What is the value of human life?

Why is it that unless an unborn child is perfect we value it less to the extent that it is seen as not deserving of life? Peter Singer is known for his public stance on the morality of killing some disabled newborns and that parents should be able to euthanise disabled babies if they wish to. In his 1979 book Practical Ethics, he included conditions like Down Syndrome, spina bifida and haemophilia as among disabilities that make "the child's life prospects significantly less promising than those of a normal child". He has argued that parents of children with these conditions should be allowed to end their child's life if they so choose.

In my opinion, every child disabled or not is entitled to life and no one has the right to take that away from them. Many people with these disabilities go on to lead a happy life. Take for instance those with Downs Syndrome. They are some of the happiest people I have ever met and many are capable of much more than we give them credit for. Take those who have been able to lead semi or even independent lives, those who have had careers and found love and married! Their potential is far greater than doctors often tell parents when breaking the news to parents. Their attitude is pessimistic even now in the 21st century.

Aren't we with this attitude behaving akin to Hitler who sanctioned the killing of the disabled and anyone who did not measure up to the Aryan child with blue eyes? Have we learnt nothing from the Holocaust? Why do they think that such barbaric views are justified because of a shift in the way our society values human beings. Historically human beings were believed to have intrinsic value. Society seems to have abandoned this view, What remains is the idea that human beings have instrumental value, Something has instrumental value if it is a means to an end. Human beings are only valuable because they can contribute to society such as working or being creative.

Disabled people bring immense value to life by teaching us about acceptance, resilience and tolerance by offering unique perspectives and thereby enriching communities with their strengths and life experiences. We learn to not only empathise with their struggles but also their successes however big or small they may be.

We see premature babies fighting for their lives and yet in the same hospital, there will be doctors ending a disabled baby's life. Where is justice and human rights in this situation? I find this very hard to accept. The doctor used to have to swear the Hippocratic oath which is an ancient ethical code to save life if possible not intentionally end it

Some ethicists don't like the argument that abortion should be allowed where the baby if born, would suffer from physical or mental handicaps. Another argument is that allowing abortion of a foetus with a disability permits eugenic abortion - In other words the elimination of disability genes from the human race. This is an extremely disturbing situation and one I could not stomach as a human being.

This is a hard subject to talk about, but every life is worth it whether disabled or not. Life is a gift from God and one that we should take seriously. The unborn baby has a human right to life it is unable to have a voice but we should be their voice. Those with disabilities teach us so much about life, they have so much to offer just as so-called "normal" people take a life and that will never change in my mind! What do you think?

Alexis Mundy