Conservative Donnybrook

The beautiful baby boy depicted above is named Finley Crampton. Last spring, Finley’s parents were told that Finley had problems with his kidneys. Unfortunately, this was not the first time they had heard that news from doctors. The beaming woman in the picture is Finley’s mother, Jodie Percival, who carries a gene which triggers multicystic dysplastic kidney – a condition which causes cysts to grow on the kidneys of an unborn baby. Her first son, Thane, lived only 20 minutes when he was delivered prematurely due to developing this condition. A second son was also born with a similar kidney condition and survives today on one kidney.

Faced with the prospect of yet another troubled pregnancy with the possibility of heartbreak at its conclusion, Jodie and her fiance, opted to abort Finley. Miraculously, he survived. He may be forced to undergo surgery to address a problem with one of his kidneys, but doctors expect Finley to lead a normal life. And, as for the outcome, Jodie “wouldn’t change it for the world.”

I have said before:

I take the moral of this story to be two-fold. First, life is indomitable. It has a will to continue and even the sickliest tend to cling to the gift of life. When doctors say that all hope is lost, they often lose track of this truth. Second, doctors are not always right about these life-and-death decisions. When they advise pulling the plug, or removing the feeding tube, or aborting one child because it is “in his best interests,” we should err on the side of life.