the day he went away

Yesterday’s Courier Mail reprinted this article about the deep regret which the author felt for murdering her first born son (her description). This was a brave article for any paper to print, as although it attempts to carry a tone of ‘this was my experience’, rather than ‘this must be the case’, it will surely raise much ire in a community that wishes to believe that abortion has no consequences.

The article raises the question of the, what appears to be now common, practice of attempting to detect and destroy abnormal children before certain stages of their gestation.

Despite articles like this I wonder if into the future we will find only ‘religious’* people bearing and raising children with disabilities. Will this result with even further cuts in government support for people with disabilities and their carers (‘the are a drain on the economy’)? Will people with disabilities be vilified and pushed further into the periphery of society?

How will God’s people respond to face this challenge?

* I say ‘religious’ people, as I am sure that an ethic which values human life and wishes to care for the disabled and disadvantaged is not only a Christian concern.

PS – Philip Jensen also had an opinion piece on abortion published in yesterday’s SMH (h/t dougie).

PPS – And an edition of the Sydney Anglican newspaper, ‘Southern Cross’, last year raised this issue from a number of different angles. Really good read, but their website’s offline this weekend, so I can’t see if there’s anything online.