My brother was born with a rare genetic disorder. I can remember learning that something was wrong just after he was born. I was too young to recall all of the details, but it was clear he was different. Daniel, my brother, acts and looks like he has down syndrome, but his condition is actually much worse. He is 24 now, but acts like a very small child.
What does our family think about Daniel? Well, he’s the best!
Sure, there are difficulties, but there are very few people in this world who love as unconditionally as Daniel. In fact, for many families with children that have disabilities, you will hear the same story: a loving, special child who positively impacts the lives of those around him or her. So, hearing that France banned an ad with children and adults that have down syndrome at the off chance it offended someone who aborted their child with a disability was infuriating.
First, ending the life of any child is a horrible social ill that plagues our world; creating the greatest holocaust our world has ever seen (nearly 60 million children have been killed since 1970), but specifically selecting to kill a child with a disability adds a special sense of distortion to the act. The video, which was put out for World Down Syndrome Day, is titled Dear Future Mom, and features children and adults with down syndrome that explain how good their lives are and what amazing things they can do. This positive video deserves to be seen, but France believes that abortion is more important than the truth that these beautiful human beings, who also happen to have a disability, live productive and joyful lives. They are an inspiration, and that is what a pro-abortion France is most afraid of.
To make matters worse, according to the Catholic Herald, “a law has been passed in France banning pro-life websites which attempt to dissuade women from having abortions without making clear they are pro-life.” French law already doesn’t allow individuals who are pro-life to demonstrate outside of abortion clinics, and now they will be fined for advocating for life online.
A society that fails to protect life from conception to natural death can never have a proper understanding of human dignity, and France has proven again and again that it has no respect for the value and dignity of human life — specifically the most vulnerable among us.