The Crowning Insult to Mother Teresa

The Nobel Peace Prize carries a certain level of prestige with it, even though few recipients of that prize are on the saintly level of Blessed Mother Teresa. As a matter of fact, few measure up to her on any level.

I recall fondly Mother’s 1979 speech, during which she made a statement that should be emblazoned on the memory of every pro-human individual the world over. She said,

The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing—direct murder by the mother herself. And we read in the Scripture, for God says very clearly: Even if a mother could forget her child—I will not forget you—I have carved you in the palm of my hand. … Even if a mother could forget something impossible—but even if she could forget—I will not forget you. And today the greatest means—the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion.

It strikes me that many recipients of that prize have insulted God and Mother Teresa by their reckless, inhumane support of abortion—including U.S. President Barack Obama. But perhaps the most insidious among them when one considers his assault on human persons is this year’s recipient, Dr. Robert Edwards.

Edwards and his partner, Patrick Steptoe, tried repeatedly to “create” a human being in a petri dish. They finally succeeded in 1977 and the first “test tube baby,” Louise Brown, was born on July 25, 1978. Louise has now had her own baby, the natural way!

Edwards has detailed much of his initial research and his viewpoints on human beings, in Nature magazine. His writings make clear the fact that he does not look upon the human embryo as a person, but rather a specimen. In fact eleven years ago he is quoted as having said, “Soon it will be a sin of parents to have a child that carries the heavy burden of genetic disease. We are entering a world where we have to consider the quality of our children.”

It is this type of morally reprehensible opinion that creates the horror I feel in my heart today as I realize that, at the extreme opposite of Mother Teresa, stands this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner. Mother’s compassionate heart for those most in need reflected her sense that Christ had called her to share His love with a world suffering from moral poverty. Edwards, on the other hand, spent the better part of his career working to “perfect” the human person by man’s standards.

Edwards supports human cloning among a host of additional reproductive technologies. Edwards’ body of work makes it clear that the best result of a genetically problematic preborn baby would be to kill it. Of that there can be no doubt.

As responsible members of society take this opportunity to examine the full breadth of complications that experimentation and manipulation of human beings has created, there is one current example that should give each of us cause for reflection. In Canada this past week, news came of a couple who had engaged the services of a surrogate mother to bear their child. Upon learning that the child was likely to have Down’s syndrome, the couple urged the woman to abort their baby. Apparently their attitude was that the baby was better off dead. The surrogate did eventually have the abortion, despite her initial desire to give birth to the baby.

Now a battle is raging in Canada among bioethicists regarding whose decision should be the overriding one in cases such as this. In the balance hangs the fate of a child who will have nothing whatsoever to say about the dignity and integrity of his or her life.

This is but one example of the fruit of Steptoe and Edwards’ work.

Blessed Mother Teresa, pray for us!