I just came across a story that was published earlier this summer by The Bolton News in the United Kingdom, titled “Aborted baby died in his mother’s arms at Royal Bolton Hospital, Bolton inquest told.” While the details of the story will unfortunately not be unfamiliar to pro-life activists, the reactions of nearly everyone involved in this tragic case are examples of how a culture that kills its children becomes hardened and callous as a result:
Despite making the tough decision to terminate her pregnancy late on, because of congenital birth defects, Sofia Khan gave birth to a live, crying, baby boy. An inquest in Bolton heard how Mrs Khan, a sales assistant from The Haulgh, Bolton, was told at around 21 weeks that her baby had spina bifida.
After talking to her husband, Shakeel Ahmed, and discussing options with clinicians, a decision was made to terminate the pregnancy. Mrs Khan went to St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester for a procedure to end the baby’s life.
This involved a chemical being injected into the umbilical cord and was done on February 16 by Dr Philip Bullen. He told assistant coroner Simon Nelson: “I was extremely shocked to hear what had happened … I was stunned as the procedure had gone exactly how we like the procedure to go, very smoothly.”
Dr Bullen said he had listened for a heartbeat, but could not hear one before he sent Mrs Khan to Royal Bolton Hospital where labour was induced. He added that new guidance has now been drawn up following Mohammed’s death which includes listening for a heartbeat for longer…
After labour was induced Mrs Khan’s began to have contractions late on the Friday night, and baby Mohammed Rehman Ahmed was born early on February 17. Mrs Khan told how she how she heard him cry. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Miss Grundy, who delivered Mohammed, said he had come quickly and described how she was trying to prepare the room, not expecting the baby to be born alive. She added that after Mohammed was born crying and moving she quickly prepared the area for a live birth and called for assistance. Mrs Khan then held Mohammed until he died.
Mr Nelson recorded a conclusion of death by natural causes. He stated that Mohammed’s death was due to extreme prematurity brought about by compassionate termination of pregnancy, with a secondary cause of congenital malformations…
Neonatal consultant Dr Dinakar Seshadri, who had been called in after Mohammed was born said, in view of the serious difficulties the baby had, his parents had been correct to opt for termination. “At the time it was a brave decision and I believe it was the right decision they took,” he told the coroner.
A few things to point out here. First, notice that everyone here seems to think that the tragedy is not that a baby—and everyone is very open about the fact that it is, in fact, a baby—was killed. The tragedy is that the baby did not die early enough, despite attempts to poison him so that he would die in utero. As a result of this inconvenient child’s will to live, his mother was forced to endure the sound of his sobbing before the poison ran its course and did its job. The mother, the experts stated, was very brave to choose have Mohammed killed, considering the fact that he would have had serious difficulties (other than being poisoned at his mother’s request, that is.)
Additionally, the medical professionals here claim that the baby boy died of “natural causes,” because “compassionate termination”—a truly Orwellian phrase—is apparently a “natural” way of being killed. Throughout this entire nightmarish scenario, everybody seems to be perfectly aware that this is a baby, and everybody seems completely comfortable with the fact that this baby had just been poisoned and is dying not of natural causes, but of a carefully planned procedure requested by parents and carried out by hospital staff. Why wouldn’t we kill this baby boy, they seem to suggest—after all, he was defective and had to go.
In the UK, at least, it appears that we’re past debating whether or not abortion kills a baby. It does, the abortion supporters admit, but the fact is that some babies need to be killed. After all, it’s all about compassion.
___________________________________________
For anyone interested, my book on The Culture War, which analyzes the journey our culture has taken from the way it was to the way it is and examines the Sexual Revolution, hook-up culture, the rise of the porn plague, abortion, commodity culture, euthanasia, and the gay rights movement, is available for sale here.
Have to disagree with this statement. I doubt very much that the parents ‘wanted’ their baby dead. What they wanted was a healthy baby who would not suffer horrendous pain and suffering due to his congenital malformation/abnormality. Your tone/language insinuates this was a callous, easy or selfish decision for them to make. Who are you to judge?
I’m not saying that it was an easy decision. I’m saying that when they discovered their baby had spina bifida–a condition that people survive with into old age–they preferred to have him killed. Those are the facts. Additionally, having a baby aborted at that late stage is many things, but it is certainly not ensuring that they will be spared “horrendous pain.” Have you every seen how that procedure works?
Who are you to judge another’s judgment? . . . Stop saying foolish and blatantly hypocritical things. You’re as much of a judge as anyone else. NOBODY AVOIDS JUDGMENT: everyone MAKES judgments – and someday, before the Living God, everyone will *BE* judged.
Think about that, Jen. Judgment’s coming for you. Are you going to be ready . . . ?
Your ‘Living god’ made all things in the heavens and the firmament. Why did he make this baby?
David Calvani says:
jen: If Jonathon decided to kill you after a long, hard process of trying to decide of doing so was moral, would you say to others ‘Don’t judge Jonathon’? Would you expect your friends, relatives, and government to say ‘Don’t judge Jonathon, it surely wasn’t an easy decision’? I doubt the answer to these questions is yes.
As for you specific concerns: Yes, the parents wanted the baby dead — otherwise they wouldn’t have acted to kill him. And yes, the parent’s actions were both callous and selfish. STOP judging actions by subjective standards: It is the nature of an act that is most important in determining its morality; not the intentions of the actor. (And in this case you have nothing to support your point but assumed intentions.)
I beg to differ Jen. Are you saying that it is okay to cause the baby horrendous pain to spare it horrendous pain.(supposedly) I doubt you are aware of the effects of these procedures. It is a case of ‘what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t feel.’ The pain of a forced death is horrendous anyway.
