Should a Severely Disabled Girl Be Allowed to Grow Up?

It’s a question I would never have considered possible. But today I read an article that was both fascinating and troubling. PEOPLE magazine reported the heart-wrenching story of a nine-year-old girl with severe disabilities, and her parent’s controversial decision to use hormones to halt her growth and physical maturation. (PEOPLE, “Girl, Interrupted,” January 22, 2007, by Macon Morehouse.) Ashley, from Seattle, has static encephalopathy, a condition of the brain which has left her developmentally like an infant. She is unable to walk, speak, and is typically seen propped with pillows, because she dislikes being strapped to her wheelchair in an … Continue reading