Social media and legacy media have erupted over the announcement by well-known YouTuber Jesse Tyler Ridgway, who goes by McJuggerNuggets, and his wife that they aborted their baby boy earlier this week because prenatal testing determined he has a 95% chance of having Trisomy 21—Down syndrome.
Those who believe all human lives are created in the image of God and are of equal value are heartbroken and righteously angry. Feticide-supporters who believe some lives have more value and more rights than others are unrighteously furious at those who condemn the actions of Ridgway and his wife Ashley.
Some who are justifiably upset about the Ridgways’ decision to have their child killed point to the sick irony of a post by Jesse Ridgway about their dog just three weeks ago in which he called his dog his “hero” for surviving another year with Stage 4 kidney disease.
Jesse has now posted an angry X response condemning critics of his and his wife’s decision to have their son killed. Maybe, just maybe those who don’t like public criticism ought not expose details of their personal lives for fame, kicks, and money.
Ridgway angrily writes,
I’ve never seen such hate and vitriol for two people grieving the loss of their unborn child and making an impossible decision. The last 24 hours have exposed a side of humanity that is deeply disturbing. Being called “murderous pieces of shit, evil, compared to Hitler” and receiving NON-STOP DEATH THREATS. Seeing my 6-year old dog with Stage 4 Kidney Disease be used as a weapon … or saying we’ll regret this decision forever and must repent to God is absolute insanity. …
So many saying they would’ve kept the child, put it up for adoption or are suddenly ready to adopt a down syndrome child, that’s great! You can do all those things. However, many of the people throwing stones don’t even have children, let alone one with a condition and most likely will never do the things they say they’re going to do.
There has been some heinous shit said about my wife and I on some extremely large accounts…It baffles me that there are such trashy-ass people who have significant followings. If you can’t contribute anything meaningful to the conversation aside from insults then just don’t post. … I can’t wait to see all these words get minced and twisted again so people can grow their followings and stir outrage. It’s a natural ecosystem after all, bottom-feeders have to get their meal too!
Ridgway is right about the importance of having meaningful conversations rather than just hurling insults. But either he is being dishonest or he hasn’t read very deeply because I’ve read some meaningful and thoughtful analyses of the Ridgways’ decision.
Two months ago, the Ridgways posted a YouTube video in which they show their first ultrasound photos, rejoicing in what was growing inside Ashley:
Ashley: Look at the little baby!
Jesse: Guys, that’s way more than a dot! That’s a full child being grown.
Ashley: That’s a real baby! … I honestly though it was just going to be a blob, but this is way more than I expected.
Jesse: We even saw the heartbeat flickering. …
Ashley: It was so nice to see confirmation of like, Yes, there actually is a baby.
So, we can dispense with the usual “blob of cells” rationalization. Ashley and Jesse knew there was a baby growing inside her.
Here is a summary of the remaining rationalizations the Ridgways used to justify the killing of their own child:
- They consulted many people.
- They didn’t make the difficult decision lightly.
- Down syndrome is “shitty from a health perspective.”
- Down syndrome affects both the individual with the condition and the family.
That’s it. Apparently, those factors are sufficient in the minds of Jesse and Ashley Ridgway to justify having their own baby killed.
What other “shitty” health conditions justify parents having their children killed? What if a “shitty” health condition is discovered until the day before birth or the day after?
What relevance does the pain the Ridgways experienced when deciding to have their child killed have on an assessment of the morality of killing him?
In the 1930’s one of the Nazi attempts to efface, dilute, or diminish the onus of moral offense which they bore was to twist grotesquely the concept of suffering. In order to mitigate or obfuscate their guilt, some former Nazis emphasized their profound suffering at having to perform their unpleasant duties. Hannah Arendt explains,
The trick used by Himmler … was very simple and probably very effective: it consisted in turning these instincts around . . . in directing them toward the self … in saying … how heavily the task weighed upon my shoulders!
Similarly, some abortion advocates emphasize the suffering women experience prior to, during, and sometimes following their abortions. I am not suggesting that their suffering is manufactured, nor am I trying to diminish the intensity of their suffering. Rather, I am suggesting that the focus on the suffering of women who choose abortion has strategic implications.
Suffering serves an exculpatory function in regard to the moral implications of the act of abortion. Because the woman suffers, it is implied, the moral offense is reduced. This emphasis on a mother’s suffering is intended to cultivate a sympathetic response in the public through an open acknowledgment of the moral gravity of one’s actions. It is difficult to explain, however, why a morally neutral “choice,” one so devoid of moral implications as to render it impervious to legal regulation, would cause such profound suffering. One especially wonders at the gullibility of the American people.
To “end a pregnancy” or “empty a uterus” requires the killing of a human, in this case the Ridgways’ “baby,” with the “beating heart”—their words two months ago. The most likely procedure used to end the life of the Ridgways’ imperfect child was a “dilation and evacuation” (D&E).
If that was the method the Ridgways used, they paid someone to insert forceps into Ashley’s womb and pull their living baby boy limb from limb to extract him because his body was too big to fit through her cervix intact. Then the “physician” crushed his skull in order to yank it out. Afterwards, the medical team had to examine all the parts to ensure that no arms, legs, or head remained inside Ashley.
Seems pretty evil to me and to millions of other women and men.