As a parent of a multi disabled child, I can definitely say you have no idea firstly how hard it is to be that parent and secondly how hard that decision was for them to terminate. I lost a twin at 20 weeks and my other son had a brain injury at 24 weeks, I was given the choice to terminate. I am pro choice and I choose to give him a chance. He is 11 now, however it has been an incredibly hard journey for him and myself. Not everyone is able to take on the level of responsibility and dedication required to care for a child with high needs. And they were better to be honest with themselves about that and make the best choice for themselves, rather than have that child and that child end up in the system because they couldn’t take care of him. We treat our dogs better than disabled people in western society. Do you have children? Have you been in that position where something went wrong with a pregnancy? I have and I can tell you truthfully that I would never wish that upon anyone, not even people who know nothing of the world like you….
I do have a child. And killing is never, ever the compassionate solution. I also agree with you that we have miles to go in our society in regard to our treatment of disabled people.
Cassie, have you the right to kill your 11 year old? Nothing much has changed since you faced the original decision of to kill or not to kill. If you killed him today you would go to jail for murder, so why should that be different if you killed him at 24 weeks it is still the same child being murdered.
The holocaust only happened because Germany was already accepting of the ‘merciful’ killing of disabled people. Where do we draw the line? Every human life matters and no one should have the right to end another’s life and say that they did it for them.
Your son had/has a right to his life just as you do.
I was traumatized just reading this! How horrible this is! The poor little guy sobbing and no one gives a crap. I thought that surgery can be done on spina bifida patients in the womb? I have a 9 month old grandson and let me tell you, the image this article portrays gave me chills and tears. I can’t even imagine.
Abortionist’s favorite word, compassion. I don’t see any compassion in it. I wonder if Mrs. Khan is traumatized by the experience.
It may not be in this case but English hospitals and the Health Service are full of disabled children from parents who are first or second cousins…….
“Compassionate termination.” Just chilling.
For all peoples talk of “compassion” here, I don’t see them giving much to the parents during this difficult time.
Smh.
The parents got precisely what they wanted: The baby is dead.
Have to disagree with this statement. I doubt very much that the parents ‘wanted’ their baby dead. What they wanted was a healthy baby who would not suffer horrendous pain and suffering due to his congenital malformation/abnormality. Your tone/language insinuates this was a callous, easy or selfish decision for them to make. Who are you to judge?
I’m not saying that it was an easy decision. I’m saying that when they discovered their baby had spina bifida–a condition that people survive with into old age–they preferred to have him killed. Those are the facts. Additionally, having a baby aborted at that late stage is many things, but it is certainly not ensuring that they will be spared “horrendous pain.” Have you every seen how that procedure works?
Who are you to judge another’s judgment? . . . Stop saying foolish and blatantly hypocritical things. You’re as much of a judge as anyone else. NOBODY AVOIDS JUDGMENT: everyone MAKES judgments – and someday, before the Living God, everyone will *BE* judged.
Think about that, Jen. Judgment’s coming for you. Are you going to be ready . . . ?
Your ‘Living god’ made all things in the heavens and the firmament. Why did he make this baby?
jen: If Jonathon decided to kill you after a long, hard process of trying to decide of doing so was moral, would you say to others ‘Don’t judge Jonathon’? Would you expect your friends, relatives, and government to say ‘Don’t judge Jonathon, it surely wasn’t an easy decision’? I doubt the answer to these questions is yes.
As for you specific concerns: Yes, the parents wanted the baby dead — otherwise they wouldn’t have acted to kill him. And yes, the parent’s actions were both callous and selfish. STOP judging actions by subjective standards: It is the nature of an act that is most important in determining its morality; not the intentions of the actor. (And in this case you have nothing to support your point but assumed intentions.)
I beg to differ Jen. Are you saying that it is okay to cause the baby horrendous pain to spare it horrendous pain.(supposedly) I doubt you are aware of the effects of these procedures. It is a case of ‘what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t feel.’ The pain of a forced death is horrendous anyway.
Surely this was a murder?
Who gave us the right to take a life?
As a parent of a multi disabled child, I can definitely say you have no idea firstly how hard it is to be that parent and secondly how hard that decision was for them to terminate. I lost a twin at 20 weeks and my other son had a brain injury at 24 weeks, I was given the choice to terminate. I am pro choice and I choose to give him a chance. He is 11 now, however it has been an incredibly hard journey for him and myself. Not everyone is able to take on the level of responsibility and dedication required to care for a child with high needs. And they were better to be honest with themselves about that and make the best choice for themselves, rather than have that child and that child end up in the system because they couldn’t take care of him. We treat our dogs better than disabled people in western society. Do you have children? Have you been in that position where something went wrong with a pregnancy? I have and I can tell you truthfully that I would never wish that upon anyone, not even people who know nothing of the world like you….
I do have a child. And killing is never, ever the compassionate solution. I also agree with you that we have miles to go in our society in regard to our treatment of disabled people.
Cassie, have you the right to kill your 11 year old? Nothing much has changed since you faced the original decision of to kill or not to kill. If you killed him today you would go to jail for murder, so why should that be different if you killed him at 24 weeks it is still the same child being murdered.
The holocaust only happened because Germany was already accepting of the ‘merciful’ killing of disabled people. Where do we draw the line? Every human life matters and no one should have the right to end another’s life and say that they did it for them.
Your son had/has a right to his life just as you do.
I was traumatized just reading this! How horrible this is! The poor little guy sobbing and no one gives a crap. I thought that surgery can be done on spina bifida patients in the womb? I have a 9 month old grandson and let me tell you, the image this article portrays gave me chills and tears. I can’t even imagine.