Up until now, the heated debate has been over the matter of abortion; the termination of pregnancy before birth takes place. Abortion is seen by so many as part of a woman’s “right”; that is, she ought not be saddled with an unwanted baby. Now it seems that another step could be taken soon.
Professor Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago argues that it is just as morally right to euthanize a newborn baby with birth defects as it is to abort the fetus (read “child”) before birth. He insists that this would be the morally superior thing to do, rather than have parents deal with a lifetime of defects in a child. He makes the point that a newborn, like a fetus, lacks any awareness of death, and has no ability to make decisions. He then predicts that such termination of life will one day be common.
The Professor has a point, of course. If you allow the arguments for abortion, then those same arguments can be extended to the “defective” new born. (We can only imagine what the term “defective” might grow to include). But if God’s standards and principles are adhered to, then neither the ending of life before birth nor the ending of life immediately after birth are acceptable. So we need to be aware that if we, as followers of Christ, give ground on the matter of abortion then we have opened the door to infanticide. It is just a matter of time before killing “defective” newborns will be taking place. And maybe, the removing of “non-defective” babies might be included, especially if the newborn child is unwanted. Such became the case in ancient Rome where unwanted newborns were taken out and “exposed” to the elements; many dying by such exposure and others by wild animals, and many more taken to be raised as slaves and temple prostitutes.
God, the giver of life, has set His principles in place and we reject or neglect those truths to our own harm. And in light of Professor Coyne’s idea, the abortion battle may have a broader scope to it than many have thought.