Women's right to choose

In today's Guardian is a sad story of an aspirational family with two children whose mother, pregnant with her third child, had a test for Down's Syndrome which came back positive. Being of the progressive persuasion, the possibility of a "termination" was thinkable. The father writes,

"Our lives were overshadowed by the impending decision, but there never seemed any time for discussion. Instead we worried about it – or worried at it – separately. Having supported a woman's right to choose all my adult life, I could hardly waver now. There were practical considerations to weigh, too. I was the wrong side of 50, 13 years her senior, and would, in the normal course of events, be leaving her to deal with the most difficult – mature – years alone. Then there was the impact on the two children we already had... I was worried about her taking on an extra (and unknowably demanding) responsibility. She was the only person to judge whether she could cope. I made it clear that I would support her wholeheartedly and unquestioningly whatever she decided.

"...the dreaded call came with the results of the amniocentesis. As we had feared, it was Down's. Fiona decided on a termination. It was an agonising decision, certainly not taken lightly, and given the volume of grief it carried with it, an extremely brave one. I stood by it."

But it proved to be no easy solution. The narrative continues,

"Deep down, things were not the same. Fiona harboured a sadness that she could not shift and which I could not share, or share sufficiently.That spy in the cab, my diary again: "Frank discussion ... I think F made the right decision. Where I think she's going wrong is in dwelling on it. It infuriates her that I seem to be able to draw a line and move on."

There was no happy ending. Eventually, his wife left with the children.

It is an upsetting story but perhaps the worst of it is that here were people who, like so many others of us, had bought into the progressive paradigm, and ended up as the victims of it.

Read full article here