic Haidy & Jana as you
presented it in a respectful manner and so both of u show agreement and disagreement (point of
veiw), we can visit this host again….