Disabled Achieve Too

In the process of portraying Sherri Chessen Finkbine’s decision to abort in a sympathetic light, the lives of thalidomide-affected individuals were devalued (“When ‘Miss Sherri’ Got an Abortion,” Jan. 3). Particularly offensive was Chessen’s description of her fetus as “the head and torso.”

In 1962, there was no way Chessen’s doctor could have known how severely affected by thalidomide her fetus was. Disabilities ranged from mild malformations of hands and/or feet to the full syndrome--fortunately rare--of no upper and lower limbs. Even with the most severe case of the syndrome, Chessen’s child would still have been a mentally normal human being capable of understanding, loving and achieving a meaningful life.

LAURA HENDRICKSON, M.D.

Westwood