Abortion​—Who Is Right?

TWO top specialists tell you that your baby has a mere 0.1-percent chance of survival. If it is born alive, it will have serious abnormalities and could die within a few days. What will you do? Take that chance? Or have an abortion?

An unlikely situation, you may feel. But it can happen, and did happen, in London, England. Happily, the hospital backed the parents’ decision to continue the pregnancy. “At no stage were we told we should have an abortion,” the father explained. They now have a baby son, born without any unusual physical defects whatever.

“We are obviously delighted,” said one of the medical consultants, adding: “The difficulty is that nothing in biology is 100 per cent.” True, but a doctor’s (or a parent’s) misjudgment is only one aspect of today’s abortion dilemma.

Conflicting Factors

The medical and ethical issues for and against abortion are charged with emotion. Pressure groups from both sides raise sincere voices to be heard and understood, and the debate is often bitter. Who is right?

The parents mentioned earlier obviously made the correct decision. But what if the doctors had been accurate in their diagnosis? Under those circumstances, would it have been right for the mother to have an abortion?

If you find that question difficult, or impossible, to answer, you are not alone. There are, however, guiding principles to help, as we shall see. But first consider the worldwide enormity of the abortion problem.