http://www.lifenews.com/state5074.html

Incompatible With Life? Some Children Die in Abortions, But Bella is Now Two
by Rick Santorum
May 5, 2010

LifeNews.com Note: Rick Santorum represented Pennsylvania as a member of the House and then the Senate. He was the sponsor of the partial-birth abortion ban and is widely considered one of the pro-life leaders in Congress during his tenure. He is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

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“Incompatible with life.” The doctor’s words kept echoing in my head as I held my sobbing wife, Karen, just four days after the birth of our eighth child, Isabella Maria.

Bella was born with three No. 18 chromosomes, rather than the normal two. The statistics were heartbreaking: About 90 percent of children with the disorder, known as trisomy 18, die before or during birth, and 90 percent of those who survive die within the first year.

Bella was baptized that day, and then we spent every waking hour at her bedside, giving her a lifetime’s worth of love and care. However, not only did she not die; she came home in just 10 days.

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Next week, we will mark Bella’s second birthday. Over these two years, we have endured two close brushes with death, lots of sleepless nights, more than a month in CHOP’s intensive care unit, and the constant anxiety that the next day could be our little girl’s last.

And yet we have also been inspired – by her fighting spirit, and by the miracle of seeing our little flower blossom into a loving, joyful child who is at the center of our family life.

Most children with trisomy 18 diagnosed in the womb are aborted. Most who survive birth are given hospice care until they die. In these cases, doctors advise parents that these disabled children will die young or be a burden to them and society. But couldn’t the same be said of many healthy children?

All children are a gift that comes with no guarantees. While Bella’s life may not be long, and though she requires our constant care, she is worth every tear.

Living with Bella has been a course in character and virtue. She makes us better. And it’s not just our family; she enriches every life she touches. In the end, isn’t that what every parent hopes for his or her child?

Happy birthday, Isabella!

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[JR: As a pro-life little L libertarian, these are the tough calls. It's a balance between the resources spent preserving Bella's life versus using those resources to help others. The false choice is that "the resources" would be wasted by the gooferment; not spent for a "more important" purpose. (Learned that in Father Ritter's Theology class. Got another D! Must have missed his main point. Or, maybe he didn't like injineers. But, he did teach about false choices in moral questions. I remember that!) Bella has a right to life. One thing is obvious to me: the gooferment's "one size fits all" laws are the wrong way to address these difficult moral problems. Her parents were entrusted with her care by the Creator. The gooferment should step aside. As long as their, or anyone's, decisions are carefully, reasonably, and even prayerfully considered, we should respect them. I'm not going to critique anyone. And, thank that Creator, that I don't have to make those decisions. Happy birthday, Isabella!]

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