Ready to Parent, Just Not This Child

A medical review from 2002 of elective abortions in the UK and the US found that around 92 percent of all foetuses diagnosed with Down’s syndrome were aborted. In Denmark, medical experts estimate the rate of abortions to be even higher. If the current trend continues, it is predicted that the last Down’s syndrome baby in Denmark could be born in 2030.

This past week I have been astounded by several articles coming across my screen about children with T21. One article reported New Zealand's expressed purpose of mandating pre-nantal screening with hopes that more moms-to-be will terminate. The above quote out of Denmark openly discusses eradicating people with T21 with the same hope we once had about wiping out polio. Perhaps more enraging than the actual articles are the comments that follow. Somehow, this issue is seen as a "Pro-life vs. Pro-choice" issue. 

Am I the only one who sees a difference between a person for whatever reason deciding they are not ready to be a parent and someone who purposely wanted to be a parent just not to the child they got?

Am I the only one sickened by masses of people outraged that ocean life died after the oil spills (because they were victims of cruelty they were helpless to protect themselves against), or the fanaticism about protecting endangered species but show no concern over wiping out a faction of the human race? 

At one time or another in human history we all have been devalued based on our color, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc. The difference is that we rose up and fought ... discrimination based on color is sickening, women can vote, gay people are finally tasting equality, and Hitler was a pig. 

People with Down Syndrome are not going to rise up and fight, they have already been dwindled in population to the point where their mere existence does not warrant serious money in research. They have even been devalued in the eyes of their very mothers, the ones who have been robbed of the opportunity to parent such a child, by doctors, specialists, and society who tell her the child will suffer, be a burden to her and her children, and be socially unacceptable. 

Truthfully it matters not to me who is offended by this, but turning the issue of wiping out a portion of the human race based on their undesirable extra chromosome into a "choice" issue is insulting and cowardly. The fact that a child is loved and wanted until the prenatal test results come back at which point mom wants a "do-over" is not only morally bankrupt but says far more about our society than it does our children.

For those who terminate because "they are not strong enough," your child would have made you stronger. For those of you who don't want your child to "suffer," any child could be born with a health issue, and outside of those I don't know any people - children or adults - with Down Syndrome who suffer. They actually enjoy life with an insight we can only catch a glimpse of when they are consoling us, or caring about someone else, or endlessly trying to achieve something, or selflessly trying to make others happy. 

Society thinks using words like "retard" boils down to political correctness as it judges people by their weight, clothing choices, and educations. Society finds it sexy to save the trees, and the wildlife, and the creatures of the ocean. 

What of these children who did nothing but exist because you desired them and will be wiped out because you are disgusted by them?

So too am I tired of the argument that these children are a leech to public money. Really? There are many who best hope governments do not use this issue as a litmus test for who should be allowed to be born. As a therapist I say unequivocally as a population, people with T21 are among the best contributors to society, they not only work but desire to work, to contribute, to be accepted. 

Where is the "movement?" Where is the concern? Where is the outrage of the eugenic movement across the world? Or is it easier to neatly cover this issue up with the blanket of "choice?"