Follow up: What Would You Do?

So the book I was reading was Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Synopsis from jodipicoult.com - When Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe’s daughter, Willow, is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, they are devastated – she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. As the family struggles to make ends meet to cover Willow’s medical expenses, Charlotte thinks she has found an answer. If she files a wrongful birth lawsuit against her ob/gyn for not telling her in advance that her child would be born severely disabled, the monetary payouts might ensure a lifetime of care for Willow. But it means that Charlotte has to get up in a court of law and say in public that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she’d known about the disability in advance – words that her husband can’t abide, that Willow will hear, and that Charlotte cannot reconcile. And the ob/gyn she’s suing isn’t just her physician – it’s her best friend.

Being a JP book it's full of twists and turns of course, and a tear-jerker, like all of her books. I think this one is probably the saddest I've read. One of the main conflicts in the book is that Charlotte tells Willow that she's just saying that she wouldn't have given her up to get the money. But she has to testify in front of a court that she would have.

So, the reason for the poll. Out of 10 people that answered, 4 would have kept the baby, no matter what the disability, and 6 said it would depend on the disability. I didn't vote because I didn't want to throw the results off.

Here's my answer: I don't know.

I don't think I could abort. And if I did, I'd be devastated, and I'd probably think about that child, wondering who he or she would have been, for the rest of my life. But I don't know if I would be strong enough to provide the kind of care a special needs child, especially an OI child, would need. I've gotten to know osteogenesis imperfecta pretty well the last couple of days, since the book inspired my topic for a paper I'm writing for my early childhood class. These people are absolutely amazing. A friend who read my paper asked me if I knew someone with the disease, and I don't. But I'd love to spend some time with a person who does.

So now, knowing a few more details, is your answer still the same? Would you abort a fetus with OI, or would you keep the baby and hope for the best?