[1]The Geneva Declaration on Perinatal Care [2] recently came to my attention. It is very short, stating:
As medical practitioners and researchers, we declare that the term “incompatible with life” is not a medical diagnosis and should not be used when describing unborn children who may have a life-limiting condition.
We acknowledge that there exists no medical necessity to terminate such pregnancies in an otherwise healthy mother.
We fully support the development of perinatal hospice services for families who are told that their unborn child may not live for very long in the womb or after birth.
What strikes me about this statement is the firm language contained therein. You will note that not a single preborn child who is deemed to be “incompatible with life” is excluded, not for any reason. In other words, the statement is all-inclusive; it does not discriminate against a single preborn baby who is suffering with a life-threatening condition.
Jill Stanek, who is a nurse and is among the signers, explains [3] that “incompatible with life” is not even a medical term, but rather a value judgment that all too often leads to death for a preborn baby. Further, she states that it is a phrase that “doesn’t tell the parents anything about the baby’s condition, and it doesn’t inform families or help them deal with this devastating diagnosis.” In other words, the solution based on the phrase being used is to kill the child.
This Declaration affirms the truth that total protection for each and every preborn child from creation to death is logical, reasonable, and unassailable. Yes, this Declaration is aimed at protecting medically threatened babies, but in truth any preborn baby who is targeted for abortion must equally be defended without a single excuse being used to defend aborting him.
Every innocent human being is equally precious, no matter his age, health, or condition of dependency.
The Every Life Counts [4] organization, composed of parents who proclaim that “incompatible with life” is a death sentence, is to be applauded for its effort. Its members have accurately said [5] that the term is nothing more than lethal discrimination against children diagnosed with severe disabilities, both before and after birth.”
Kurt Kondrich [6], father of Chloe, a beautiful child with Down syndrome, wrote late last year about the plight of the preborn child whose life is deemed unworthy to live. His words remind us of the reason why no preborn baby should ever be dismissed from life for any reason. Kondrich wrote [7] that there is a
very large group of human beings seeking amnesty to live a better life, and over 50 million of them have been denied a pardon and eliminated in this country since 1973. These “unborn immigrants” are seeking passage from the short distance between the womb and the outside world, and some are even terminated after they have partially crossed the lifeline border. Who knows what gifts, knowledge, joy, and love these unborn citizens would have blessed this nation with, and maybe some were carrying the awareness of how to cure horrible diseases that plague our culture.
My amazing daughter Chloe belongs to a group of unborn citizens who are denied entrance into the world at a [more than] 90 percent rate. This is a silent genocide and these individuals bless this world with purity [and] unconditional love and they will never commit acts of malice, evil, or destruction. We desperately need more citizens like this, and isn’t it time to pardon these prenatal children targeted for termination?
Yes, it is indeed long past time. Nancy Flanders, mother of three daughters, one of whom has cystic fibrosis, concurs. She fittingly says [8], “Aborting the weakest among us—babies with genetic conditions—leads our country nowhere but down.”
Take action:
Ask your friends in the medical profession—including your own doctor—to sign the Geneva Declaration on Perinatal Care [2].
Learn more [9] about how to effectively argue against the culture of death and its killing ways.
Become a Life Defender [10]!