Photo by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

I came across a story that was published in summer 2018 by The Bolton News in the United Kingdom, titled “Aborted baby died in his mother’s arms at Royal Bolton Hospital, Bolton inquest told.” While the details of the story will unfortunately not be unfamiliar to pro-life activists, the reactions of nearly everyone involved in this tragic case are examples of how a culture that kills its children becomes hardened and callous as a result:

Despite making the tough decision to terminate her pregnancy late on, because of congenital birth defects, Sofia Khan gave birth to a live, crying, baby boy. An inquest in Bolton heard how Mrs Khan, a sales assistant from The Haulgh, Bolton, was told at around 21 weeks that her baby had spina bifida.

After talking to her husband, Shakeel Ahmed, and discussing options with clinicians, a decision was made to terminate the pregnancy. Mrs Khan went to St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester for a procedure to end the baby’s life.

This involved a chemical being injected into the umbilical cord and was done on February 16 by Dr Philip Bullen. He told assistant coroner Simon Nelson: “I was extremely shocked to hear what had happened … I was stunned as the procedure had gone exactly how we like the procedure to go, very smoothly.”

Dr Bullen said he had listened for a heartbeat, but could not hear one before he sent Mrs Khan to Royal Bolton Hospital where labour was induced. He added that new guidance has now been drawn up following Mohammed’s death which includes listening for a heartbeat for longer…

[…]

After labour was induced Mrs Khan’s began to have contractions late on the Friday night, and baby Mohammed Rehman Ahmed was born early on February 17. Mrs Khan told how she how she heard him cry. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said.

Miss Grundy, who delivered Mohammed, said he had come quickly and described how she was trying to prepare the room, not expecting the baby to be born alive. She added that after Mohammed was born crying and moving she quickly prepared the area for a live birth and called for assistance. Mrs Khan then held Mohammed until he died.

Mr Nelson recorded a conclusion of death by natural causes. He stated that Mohammed’s death was due to extreme prematurity brought about by compassionate termination of pregnancy, with a secondary cause of congenital malformations…

[…]

Neonatal consultant Dr Dinakar Seshadri, who had been called in after Mohammed was born said, in view of the serious difficulties the baby had, his parents had been correct to opt for termination. “At the time it was a brave decision and I believe it was the right decision they took,” he told the coroner.

A few things to point out here.

First, notice that everyone here seems to think that the tragedy is not that a baby—and everyone is very open about the fact that it is, in fact, a baby—was killed. The tragedy is that the baby did not die early enough, despite attempts to poison him so that he would die in utero. As a result of this inconvenient child’s will to live, his mother was forced to endure the sound of his sobbing before the poison ran its course and did its job. The mother, the experts stated, was very brave to choose have Mohammed killed, considering the fact that he would have had serious difficulties (other than being poisoned at his mother’s request, that is.)

Additionally, the medical professionals here claim that the baby boy died of “natural causes,” because “compassionate termination”—a truly Orwellian phrase—is apparently a “natural” way of being killed. Throughout this entire nightmarish scenario, everybody seems to be perfectly aware that this is a baby, and everybody seems completely comfortable with the fact that this baby had just been poisoned and is dying not of natural causes, but of a carefully planned procedure requested by parents and carried out by hospital staff. Why wouldn’t we kill this baby boy, they seem to suggest—after all, he was defective and had to go.

In the UK, at least, it appears that we’re past debating whether or not abortion kills a baby. It does, the abortion supporters admit, but the fact is that some babies need to be killed. After all, it’s all about compassion.

Originally published here.