Dear Editor,
The recent outbreak of the Zika virus is a valid reason for concern on several fronts. Our responses to the virus and its possible outcomes must be based on consideration for all the possible victims, and not exhibit extremism based on fear.
It may seem easy to issue edicts that women should avoid pregnancy, but the physical, mental, social and spiritual welfare of women who are already pregnant, and their unborn children, must also be considered.
While the temporal association may be suggestive, the World Health Organization admits that there is no definite proof that ZIKV is the cause of the increased incidence of microcephaly. Despite that, activists are jumping through hoops to push abortion for infected pregnant women. A call for caution is necessary. Even if a causative link were established, ZIKV would be neither the first nor the only cause of microcephaly. So in our era of non-discrimination, are little human beings are to be killed because they may have mental or physical disabilities? What message does this send to the many disabled people now leading productive lives in our communities? This kind of mindset has already led to killing little humans with Downs Syndrome in so-called developed nations. Once it becomes acceptable to kill them in the womb, we will soon bow to the inescapable logic that we can also kill them outside the womb.
Human arrogance is the basis of this “tyranny of the perfect”. What about young children who get meningitis or other brain diseases and suffer similar effects? How can killing be the solution to a medical problem? And what about those elderly people whose brains have shrunken from other conditions? The culture of death has created an ever-expanding list of those considered unfit to live. Jamaica must continue to address these genuine challenges without disregarding the inherent dignity of all human beings.
Dr Doreen Brady- West
drbradywest@gmail.com
The recent outbreak of the Zika virus is a valid reason for concern on several fronts. Our responses to the virus and its possible outcomes must be based on consideration for all the possible victims, and not exhibit extremism based on fear.
It may seem easy to issue edicts that women should avoid pregnancy, but the physical, mental, social and spiritual welfare of women who are already pregnant, and their unborn children, must also be considered.
While the temporal association may be suggestive, the World Health Organization admits that there is no definite proof that ZIKV is the cause of the increased incidence of microcephaly. Despite that, activists are jumping through hoops to push abortion for infected pregnant women. A call for caution is necessary. Even if a causative link were established, ZIKV would be neither the first nor the only cause of microcephaly. So in our era of non-discrimination, are little human beings are to be killed because they may have mental or physical disabilities? What message does this send to the many disabled people now leading productive lives in our communities? This kind of mindset has already led to killing little humans with Downs Syndrome in so-called developed nations. Once it becomes acceptable to kill them in the womb, we will soon bow to the inescapable logic that we can also kill them outside the womb.
Human arrogance is the basis of this “tyranny of the perfect”. What about young children who get meningitis or other brain diseases and suffer similar effects? How can killing be the solution to a medical problem? And what about those elderly people whose brains have shrunken from other conditions? The culture of death has created an ever-expanding list of those considered unfit to live. Jamaica must continue to address these genuine challenges without disregarding the inherent dignity of all human beings.
Dr Doreen Brady- West
drbradywest@gmail.com