It's a weird world when if you don't kill your baby who has been pre-diagnosed with Down Syndrome you are accused of being a "sinner" or a grossly irresponsible individual. Elizabeth R. Schultz in a Business Week Online article says,
"A recent book even branded me a "genetic outlaw.' My transgresion? I am one of the dwindling number of women who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome and choose not to terminate our pregnancies."
She describes new procedures and advances in prenatal diagnoses, and says
From my perspective, though, our increasingly sophisticated technological capacity to identify genetic defects in our children also presents some very real threats to the kind of world we will be passing on to them. A few years ago, author Christine Rosen wrote, "Those who oppose discarding unfit embryos or aborting unfit fetuses will soon become—perhaps already are—a dissident culture, tolerated at best, but more likely heavily regulated by a society that increasingly expects only healthy children to be born.
"This is an excellent article of which I am sharing only a portion. To those parents who are in the throes of decision, she says
We might tell them that studies show that people living with disabilities judge the quality of their own lives much higher than others expect. We might share with them stories of the incredible grace, joy, and happiness that many parents of children with disabilities experience. . .
Of her own child she says "I would think hard about whether the world would really be a better place without my son's soft, gentle, deep, almond-shaped eyes."
The article benefits from many readers' responses. Here's one:
Review: My son has Down syndrome. Of course, I wasn't happy to hear that he would have this condition--no parent would wish for a disabled child. But now, 4 years later, my son is such a source of light and happiness in our family--it is inconceivable to think of life without him. Our lives are richer because of him. My daughters are more empathetic and tolerant of others different from them because of their experiences with their brother. When we try to eliminate those who are different or "less perfect," we diminish our humanity and take away from the world the gentler, kinder spirits who would make us better people. Shame on us.
(HT: John Derbyshire at The Corner)