Aborting the retarded.

I want to explain why I and many sincere Catholics disagree with the editors' views on abortion and mental retardation ("Grassroots Eugenics," July 15). I am the mother of a mentally deficient child who committed suicide. The experience of living with my son's anguish has convinced me that Christ's command that we love one another absolutely forbids deliberately inflicting suffering on our children. I don't believe that the many women who refused to choose retardation for their child acted from selfish motives.

We all know what being mentally deficient really means: it means we will always be dependent on other people. It means we will be a child in our parents' home forever. It means we will never hold a job which pays enough for us to marry the person we love and have children of our own. Many women have decided that aborting a severely retarded child was the right thing to; I don't think they were morally blind.

CLAUDETTE KANE

Austin, Tex.

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