By Bill Pincus, MD
“These children are a blessing, they’re a gift. I pray that the day will come soon when we will welcome these children, and not erase them; when we will embrace them and love them.” — Previous North Carolina RTL Prayer Breakfast Speaker Kurt Kondrich with his daughter Chloe
Down syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by abnormal cell division resulting in extra full or partial copy of chromosome 21. The global incidence of trisomy twenty-one (Down syndrome) is approximately 0.047% of the total population. This translates to one in 2135 persons.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one in every 700 babies in the United States is born with Down syndrome, making Down syndrome the most common chromosomal condition. About 6,000 babies with Down syndrome are born in the United States each year. (National Down syndrome Society.)
Parents are often pressured by healthcare professionals to terminate pregnancies with “troubling diagnosis.” Many times, there is not a fair presentation of options being offered to parents. Parents are not properly informed by healthcare professionals about what life with a child with Down syndrome could be like. Often, materials the parents receive are not sensitive or hopeful.
From “Sharing Mayo Clinic” found on the Mayo Clinic website, “Rewriting the Script for Parents of Babies with Down Syndrome”
As the Diercks have discovered in the seven years since Easton’s birth, it’s a life that includes both more normalcy and more joy than she ever imagined that day in her hospital bed. “I used to think, ‘I don’t know how I would handle it if I had a child with a disability.’ I didn’t think I could do it,” she says. “But my greatest fear has turned into my biggest blessing. I would take another Easton in a heartbeat.”
The Dierck family is not alone in that many other parents of children with Down Syndrome express their sentiment about having a child with a disability.
Down syndrome people live independently, go to college, work, get married and live to their full potential. They lead fulfilling lives.
A screening test in the first trimester does not conclusively diagnosed Down syndrome. It predicts the likelihood that the baby MAY have a chromosomal abnormality. There are additional diagnostic tests that are available as the baby grows. Some of these are associated with a small but not insignificant risk of miscarriage.
In 1973 we passed the Endangered Species Act. Also, in 1973 we allowed abortion throughout all 9 months of pregnancy. These laws have had significant impact. The American Bald Eagle has now come back from near extinction yet over 62 million babies have targeted and eliminated by abortion in the United States and over 42 million babies a year are eliminated throughout the world.
A friend of mine, Kurt Kondrich, poses this question – As prenatal testing advances: Will we get a prenatal test for autism? How about depression, how about for baldness, ADHD, or OCD? How about for being short or having brown hair? This is the ultimate form of discrimination, prejudice, profiling, bigotry, bias, exclusion, and it’s eugenics.
When society says we can get rid of the person because they don’t meet the cultural mandates for perfection, then we are all in trouble! This is not a political issue. It is not a Democrat or Republican issue. It is a societal issue. It has to do with life and respecting people for who they are. Could we determine if a person fails a test, they are just terminated? An innocent person? Think about that.
One last thought: Trisomy 21 persons have no malice. Sure, they have some behavioral problems but they will never intentionally hurt anyone. So, I would ask, who are the DISABLED PEOPLE in our society? Who is the next to face prenatal genocide?
Please put an end to this ultimate extreme form of discrimination, prejudice, profiling, bigotry, bias, exclusion, hate, and eugenics. Support House Bill 453: The Human Life Non-Discrimination Act/No Eugenics.