DOWN SYNDROME DISCUSSION

From the Family Research Center:

Down Syndrome: Death Sentence or Divine Smile?
December 14, 2011
Time: 12:00 pm (ET) - 01:00 pm (ET)

Click here to register for our upcoming Family Policy Lecture.

An expecting mother visits her doctor, for a routine pregnancy check-up. In all the uncertainty, does she want to know if her baby has Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome?

In October 2011, a San Diego company, Sequenom, introduced a simple blood test called MaterniT21 that promises to be inexpensive and highly accurate in diagnosing Down syndrome.

But studies show that, in the United States, an estimated 92 percent of women choose to abort their child when they receive a Down syndrome diagnosis.

What if children with Down syndrome offer a special joy and blessing to their families and neighbors? And what if the genetic research is bringing us closer to treatment for the intellectual disabilities as well as the physical challenges facing children with this chromosomal abnormality?

Join us on December 14, as Leticia Velasquez and Mark Bradford offer their vivid personal stories and promising scientific research surrounding Down syndrome.

Leticia Velasquez is an English professor wife of twenty years, and homeschooling mother of three girls, Gabriela, Isabella, and her youngest daughter Christina who was born with Down syndrome. She is the co-founder of KIDS--Keep Infants with Down Syndrome, which advocates for the dignity of unborn children with Down syndrome in the media. Velasquez's work has been published in USA Today, Reuters, Chicago Sun-Times, and National Catholic Register. She has been a guest on both NPR and EWTN and blogs at Cause of Our Joy which details daily life in a family with a child with Down syndrome. Her recent book, A Special Mother is Born, is a compilation of vivid, personal stories from over thirty parents who have nurtured children with disabilities.

Mark Bradford is the Executive Vice President of The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) which is based in Philadelphia , PA. His responsibilities include managing the daily operations of the Center, promotion of the Center's programs, fund-raising, and constituent relations. After many years in secondary education and then as a seminary professor, Mark turned his attention to business administration, first as a head of school for a small Catholic prep school, before joining the staff of the NCBC in 2005. The NCBC has been actively involved in assisting the Jerome Lejeune Foundation to become established in the United States. Founded in Paris in 1996, the Foundation has contributed over $21 million to research funding and has over 5,000 patients on its clinical roster at the Lejeune Institute in Paris. Mark's role with the Lejeune Foundation on behalf of the NCBC has been to assist in the establishment of a business structure in the U.S., and as a spokesman for the Foundation's activities in order to build a base of support for the Foundations' U.S. operations. Mark is married to his wife Denise, and together they have 7 children, one of which is blessed with an extra 21^st chromosome.