Disabled Children: God's Punishment for Abortion

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-02-22 13:02:00 UTC
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Republican Virginia State Delegate Bob Marshall claims that children born with disabilities are punishment for a woman having had a prior abortion.

Here I thought Pema Levy's post this morning, "Anti-Choice Group Calls Black Children an 'Endangered Species'" would be by miles the most disturbing abortion-related content of the day. Sadly, I was clearly mistaken.

At a press conference Thursday, comprised of mostly Christian pastors and clergy, to promote stripping Planned Parenthood of a mere $35,000 a year in state funds for comprehensive reproductive health services, Marshall made the baseless assertion that abortion has increased the number of children born with disabilities. Marshall informed listeners that this is because, when a fetus is aborted, "nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children" by smiting them with disabilities. This, he alleges, is because the aborted fetus was meant to be the "first-born," whom the Old Testament says is "dedicated to the Lord." And here I thought the vengeful God was so two millennia ago.

The first thing that came to mind when I heard this (after sitting in silent horror for a while): what does Sarah Palin think? Now, that's definitely not a question that comes into my mind very often. But, as Think Progress points out, Palin, the mother of a child with disabilities, has spoken out recently against ableism, calling for Rahm Emmanuel's resignation for using the offensive term "retarded" (although she gave Rush Limbaugh a free pass for using it 40 times on one show) and criticizing Family Guy for mocking Down Syndrome (the show's rape "jokes" already make it one of my least favorite T.V. shows ... that and I think it's just not funny).

But Palin has yet to take a member of her own party to task. Yet what Marshall said seems to be much worse than the offensive language used by Emmanuel (which he did go on to apologize for), and that is unfortunately frequently used in casual conversation today. The term "retarded" is definitely insulting, but saying that children with disabilities are a punishment from God brings it to a whole other level. I doubt that most parents of children with disabilities think of their loved ones as punishment for their sins. And for children with disabilities to be told they exist to punish their parents is seriously twisted, making them into a pariah, and hardly likely to help them develop a healthy self-image.

If Marshall believes God smites fetuses with disabilities as revenge for an abortion, what is he "punishing" an anti-choice woman like Palin for? Does Marshall think Palin secretly had an abortion? Or does he think that she did something else to severely displease God and bring upon herself the "punishment" of a child with disabilities?

Actually, Marshall's anti-choice mind seems to be a very dark and frightening place, and I'd rather not speculate further on what he thinks. It might give me nightmares.

Photo credit: weishenggg

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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