Controversy Over Abortion

In response to the abortion issue relative to Tay-Sachs disease as raised during the presidential debate of Oct. 13:

Fifteen years ago, I gave birth to a baby with Tay-Sachs disease. This is a genetic disease, neurological in nature, in which the affected baby has no chance of survival. In fact, life expectancy is three years. The baby loses all its bodily functioning abilities; it cannot see, feel, eat, or move its bowels. It is a terrible degenerative process to watch. It is a disease that not only destroys the baby, but could easily destroy the emotional fiber of the parents and other family members.

With regard to Tay-Sachs, the right to an abortion has a “flip-side” effect, which many people, including George Bush, have not considered. With each pregnancy of Tay-Sachs carriers, there is a 25% chance that the fetus will be diseased. In my case, as in many others, knowledge that the option of abortion was available, allowed my husband and me to conceive another child. The amniocentesis was performed, the fetus was not affected, and a wonderful child was born.

The decision to have another child was a deliberate one, with many considerations weighing in. However, the overriding factor was our right to abort, our right to avoid the guilt of birthing a doomed child. Without the right to abortion, my beautiful, healthy child would never have been conceived. This is a situation in which the right to abortion allowed the continuance of life. No one has the right, nor should anyone be so presumptuous as to dictate to another what their family structure must be.

ESTHER YOUTAN

Tarzana