Flower

Kill the baby or kill the habit?

GAP at Georgia Southern University

A crowd gathers at Georgia Southern University.

At Georgia Southern, Bert had been speaking with CBR’s Maggie Egger for a while when he asked, “What if the woman is an addict, and she’s going to have a baby that’s really handicapped?”

Maggie trotted out the ever-present, imaginary, 2-year-old toddler.  This particular toddler was handicapped, to match the circumstance that Burt described.

Maggie asked, “Would it be OK to kill this toddler because of his handicap?”  Bert, of course, said not.

Then he revealed the reason he asked, “My sister is an addict and she’s pregnant right now.”

But now reflecting on what he had seen and heard, he said thoughtfully, “I think having this baby might help her.  I bet when people in her situation have abortions instead, it’s very easy for them just to go back to their old bad habits, and they’ll eventually kill themselves, slowly.”

Maggie talked about her experiences helping women in New York City, how some of them had huge obstacles to overcome.  But many of them were much more motivated to work once they realized that other people (to be specific, their own children) were counting on them.

[This all reminded us of the student at Middle Tennessee State whose mom was waiting tables when she got pregnant with him.  She didn’t abort (obviously, since the child was now grown up and speaking with us).  He said, “After she had me, she got serious about her life and went back to school.  She got her nursing degree and now she’s the head nurse at a hospital, making about 80 or 90 grand a year.”  He thought a minute and then said, “You know, I think if my mother had aborted me, she would still be back there waiting tables.”]

Bert thanked Maggie and walked on. GAP may have saved his little niece or nephew.  He or she wouldn’t be the first one.  Here is another (link).

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