Margaret Sanger Lives!

Lots of us have the tendency to root for the underdog. When I read about Carolyn and Sujeet in Time magazine, it first struck me as a beautiful story, of two young adults with Down Syndrome who overcome obstacles to court and wed.

As I begin to examine further, what makes a valid marriage in the eyes of the Church?I begin to think. In a perfect world, one with no cohabitation, pre-marital sex or ability to play God with our fertility, a valid marriage is one that will always ALLOW for procreation.

Then the paragraph that completely saddened me:

The most delicate questions arising from a marriage like this one concern sexuality and parenthood. Women and especially men with Down syndrome have low rates of fertility, but pregnancy is possible. Carrie reluctantly ruled it out, even before she met Suj, when her mother told her, correctly, that she would have a high risk of bearing a child with DS. "I just burst into tears," she recalls, "and then I said I would not have any children." A tubal ligation ensured the decision. But she says she and her new husband have other dreams to sustain them: "To continue with our speeches, to continue to make a difference in this world for people with special needs, to have some fun time too. And to take care of each other."

What will they be speaking about? How happy they are that no more people like themselves will enter the world and be allowed the "joy" that they are experiencing??? Carrie and Suj themselves, have decided their lives really aren't worth living.

Does this sound like a happily ever after ending to you?