Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Woman pressured into aborting baby with down syndrome has regrets
CLINIC QUOTES ^ | Nov 7, 2019 | Sarah Terzo

Posted on 11/17/2019 9:02:01 PM PST by Morgana

Marie Ideson was 16 weeks pregnant when she found out her baby had Down syndrome. Ideson originally wanted to keep her baby. She recounts hearing the news:

A woman said, “I’m sorry to say your baby has Down.” It was devastating. My first thought was, how will we cope?

I told Allan [her husband] I wanted to keep the baby and he agreed.

But Ideson was about to experience intense pressure to abort. She had hoped that the doctor she was seeing would support the decision to keep the baby. Instead:

… doctors said she could be born needing emergency heart surgery and have bowel and muscle tone problems – and that was if she survived. At no time did anyone suggest we might keep our baby. A termination was presented as the only way forward.

A nurse said not aborting my baby would cause it to suffer, and she’d only become a burden on society if I went ahead. She even said, “99 per cent of women in your situation wouldn’t want the baby.” Having it would be a burden on our other children, too, she said, especially if it was likely to need many operations throughout its life.

Our children were at the hospital with us. I looked at them and thought the medical staff must be right.

She gave in to pressure to abort. She swallowed the tablet that would kill her child:

I felt numb as I swallowed the tablet. I remember saying to Allan, “I just want to keep my baby.” But he just kept saying, “But they must think the baby’s really bad, Marie – it’s for the best.”

It wasn’t until Ideson delivered her stillborn baby girl that she was faced with the horror of what she had done:

She was so small, but otherwise perfect. I started sobbing uncontrollably. What had I done? I realized I’d been bullied into taking that first pill. I felt overwhelmed by anger. I should’ve been sent home to think about all the options. It should’ve been pointed out that having my baby was an option and that, with medical advances, most Down babies go on to live happy lives.

Ideson named her child Lillie and mourned deeply for her. She said:

I was bullied into going ahead with an abortion…I only wish I could turn back the clock. I think of the daughter I never had every day. I’ll always regret it.

Ideson came to resent her husband for encouraging her to abort, and the abortion eventually tore apart their marriage.

I knew he was devastated, too, but I was angry he’d allowed staff to rush me into getting rid of her. The feeling he didn’t support me when I needed him most festered between us.

The final straw came when I was in labor with Reuben [her next baby]. We were at home and the midwives wanted me to go to the hospital, but I told them I couldn’t go back to where I’d terminated Lillie. Allan tried to persuade me to go and, in the end, I had no choice. I felt, again, Allan hadn’t spoken up for me when I was at my most vulnerable. I couldn’t find it in my heart to forgive him.

The marriage did not survive. Ideson says:

My eldest sons are 25 now. When I was pregnant with them, I knew of women who had babies with Down syndrome. Today, I never see mums with Down babies. I can’t believe that everyone who finds out their baby has Down syndrome willingly chooses to abort it. I can’t help feeling that other women must be having abortions they don’t want.

Alison Squire Smith “I was bullied into aborting my baby’” Herald Sun December 4, 2011


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: abortion; clinicquotes; downsyndrome; forcedabortion; prolife; theysaidit; trisomy21
So many women pregnant with a downs child say they are pressured by the medical community to abort. It's amazing that "educated" doctors and nurses hate downs people so much.
1 posted on 11/17/2019 9:02:01 PM PST by Morgana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Morgana

If the midwives were telling her to get to the hospital, something must have been wrong.

I can’t say as I blame her husband for encouraging her to go.

However, I find it inconceivable that they couldn’t find a different hospital to go to.


2 posted on 11/17/2019 9:22:05 PM PST by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

“It’s amazing that “educated” doctors and nurses hate downs people so much. “

So much for the Hippocratic oath of do no harm.

They are liberals, one of their subconscious goals is to create their version of heaven on earth. Special people that need a little extra care can’t exist in their utopia.


3 posted on 11/17/2019 9:53:13 PM PST by reviled downesdad (Some of the lost will never believe the Truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

BUT if any of us were pressured to go shoot a few people on the street, would ANY of us give in?

Not threats of violence if we didn’t go kill some people.

Just pressure.

I wouldn’t.

We makes EXCUSES for these women and maybe i’m becoming too hardcore but HELL WE DON’T HAVE SYMPATHY OR MAKE EXCUSES FOR BLACK TEENS WHO HAD CRACK ADDICT MOMS AND NO DAD WHEN THEY WERE BORN, effectively sealing their future is killing animals.

Why should I HAVE sympathy for women who murdered their own children because of “pressure”

A murder they will never see prison time for.

And against the MOST INNOCENT among us.


4 posted on 11/17/2019 10:01:12 PM PST by dp0622 (Radicals, racists Don't point fingers at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin' to make ends meet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Like I said I was always pro life, but never gave it a lot of though.

You are turning me into a (non violent) radical!!

But can one REALLY be too radical when it comes to abortion.

I just got my “40 days of life” email for the NYC protests.


5 posted on 11/17/2019 10:03:01 PM PST by dp0622 (Radicals, racists Don't point fingers at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin' to make ends meet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reviled downesdad

the road to utopia is a lie paved with evil deeds that ends up giving you the dystopia that you have not foreseen.


6 posted on 11/17/2019 10:56:25 PM PST by PCPOET7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Many years ago they ‘diagnosed’ that my child had downs. He’s now 30 years old, Married with a masters in Finance and Economics G13 contracts spook.

Not that i’m biased but he’s the smartest most focused kid i ever knew.

I perceive that there are some ‘doctors’ who are more focused on ‘family planning’ than they probably should be.


7 posted on 11/18/2019 1:35:26 AM PST by Samurai_Jack (War is cruelty, there is no use trying to reform it; the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

I may have missed where this happened. If it is in Britain, with the NHS women are always ’encouraged’ to abort as the NHS doesn’t want to spend the money to keep children with anomalies alive. Just another bad aspect of Socialized Medicine.


8 posted on 11/18/2019 5:26:27 AM PST by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell..?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reviled downesdad; dp0622; Morgana; metmom
There are a lot of beautiful Down Children videos out there: this is one of the best:

Dear Future Mom

Perfectly beautiful, never mentions abortion, yet it was --- can you believe this? --- banned from public or media showing in France, because the authorities said it "might" make some women "feel uncomfortable" about their previous decision to abort.

Watch it. It's so touching.

9 posted on 11/18/2019 6:55:13 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o ("All things... He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise Him." - Gerard M. Hopkins)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson