Give Life a Chance
Posted in Current Events and tagged with Abortion, Children, Parenting on March 11, 2010
While sitting in my carrel waiting for my next tax client, I saw a sight that made me smile.
A child ran by.
Nothing unusual in a place that offers numerous services to families. All children make me smile (except, perhaps, when they’re disobeying me), but I had extra reason to smile when I saw this cute little girl.
Under her blonde pigtails I saw a face touched by Down Syndrome.
I couldn’t tell you how long it’s been since I saw a small child with Down Syndrome.
Perhaps it’s just the children I’ve been around. I see dozens of children a week between church and work. But something makes me think that’s not just it.
According to a medical study mentioned in the Washington Post, there should have been a 34% in the number of children born with Down Syndrome from 1989 to 2005. In actuality, there was a 15% decrease.
While I don’t wish more children to have Down’s Syndrome, I most certainly wish more children with Down Syndrome to have the chance to live. Actually, I want ALL of them to have a chance to live. Sadly, 92% of parents who find out they are expecting a child with Down Syndrome kill that child through abortion (according to the same study).
Statistics are just that–numbers. But each child denied the chance to live (as if life and death should be in our hands) is one less child to bring a smile to our faces, to humble us, to give glory to our Creator.
I don’t necessarily think that pre-screening is a bad idea. But if we’re going to use that screening to determine which child should live or die, it should be stopped. What basis do we use to determine if a child should live or die? Quality of life? I think having a life is better than not having one. Potential for early death? There’s no earlier death than death in the womb.
What a price to pay for the sins of others.
Photo by Charlotte Morrall
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March 11th, 2010 at 1:51 am
All I can say is “Amen!”
March 11th, 2010 at 6:57 am
This is interesting, because while I’m normally pro-choice, I agree that this is a problem. I think the majority of these pregnancies are terminated because of misinformation, an overly bleak belief in the quality of life of a person with Down Syndrome, and the quest for some kind of unattainable perfect child–none of these are good reasons in my opinion.
One of my best friends found out mid-pregnancy that her child had Down Syndrome. Her doctor was racing around, scheduling tests to confirm the diagnosis quickly because it was only a week until she was too far along and could no longer have an abortion. My friend (who is also pro choice) and her husband did a little research and were like “wait, we’re keeping this baby!” As you pointed out with 92% terminating, it was an unusual decision for the doctors to see.
Anyway, they now have a perfect three year old, who happens to have Down Syndrome.
For all three of my kids, I skipped the genetic screening tests. Because while I’m pro-choice in theory, my choice was always that I would have the baby, no matter what. My kids aren’t perfect, but they’re perfect to me :) (However, I hated to skip the one screening test that is for a condition incompatible with life. I can’t imagine the pain of carrying a child for 40 weeks, only to have them born and immediately die. It’s for situations like that where I’m in favor of allowing abortion.)
March 11th, 2010 at 8:23 am
Goodmorning FGD…bless you heart…this is outstanding all the way. Amen, amen and amen…
March 11th, 2010 at 8:36 am
Wow, I knew it happened a lot, but did not realize the stats were that high. Like WhatACard, I am normally pro-choice, but this makes me really sad. This is a topic I am going to bring up with my husband tonight. I could never decide that my child does not deserve to live just because he/she has Down Syndrome. I can’t believe that so many do. Thanks for posting. I will certainly be sending up some prayers today for parents faced with this “choice.”
March 11th, 2010 at 10:08 am
AMEN to that!
March 11th, 2010 at 10:15 am
WhatACard and Tara: I can’t imagine how hard it would be to find out that your child likely has DS (the tests aren’t perfect). But I also can’t imagine choosing to end the life of the child based on that information.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:28 am
Technology is a double-edged sword. Decades ago families would never know in advance. I’m led to believe (though not niave!) that the love and bond formed with the baby while in utero may have saved that child from such a fate.
92% indeed is sad. I am curious though of the reported statistical 8%, how many families keep the child compared to placing him/her up for adoption.
I only wonder because I often think about the murdered FL couple who adopted and cared for all the disabled children.
Personally I opted against the genetic tests- their sketchy results and inaccuracy if the due date is miscalculated only sealed their fate with me.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Ronnica, an amniocentesis will give you definite results as to whether your child has DS. It’s just the screening test that is not sure…it only tells you the risk that your child has a condition, and then compares that to the “normal” risk. I.e., a friend just got a screening test that came back as a 1 in 35 risk of Trisomy 18, which is considered a positive (as in, bad) result. She had an amnio, which thankfully showed the baby was chromosomally normal.
I don’t think that people are terminating pregnancies based on the screening tests, or at least I hope not. I think they’re using the screening tests to decide to have more invasive tests (amnio or CVS) which can give definitive results since they check the DNA.
Not that I’m saying that makes it okay, but just wanted to make sure you knew it’s not like people are having abortions based on imprecise screening tests.
Interesting discussion today.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
WAC: Thanks for the correction. Did a little more research, and an error in an amniocentesis only happens 1 out of 1000 times, which are good odds, and certainly much better than a screening. Though there probably are SOME parents who would abort based on a screening (if women will kill their children for little/no reason, certainly some would find that reason enough), I would imagine that stastic is referring to those who received news of DS based on an amniocentesis.
March 11th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
I think the quality of life in question is that of the parents. They are afraid that because their child may not have a normal life… that THEY IN TURN will not have a normal life, so they selfishly choose to terminate.
@ What a Card, Please go read Angie at Bring The Rain >>http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/<<. For that is what bravery and love of God and love of a child in your womb, who may not live looks like. Go to the beginning of her blog and read at least up to April 2008.
I once dated a guy who had a history of DS in his family. We talked about the chances of having a child with disabilities if we did get married.
He said, "But TRS, they can test for that."
I said, "Are you suggesting terminating a pregnancy because the child would have Down Syndrome?"
He explained that in his career field, it would be really hard to support a child with disabilities. I bit my tongue before I said that if that were the case, he might have to get a real job.
We broke up shortly after.
And I only date Catholic men now.
March 11th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Very interesting discussion today. I want to add something to a prior comment: it isn’t just women who choose to do this. One would think that some of the fathers would also have a say in this. Or at least, one would hope so…
March 11th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Just to add a bit, I think it’s totally fine and healthy for a woman to get screened and even tested for the different genetic defects. We didn’t with our first but we did with our third after the defects that our second had. The decision, for us, was not to decided whether to terminate or not but so that if our baby had any problems, we could prepare our hearts, our lives, and our home for him/her.
March 11th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
I love this. I always thought if I was asked if I wanted screening for that, it would only be so I could prepare myself, learn as much as I could about it, etc. Termination because of that should not be an option, imo.
March 11th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
As the mother of a perfect little boy who happens to have Down syndrome, the statistics are appalling to me. I lurk on a “termination for medical reasons” board. Most of the women terminate for T21 (Down syndrome) and the ignorance is shocking. These women are pushed by medical practitioners to terminate and are rushed to make a decision so they have time to do so. Many of them have not done their homework and have some really ignorant ideas about what Ds means. What really irks me is the notion they seem to hold that they made this difficult decision “for the baby”…like it was so sacrificial to abort. Ugh.
March 12th, 2010 at 12:17 am
The comments on this post were fascinating. The statistics were mind boggling. I love your boldness Ronnica. We give money to a pro life women’s center. I love that you give your voice.
March 14th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Gosh Ronnica, it has been so long since I have found my way over here. What an interesting post to read. I had a Downs sister. She passed away on Dec 31 1999 at the age of 35. She was a blessing to our entire family and dearly missed by all of us. She brought a light and love that we would have never experienced without her. I am so sad when I hear of people who dispose of their baby like it is something dirty or untouchable or to be ashamed of.
I remember one day after my sister died, I was led to approach a young mother with a Downs baby in her stroller. As I was talking to her and cooing over the baby, I looked at the mother and said to her, “You know you were chosen to be this babies mother. God chose you to do a job no other mother could do.” I did not mean to but I made her cry. Fortunately her mother was there with her and she wrapped her arms around her and said to her, “See honey, that is what I have been telling you all along.” It was so out of character for me, and I know God had a hand in it.
Thanks for an amazing insight to this.
March 15th, 2010 at 2:08 am
I read the same study and called my mother right afterward, my brother has DS. He is the joy of our life. My parents wanted a large family, by large 10 bio children and then opening their home to fosteer care. They instead got Shawn. A child forever. We cannot believe that noone would want such joy in their life…but I understand that we are lucky. I was also born with a sever disablity. When my sister and sister-in-law were pregnant they had testing. My mother was very put off by this. My sister said it wasn’t to terminate the baby but to allow the doctor’s to have the information possible to give their babies a chance of a healthy or as healthy as possible life.
As an adult I have worked with children with disablties as a Special Education Teacher then as a Program Director at a children’s psych hospital. Being a parent is hard and scrary and having a child who is “different” is even more scrary. They need love and support. If we keep selecting whether to keep these babies we will infact limit money that will go to research and education.