Aborting foetus if it is proven it carries thalassemia major gene
To put things in perspective, please note that me and my wife are married for almost 10 years now. We are blessed with twins (A boy and a Girl) born in 2003. Approximately, after 7-8 months of their birth we found that our daughter has a medical condition known as THALASSEMIA MAJOR. Please note that she is not capable of producing adult hameoglobin in her blood which is required to carry oxygen to entire cells in the body. She is dependent on life long blood transfusions. We take my daughter to hospital every 4-5 weeks for a blood transfusion and this is going to be rest of her life. Currently, there is no cure for thalassemia major.Due to frequent blood transfusion, she has iron overload in her body. I do not wish to go into technicalities but for simplicity please note that the blood transfusions causing a store of iron in her organ cells. This iron overload in the body causes harm to one?s body as the organs begin to fail if that iron overload is not treated. She is currently taking medications to treat her iron overload and that is also for the rest of her life. We are trying our level best to keep her iron levels down but they usually remains high in all thalassemia patients. Thalassemia comes with so many complications and the treatment is extensive, from eye, ear to alomost every single part of your body is effected.Now lets go back and analyze how she got this medical condition. Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder and if both parents have a thalassemia trait than there is a 25% chance a child is born with the severe form of thalassemia. In our case, both me and my wife carry the trait.The management of thalassemia is long term and complex, patients these days can live upto in their 30s and possibly beyond. There are complexities and hardships in raising a thalassemia child. Problems remains with heart, liver and endocrine system of the body.Allah has given us the courage to take care of our daughter and we are committed to her health.As of few months we thought of having another child but due to risk of thalassemia we are avoiding ourselves. In modern days, a test to show if a child carries thalassemia major gene or not can be done in the third month or 12th week of pregnancy.My question is if we find that the fetus carries thalassemia major gene after 12 weeks of pregnancy, can we opt for cessation of pregnancy or abortion as per Islamic rulings. My weak knowledge in Islam tells me I cannot abort the child after 12 weeks regardless of the medical condition it carries, but for conformity I seek your answer.Please note my Son is thalassemia minor / trait just like us and carry the minor symptoms of thalassemia.
