Townhall - Columnists - Kathryn Lopez
OPINION
Tragedy in the U.K.
Kathryn Lopez | Posted: Oct 23, 2021 12:01 AM
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"Alta was alive and breathed on her own for 90 minutes after her breathing tube was removed," -- Rabbi Elisha Greenbaum said, stating the key fact as clearly as can be.
The United Kingdom wanted 2-year-old Alta Fixsler dead. The powers-that-be may not have put it that baldly, but they decided to end her life. A severely disabled Hasidic girl, Fixsler's parents wanted to bring her to Israel. There were offers from U.S. and Israeli hospitals to try experimental treatments. But the medical establishment and the judiciary decided they knew best.
"According to Jewish law, everyone has the right to hydration, nutrition and respiration, and the removal of that breathing tube was tantamount to murder, Rabbi Greenbaum said. "I can accept that others might have different views, yet how could contemporary society not reciprocally respect another perspective on what constituted Alta's best interest?"
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READ MORE: https://townhall.com/columnists/kathrynlopez/2021/10/23/tragedy-in-the-uk-n2597894
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A friend recently told me about an abortion in her family. The doctor advised it because the baby had many problems and was expected to die right away. But who are we to say that shouldn't happen naturally? Let the parents hold their child in their arms, if only for hours or minutes. The baby already is and always will be a part of their lives. It's a fear of suffering and sacrifice that makes abortion and physician-assisted suicide palatable, maybe even desirable. It's economics and ideology that drives a hospital and a court to decide -- to insist -- that a child be killed against the wishes of her parents. Alta was treated worse than we treat hardened criminals.
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