by A.W.R. Hawkins
03/19/2012
Ariel and Deborah Levy, of Portland, Ore., appear, from all outside indicators, to be doing quite well. Ariel is civil engineer and Deborah is a dental hygienist. They have two sons, one a third-grader and the other in kindergarten, and they are very pleased with both. And from pictures of the family publicly available, the boys look happy and the Levy family looks like they’re living the American dream.
Oh, did I remember to tell you there’s a catch? Yes, a catch. And that is that the Levy’s have a daughter they regret not aborting, and have consequently sued Legacy Health in North Portland because the child is alive, for all intents and purposes. The gist of it is that the child, Kalanit, who is now four years old, has Down syndrome, and the Levys claim that if Legacy Health had detected the condition pre-birth, the child could have been aborted.
Honestly folks, the Levys have told news outlets “they would have aborted their daughter…if they had known.” So now, Ariel and Deborah have found themselves so put out by the extra attention their daughter requires, they’re seeking $3 million from Legacy Health to cover amount “they believe they will have to pay over Kalanit's lifetime for her care.” (Their claim is that the health center gave did a “chorionic villus sampling” test while Kalanit was in the womb, and the test showed the child to be normal.)
No threat of Ariel and Deborah winning “Parents of the Year,” huh?
What’s so crazy about this is that they’re not talking about their family pet or some stray animal that wondered into their yard and interrupted what was otherwise great family time. Rather, they are talking about a human being who is alive and whose very existence they bemoan to such a degree they’re actually suing someone over it.
A quick aside: My oldest daughter has Down syndrome, and there are struggles involved. But she is not a dog to be put down when times get hard; she is a human with needs that differ from, and in many cases go beyond, the needs of other humans. Nevertheless, she loves dressing up, carrying her purse, going out to dinner, reading, and watching American Idol, just like millions of other little female humans.
And from the pictures publicly available of the Levy children, Kalanit seems as happy to be alive as my daughter does. The outrageous part of the story is that her parents aren’t happy she’s alive.
As Rush Limbaugh would say, “There’s a life lesson here.” And that lesson is that we started a perilous journey in January 1973 with Roe v. Wade, one that has brought us to a place in our culture where lives that aren’t convenient are simply shrugged off and thrown away. And the shame for taking those lives is gone too. You see this clearly in Ariel and Deborah, who both appear shocked that people are saying “hateful things” to them in light of their admission that they wish their daughter was gone.
The culture of death is pervasive, and it permeates every aspect of the hearts and minds of those who partake in it. And because so many are looking to death as solution, we have now come to a place in time where parents, like Ariel and Deborah Levy, openly loathe the life of one of their children: openly wish they had aborted her.
______________________________________
To read another article by A.W.R. Hawkins, click here.
_____________________________________
To read a related article, click here.
2 comments:
This case is absolutely astounding! I cannot believe that parents would allow such words to leave their mouths..."If we had known, we would have aborted." How ridiculous! I am a mother of 4 beautiful children and they are healthy. I also have a cousin-in-law who is a 21 year old and has Down Syndrome. His parents do not have careers that are nearly comparable to the Levy's and yet they've managed to support him as well as his 2 brothers by living a modest life. He participates in the Special Olympics and is on a bowling team roster. His life is as "normal" as the next person. While he may have had some health issues as an infant/child, so has many premature infants.
I find these parents to be cold and heartless for saying something so awful. What will their daughter think when she is older? What will their sons think? Maybe they should never have had children in the first place. ALL BABIES ARE A GIFT, and they had 3! They should have been happy that she wasn't stillborn!
I agree with the above comment. These people don't deserve to be parents. There are so many people that would willingly take her even now. How sad. I hope their little boys won't grow up with the same thought process as their parents.
Post a Comment