Pearl S. Buck "Every Life is a Gift"

Pearl S. Buck wrote the following essay in 1968, as the foreward to Robert E. Cooke's book "Terrible Choice: The Abortion Dilemma."  Note that the vocabulary used to respectfully describe persons with disabilities has changed since 1968 when this essay was published.

As the mother of a child retarded with phenylketonuria, I can ask myself, at this reflective moment, if I had rather she had never been born.  No, let me ask the question fully. Could it have been possible for me to have the foreknowledge of her thwarted life, would I have wanted abortion?

Now with full knowledge of anguish and despair, the answer is No, I would not.  Even in full knowledge I would have chosen life, and this for two reasons: First, I fear the power of choice over life or death at human hands, I see no human being whom I could ever trust with such power- not myself, not any other.

Human wisdowm, human integrity are not great enough.  Since the fetus is a creature already alive and in the process of development, to kill it is to choose death over life.  At what point shall we allow this choice?  For me the answer is - at no point, once life has begun.

At no point, I repeat, either as life begins or as life ends, for we who are human beings cannot, for our own safety, be allowed to choose death, life being all we know.  Beyond life lie only faith and surmise, but not knowledge.  Where there is no knowledge except for life, decision for death is not safe for the human race.

The principle thus established, I go to my second reason for rejection of abortion, in my own case.  My child's life has not been meaningless.  She has indeed brought comfort and practical help to many people who are parents of retarded children or are themselves handicapped.

True, she has done it through me, yet without her I would not have had the means of learning how to accept the inevitable sorrow, and how to make that acceptance useful to others.

Would I be so heartless as to say that it has been worthwhile for my child to be born retarded?  Certainly not, but I am saying that even though gravely retarded it has been worthwhile for her to have lived.

It can be summed up, perhaps, by saying that in this world, where cruelty prevails in so many aspects of our life I would not add the weight of choice to kill rather than to let live.

A retarded child, a handicapped person, brings its own gift to life, even to the life of normal human beings.  That gift is comprehended in the lessons or patiences, understanding, and mercy, lessons which we all need to receive and to practice with one another, whatever we are.

For this gift bestowed upon me by a helpless child, I give my thanks.

What do you think of Pearl's reasoning on abortion?