Posted on 09/09/2008 7:02:15 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Perhaps nothing Sarah Palin said in her boffo address at the Republican Convention had as much resonance as her statement that “sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.”
That truism was redeemed from mere Hallmark-card sentimentality because everyone knew that Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant and that Palin herself gave birth to a boy, Trig, with Down syndrome in April. The joys in the Palin household lately have been particularly leavened with challenges.
Palin’s choice to give birth to Trig after she learned of his condition 13 weeks into her pregnancy endeared her to pro-lifers and contributed to the frenzied excitement among social conservatives about her selection. The national stage she’s now been given means her choice could have much wider significance and constitute an enormous symbolic leap ahead for children with Down syndrome and their parents.
As many as an estimated nine out of 10 children with Down syndrome are aborted in the womb, sought out by increasingly sophisticated prenatal tests and eliminated as too flawed, too burdensome, too different to live. This is the ugly eugenic underbelly of American life, even as we congratulate ourselves on our tolerance and diversity.
Parents of children with Down syndrome routinely encounter a “how could you?” disapproval. Former Washington Post reporter Patricia E. Bauer writes that strangers consider her daughter with Down syndrome as falling “into the category of avoidable human suffering. At best, a tragic mistake. At worst, a living embodiment of the pro-life movement. Less than human. A drain on society. That someone I love is regarded that way is unspeakably painful to me.”
Here comes Trig, who — via his mother, especially if she wins — will have a high-profile platform to expose the rest of us to his personhood and dignity. Palin always describes him, aptly, as “a perfectly beautiful baby boy.” After her speech, she held him on stage as she was joined by the rest of her family. Given how dated assumptions are about Down syndrome, he could do us much good growing up in the Naval Observatory.
It used to be that children with Down syndrome were institutionalized at birth. Without the love, care and education that any child needs, they lived stunted lives. Now, a generation of people with Down syndrome has been raised by families that love them. Advances in medical care and education mean they live full lives. Their capabilities differ — as is the case with everyone — but they graduate from high school, hold jobs and live on their own.
When Palin received the news about Trig, she was devastated and scared. She kept it to herself, until her husband got back from a business trip and she confided in him. They didn’t tell anyone else, including their other children. “Not knowing in my own heart if I was going to be ready to embrace a child with special needs,” she told People magazine, “I couldn’t talk about it.” It wasn’t until he was born that she says her fears washed away.
No one should trivialize the challenges Trig and the Palins will face. About 40 percent of children with Down syndrome are born with a heart defect. There will be the cruelty — intentional or not — of other children and the frustrations of struggling with tasks that come so much easier to others. And yet there will be the joy, as unalloyed and precious as any of us experience.
Palin said in an interview shortly after Trig was born: “I’m looking at him right now, and I see perfection. I keep thinking in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?” That is the subversive promise of children like Trig, undermining all our superficial assumptions about what’s truly important.
The Palins will have a humbling, heartbreaking and inspiring lesson in life’s priorities from Trig. Here’s hoping it’s one that, one way or the other, the rest of us share.
Did he just wake up?
Thank you for posting this. Palins will also give encouragement and understanding just by being who they are.
We were offered a Downs test during pregnancy. We declined on the assumption that regardless of the outcome, we would keep OUR CHILD and care for him/her however needed.
I can not understand how someone can decide that a baby is not a person, that this little human being is not alive, That when you are born accidentally. Obama says that this child should be put in a closet until it dies. Every life is precious. Life is at inception. If you do not believe that, talk to my hand bitch.
I lost a son in 1994, in 1995 while pregnant with my daughter I had a wonderful neo-natal specialist who recommended testing. Prior to testing he asked what were my plans if the tests revealed something was wrong, did I plan on aborting the pregnancy. I blurted out “Oh, God no” and he replied “good or I would refuse to do the test and I would have to tell you to find another doctor”. Needless to say, I did have a problem pregnancy. Today I have a wonderful, healthy 13 year old who is the apple of her dad’s eye. God Bless those doctors who defend the rights of the unborn.
When questioned about his faith, Obama boiled it down to the legalistic “Caring for the least” (rather than the Gospel proclamation: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”) - while at the same time supporting abortion and voting in favor of killing “the least” - especially if they are handicapped or are an “inconvenience.” (”I wouldn’t want my daughters punished with a baby.”) I propose that Webster’s Dictionary put a picture of Barack Obama next to the entry “hypocrite.”
My docs were all freaked out about me pregnant at 41. I didn’t give one minute’s thought to “termination” AND the baby was planned. In your face, dumbheads, career women these days have babies later. All the broads in DC are doing it. Don’t give me this “advanced maternal age” line, we ain’t buyin’
Amen, sister! :*)
Having just had IVF twins at 46 I am now encountering ‘ageism’ I guess is the word. Oh, well! As a Christian I believe that God had His reasons for allowing me to wait longer in my life for my children, and He has a reason for every single life on this earth, even those who are aborted on a whim. :*(
God bless Sarah Palin for not taking ‘the easy way out’ and keeping her pregnancy. Trig IS a beautiful little boy, and from what I’ve seen of the parents’ and siblings’ behavior toward him (like big sister Piper licking her hand to slick down his hair ;-) he is a much beloved part of that family.
Is it cynical of me to imagine the arrogant and cruel looks on the Ubama family faces if they had been ‘punished’ with a DS baby?? Feh. Shame on those who consider these babies as less worthy of life! They are truly little gifts from God!
God will bless Sarah and Todd Palin abundantly.
We can’t judge; only God can!
Downs Syndrome kids are very difficult in one sense and very rewarding in another sense. They are PEOPLE who have feelings and from what I've read they bring sibs and parents out of themselves to become better people.
Thank God for people like the Palins who don't kill of the 'deficient'.
I was wondering how she found out for sure that Trigg had Down’s. Amnio has risks that I wouldn’t take with a child. She found out at 13-weeks? How and why?
Having a sci-fi mind, I was thinking “What would a Down’s Syndrome” world be? People who are relaxed, happy, loving... There are those few “birth defects,” babies born with less than 47 chromosomes. Yes, they are smarter, but they are also unhappy most of the time and can be very violent. It is best to not let these babies survive....
There are other non-amnio tests for Downs.
Coulf you make it larger?
working on getting a hold of large photo...
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