As any mother would be, a New Zealand woman was heartbroken when she learned that her unborn baby had numerous health problems.

But rather than comfort and treasure her child, she chose to have the child aborted.

The unnamed woman recently shared her story with The Spinoff, a New Zealand publication that is featuring women’s abortion stories. She justified having her unborn baby’s life destroyed by claiming that she did not want the child to suffer.

“It’s not a choice, it’s a decision. One that I made because I already had so much love for the little life inside me,” she wrote. “And because I chose to suffer all my life so that my baby didn’t have to suffer for even a second.”

The woman never mentioned what condition her unborn baby had, and she did not give any indication that it was life threatening. No matter what the condition was, her baby was precious and irreplaceable, and he or she deserved better than death.

Remembering the day when she first learned that something was wrong, the woman wrote:

She said ‘abnormal’. She said not to get upset. She said to call my midwife. Some words came out of my mouth, short ones like ‘OK’ and ‘yes’ because I knew my life and the life of my baby were about to change. …

Just days after that scan, my worst fears were confirmed: my baby had the disorder they’d suspected, along with other organ complications. They told me I was one in 10,000. That was the likelihood of this disorder occurring in a pregnancy at my age.

Was I supposed to feel lucky or unlucky?

My partner and I had already talked over the possibilities before hearing the diagnosis but there were still so many decisions to make. Which type of termination would be less traumatic but best for me. Whether my partner and I would tell people and how much would we tell them. Whether we wanted any form of ceremony. How soon to start trying again.

The woman even acknowledged that her unborn baby was her child and was a living, unique human being. But she still tried to defend the fact that she chose to have him or her put to death.

“After being reminded again that there was no going back after the next step, I took the pill that would end my baby’s life. … Three days later, in hospital, I delivered my baby. I became a mother, but I left the hospital with empty hands,” she wrote.

The woman claimed her concern was for her baby, but her baby did not have a choice about their life. They had no chance to say if they were suffering or that they wanted to live, despite their suffering.

In today’s society, suffering is being used as an excuse to kill the sufferer, rather than alleviate the suffering of an individual human being. Unborn babies with disabilities, the elderly, people who are suffering from debilitating conditions are being killed in abortions, assisted suicides and euthanasia. Even children now are becoming targets of euthanasia as well as abortion, supposedly because it’s better to kill someone than to relieve their suffering.

Human life is being cheapened by this notion that certain human beings are better off dead. It sets a very dangerous precedent when one human being can decide for another whether they should live or die based on their assessment of suffering.