Cape Town - Earlier today, News24 published a story about a 20-year-old Scottish woman who is suing a hospital where she had an abortion in 2001 after one of her twins survived the operation.
Stacy Dow, who is raising her now three-year-old daughter Jayde with her parents, is seeking $250 000 (nearly R3m) to cover the costs of raising the child.
"I have got a child now that I wasn't planning to have and I believe the hospital should take some responsibility for that," she said.
We asked you to tell us what your opinion was on this matter, and this is what you had to say:
What future can that child have with such a mother? To indulge in unprotected sex, to attempt an abortion, and then sue for the non-termination of her child's life? That little child deserves many prayers. - kllaurador@comcast.net
What message is this for the surviving twin? If she doesn't want this baby - give it to a family that does. - BD Clinch
Whatever one might say about the young mother and her motives in this case - the fact remains that the hospital was negligent. The operation failed and due care was not taken by the doctors. Let them pay. - Hope
The mother is a ghoul. She should thank the Lord for giving her a daughter and repent for murdering the twin. How is this child going to feel knowing her mother considered her to be such a burden that she sued the hospital that failed to murder her? - Mom.com
This girl makes my stomach sick. I don't want to judge but in my opinion she is going straight to hell for her sins. Same as the woman in central England with the similar case. - Mac Seoin
I think Stacy Dow is lucky to have one of her two children alive. I believe she should be thanking the hospital staff not suing them for keeping one of her children alive. - Miz Ronaldo
I am horrified about the suing! Maybe if it was done more quietly, and at the time? but damn? the child is three now... can you imagine later when the child learns she was unwanted and a part of an abortion attempt and not only was she not wanted, now her mom is suing the doctor for NOT killing her! Sorry, I am horrified for the child. - Joan
Jesus will punish this woman who has acted against God. We need to outlaw abortion in all forms and string up the doctors who perform it. Abortion is wrong - it is against morality and God's law. - Anon
The 20-year-old woman should take responsibility for her child - it is easy money for her. Rather give the child to someone who wants it - she does not! The effect her actions will have on her remaining twin when it grows up and finds out what the mother did to the other twin will be enormous. I'm pretty much disgusted with her actions. - Heather Kennedy
I think that she should never tell her daughter that she asked for compensation from the hospital because her daughter survived the abortion. It would have been different if she had asked for it in immediate response to her realisation that she still is pregnant, when the bond between mother and daughter might have not been that close as now, but four years later? - Miz Ronaldo
You've got to be kidding me right?! So, this three-year-old little girl gets to grow up knowing that not only does she not have her twin brother or sister but that her own mother is the one who murdered him or her. She also will know that she was equally unwanted and that her mother sued the hospital that didn't get rid of her. Nice... real nice. - MW in NY
The response to the account of a twin surviving an abortion is susceptible to becoming a pro-choice, anti-abortion debate. Without suggesting which side of the fence I reside on, my single overwhelming question remains: What on earth is the mother going to tell her daughter about her unborn sibling? I cannot imagine being in the position of trying to explain to a child how I did not want a baby and if I had had my way, you both wouldn't have been here. - Emmim
I can just imagine this child reading the newspapers when she is an adult and seeing that her mother tried to kill her, but wasnt successful so her mother sued someone because her murder wasn;t successful... almost like trying to get a refund from a hired hitman (doctor) who failed his mission. Absolutely pathetic. This person isnt even human... much less a woman. - rked
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