Your May 27 editorial “Good intentions spawn a bad idea” was appreciated. Many of us were disturbed by the recent statement of the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the AMA regarding the harvesting of vital organs from anencephalic babies before they are dead.
While it is certainly laudable for one person to lay down his or her life for another, it is undeniable, as you say in the editorial, that no one ought to be compelled to make such a sacrifice.
The right to life is an inherent right endowed by the Creator. It is not dependent upon the gratuity of mankind.
You state correctly that “No one ought to be able to sign away a child’s right to life and bodily integrity any more than (he/she) would be free to sign away the rights of a normally endowed child.” Unless you hold the view that an unborn baby is not human, doesn’t this apply equally well to abortion?
Desensitization to abortion was the thin end of the wedge. A further example of “defining deviation down” (in Sen. Moynihan’s phrase) is euthanasia. Life has become so cheap that the alleged “right” to commit suicide is accepted by many in my profession, just as abortion is. Dr. Kevorkian is not alone.
Sadly, some physicians seem to have forgotten the Oath of Hippocrates, which in its original form prohibits the taking of human life and, specifically, abortion. Do they also rationalize that the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” doesn’t really mean what it says?
If it is acceptable to kill living abnormal children, logic dictates that it is also acceptable to dispose of anyone–e.g., the elderly, the handicapped, the unwanted baby. Have people forgotten the horrors of the Hitler concentration camps?
