Since 2010, Gerber has held a “cutest baby” contest, and the winning baby is awarded with cash prizes and title of “Gerber Spokesbaby” for the year. Gerber “choose[s] the baby who best exemplifies Gerber’s longstanding heritage of recognizing that every baby is a Gerber baby.”
This year, Gerber selected 18-month-old Lucas Warren, with his contagious smile, as America’s cutest baby. Lucas happens to have Down syndrome.
This makes Lucas’ selection as the 2018 Gerber Spokesbaby especially poignant.
We live in a world where countries are bragging about leading the world in eradicating Down syndrome through selective abortions, bullies tell mothers of children with disabilities to kill their children, and the United Nations seeks to alter the right to life to allow eugenic practices.
Lucas, like so many others, is a person who has a disability, not a disease to be eradicated. Much of the world seems to be feeding into the dangerous lie that unless a person can be “perfect” they cannot be “happy,” and it is compassionate to kill them, rather than allow them to live. In fact, it was Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger who said, “I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world that have disease from their parents …”
Yet, Lucas’s nomination is a ray of hope and exposes the truth that every baby is precious and brings something unique and special to the world. Lucas is the most recent example of how children, and adults, with disabilities are happy, successful and live full lives. People with Down syndrome and other disabilities are successful actors, models, speakers, artists and musicians. But, above all, they are people created in the image of God with an inherent value and right to life.
This is why we will never cease to fight for life. Why we will tirelessly advocate for the protection and right to life of the most vulnerable, especially unborn babies.
We just once again took this fight to the U.N. Human Rights Council, defending the right of children like Lucas to live full and profound lives.
For the original article, visit aclj.org. {eoa}
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