Last Saturday, a gentleman in Lakeport wrote a letter to the editor that questioned Gov. Palin and her husband”s choice not to end the life of their unborn child, yet in the very next paragraph he stated “…any child born with a birth defect should certainly be treated medically and supported in all ways through life…”
This idea he presented, the idea that killing the unborn is the answer, reminded me of an essay by Dr. C. Everett Koop, a Pediatric Surgeon and former Surgeon General of the United States. Dr. Koop took a strong stand against the idea that parents who have an abnormal child may be irresponsible. Dr. Koop goes on to say that there is a growing disregard for life itself, and with such cheapening of human life, infanticide would not be far behind.
Dr. Koop quotes Millard Everett”s book Ideals of Life in which Millard Everett states “No child should be admitted into the society of the living who would be certain to suffer any social handicap … any physical… defect that would … make others tolerate his company only from the sense of mercy.”
Dr. Koop vehemently disagrees and quotes an opposing view that states that this concept leads to a totalitarian form of government where beginning with the infirm and incompetent and ending with the intellectually dissident, these persons would be disposed of by those in power.
The title of Dr. Koop”s Essay is ?The Slide to Auschwitz.”
Thomas McKinstry
Hidden Valley Lake
