In a bizarre case
that can only be described as "can this possibly be happening in the United
States of America," Nevada District Court Judge Egan Walker is presiding
over hearings to determine if a
32-year-old mentally disabled woman should be
permitted to carry her pregnancy to term or whether it is in her "best
interests" to be forced to have an abortion against the will of her parents who
are her guardians.
Bill and Amy Bauer
of Fernley, Nevada, as judge Egan Walker eloquently notes, adopted
and rescued six children from the streets of Costa Rica over 20 years ago, all
of whom have fetal alcohol syndrome.
One of their
children is a 32 year old woman who is mentally handicapped and has the mental
capacity and social skills of a 6 or 7year-old. Since she was 18
years old, her parents have served as her guardians, something typical in cases
like this. Now she is pregnant with a healthy 14 week old baby boy or girl as a
result of some sort of elopement from the group home she has been living in. The
family wants her to have the baby and then place the child for adoption. The
Bauers have said that their disabled daughter wants to have the baby. She does
not want to kill it and several couples have expressed a desire to adopt the
unborn child. We also know that Judge Walker could intervene to force an
abortion.
How does this
happen in America where a judge can intervene in a way that could force an
abortion of a mentally disabled woman against the wishes of her family who are
her guardians? Where are the allegations of abuse? What have the Bauers done
wrong? How can a court interject itself into family decisions like this where
there is no evidence or even charges of abuse or incompetence on the part of the
guardians who are her parents, to overrule their decisions and possibly decide
for an abortion of their grandchild? How can other guardians and families be
safe from state intrusion and the prospect of forced abortion?
It is true that the
young woman has epilepsy and that she is taking medications for it that could
possibly harm the unborn child. But epileptic women have babies all the time and
doctors know how to care for them. Letters from epileptic mothers have expressed
outrage at the notion that their condition makes it too dangerous
for them to bear children.
The mother is
healthy and so is her unborn child but the court appointed attorney has acted
like she is prosecuting the unborn. Her arguments demonstrate the corrupt and
corrosive nature of the abortion mentality. That is, if any risk, no matter how
minute, can be shown to make abortion a fraction safer than child birth (a
spurious proposition), then in this mind set, abortion is warranted. This says
that innocent human beings are expendable if they pose even the slightest risk
to us. We even heard her ask what the psychological-emotional damage and impact
could be to the mother if, with the interaction of her drugs for epilepsy, she
bore a disfigured, deformed child?
This is the ugly
face of abortion on display. Abortion sends the clear, unmistakable and
absolutely unconscionable and intolerable message that certain classes of human
beings are expendable for the benefit of other people and that some people are
just not acceptable in our society. It sends the equally clear message that baby
humans are means to our ends.
What's next? There
are two more hearings before a decision is made on November 27. The Bauer's
attorney, Jason Guinasso--we
believe Jason is also the attorney for the Bauer's unborn baby grandchild-is
calling expert witnesses to show that abortion is not safe and that it is not in
the interest of the Bauer's mentally disabled daughter. And when women face an 81 percent added risk for mental health problems
as a result of an abortion, and when 10 percent of all mental health problems
are related to abortion, and when abortion poses so many physical risks, it's
not beneficial for other women either.
Judge Walker must
rule out an abortion. To order an abortion would send a clear and unmistakable
message that courts can intervene in family matters and order an abortion
against the family's wishes. Bioethicist Wesley J. Smith warns, "If a court orders an
abortion opposed by the parents/guardians of this woman, and the woman herself
(who is not capable of informed consent)-absent clear and convincing evidence
that the pregnancy poses a substantial risk to the woman's life... we will have entered territory once inhabited
exclusively by China.
