Another Example of the Culture of Death

I was sitting during my lunch break reading the news instead of eating my lunch. I generally skip around reading different articles that happen to catch my eye.

Last week I read a few articles about the Chinese child who had a third well developed arm amongst some other health problems. I saw an article on yahoo this morning entitled "Doctors remove 3rd arm from Chinese baby" from the AP. I was glad that doctors were continuing to help this child, and I began reading the article.

Typically I don't read articles all the way through. I skim a lot. Sometimes I'll read 1/4 - 3/4 of an article before going on to the next thing, but for whatever reason I read the whole article. It was what I saw at the end that disturbed me.

Chen said no reliable figures exist on the frequency of such cases, partly because many fetuses with more than four limbs are aborted or miscarried.

As a pro-lifer and someone who holds innocent life as sacred I was saddened by the thought that many babies are killed in the womb because of such defects. But it was the end of the article that truly made me shudder.

Because of shortfalls in China's rural health system, Liu Junjie's mother never received an ultrasound before giving birth, Chen said.

I just couldn't believe this. I can only assume this means that they are saddened or dismayed by the fact that this child was born, that he wasn't weeded out before birth because of his impectections.

How can doctors work to save a baby, and at the same time bemoan the fact that he was born? Is the world worse off because he was born? His life and story has surely reached millions if it reached little me in Chicago, and surely it has touched the lives of many, as it has mine. And yet none of that would have ever have happened if there weren't "shortfalls" in China's health system.