By Dave Andrusko
On Sunday, World Down Syndrome Day, pro-life South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem sent out the following encouraging tweet
The Governor’s announcement came as absolutely no surprise. It was her bill that the legislature enthusiastically supported!
The state Senate unanimously approved House Bill 1110, banning abortions based on a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, on March 3. The Senate’s 35-0 vote came less than two weeks after the state House also unanimously approved HN 1110 on a vote of 68-0.
“The bill would penalize any physician who performs an abortion knowing the woman seeking it is doing so because of a possible Down syndrome diagnosis based on a screening,” Danielle Ferguson reported.
In her January 12 State of the State address, Gov. Noem promised to introduce the bill.
She said, “The Declaration of Independence summarizes what we all know in our hearts to be true: God created each of us and endowed all of us with the right to life. This is true for everyone, including those with an extra chromosome. I look forward to the day when the Supreme Court recognizes that all preborn children inherently possess this right to life, too. Until that time comes, I am asking the South Dakota legislature to pass a law that bans the abortion of a preborn child, just because that child is diagnosed with Down syndrome.”
When the State Affairs committee first took testimony, some 14 people testified in favor of the bill and none against.
Reporting at the for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Danielle Ferguson wrote
Katie Shaw, an advocate for Down syndrome from Indiana, said her parents found out she had Down syndrome when her mother was pregnant. Her doctors didn’t mention abortion, she said, and told her parents she would need surgery the day she was born to “start planning what would help me have a wonderful life.”
“Help those with Down syndrome have a chance,” she told the House State Affairs committee Wednesday morning. “Make the world more wonderful.”
Tami Fite, of Platte, testified alongside her family. She and her husband adopted their son Cod, knowing he had Down syndrome, she said .She added she knew many other families in South Dakota who would do or have done the same.
“We were unable to have children of our own. We knew we would be willing to be called to raising children with Down syndrome,” she said.
Virtually every baby diagnosed with Down syndrome in Iceland is aborted, 95% in Denmark are aborted (“In 2019, only 18 were born in the entire country,” according to The Atlantic), and approximately 77% are aborted in France.
Approximately two out of third babies diagnosed with Down syndrome in the United States are aborted.
Thank you, Gov. Noem, for standing up for these babies.