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Last week, a Belgian appellate court approved, for the first time, the concept of “wrongful life,” finding doctors liable for not discovering a child’s disability before birth. The court held that it would have been in the child’s best interest to be aborted.

How would it be in anyone’s best interest to die?
 
The Court stated that, “of course, the diagnosis error did not cause the handicap of the child, that preexisted,…nevertheless, the damage must be remedied.”  Thus, according to the Begian Court, the child, by the voice of its parents, can claim repair to the doctors because, by their fault,  the doctor wronged his certain and legitimate interest to be the object of a therapeutic abortion.

Again, how would it be in anyone’s best interest to be aborted?
 
As I was reading an article on this court case, the first thought that came to mind was the traditional Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. It is one of those Christmas movies everyone watches, but do we really grasp it’s full meaning?
 
After his Uncle loses a large sum of their loan company’s money, George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) gets so upset he seriously considers committing suicide. Wouldn’t it be in his best interest to kill himself? After all, when the town finds out, he will go to jail and his family will lose their good reputation. George then meets Clarence, his guardian angel, whom he tells, “I wish I had never been born.”
 
Clarence grants George’s wish and shows him what life would have been like had never been born and only then does George come to the realization that he really not only had a wonderful life, but also that throwing it away would be a massive mistake. “It’s funny how one life touches so many lives,” Clarence tells him, “And when he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
 
Each of us, no matter what we do, lives a wonderful life. We have the opportunity to make a difference in our communities and in the lives of people we meet and work with every day.
 
I always wondered what would happen if we were to create a modern day “It’s a Wonderful Life” to show a mother contemplating abortion. Although her pregnancy might be unplanned and she may feel alone and scared, she has people to turn to for help, and like George Bailey, she has a wonderful Life…and the ability to give another person a wonderful Life.
 
If you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend you do. It’s an amazing pro-life movie that really shows the value and importance of each life.  As we learn each Christmas, no life can ever be wrong, every life is wonderful.