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Amid the barbs and hockey banter Wednesday night, Gov. Sarah Palin directed an emotional appeal to the hearts of millions of parents with children who have special needs, promising they would “have a friend and advocate in the White House” in a McCain-Palin administration. Palin’s offer of friendship sparked hope in many parents, advocates and lawyers as the often-marginalized subject of disabilities rights took center stage. ****** Ms. Palin’s effort to rally parents of children with disabilities has also prompted reaction among those who fear that her idea of advocacy might really mean preventing abortions of fetuses with Down syndrome,...

[This article was originally posted on May 6, 2008. In it, I offer the remark that Gov. Sarah Palin "is often mentioned as a potential running mate for Sen. John McCain." What seemed merely a possibility in May has become reality in August, and the world saw Trig Paxson Van Palin in his eldest sister's arms as his mother was announced as Sen. McCain's choice for the vice presidential nomination of the Republican Party. Thus, the event became a great testimony for the sanctity of all human life. The article is reprinted due to requests and interest.]A little boy with...

  Sunday, August 31, 2008 Trig Paxson Van Palin   [Rich Lowry] I meant to post this the other day (so please don’t take it as a response to Rick—in fact it might constitute pleading guilty as charged!), but I got sidetracked. I found the Palin event Friday incredibly moving. Partly because of Trig. The sentimentalist in me would be willing to see anyone who is loving and unselfish enough to welcome a Down kid into their family elevated to high office. When I was thinking of Trig, I was reminded of an encounter I had a couple of weeks ago on...

Down syndromeDefinitionDown syndrome is a genetic disorder that causes mental retardation and other problems. The condition varies in severity, so developmental problems may range from mild to serious. Down syndrome is the most common genetic cause of severe learning disabilities in children, occurring in one in every 700 infants. Every year, as many as 6,000 babies are born with Down syndrome in the United States. The condition is named after John Langdon Down, the doctor who first identified the syndrome. There's no medical cure for this condition. But increased understanding of Down syndrome and early interventions make a big difference...

John McCain's choice for Vice President inspired some very interesting comments from the left-wing blogosphere: i'm outraged that mclame piked a chearleederWell... actually... she was point guard for her high school basketball team and hit the winning free throw that clinched Alaska Small School State Championship. another big oil stoogeWell... actually... she raised state royalties on oil drillers and gave every Alaskan a $1,200 energy credit from the proceeds. To the current crop of Neo-Socialists, tax credits that provide direct cash are anathema. It's the responsibility of the state to confiscate earnings and profits then provide "services" designed to dictate...

Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is known for being attractive (a former pageant winner, she was featured in a Vogue photo shoot this year), forceful (her opponents have nicknamed her "Sarah Barracuda") and a possible running mate for John McCain. Challenging circumstances now also have made her a shining example of personal pro-life convictions....

"When we first heard, it was kind of confusing," Palin, 44, said. She called the revelation "very, very challenging" and said she initially felt sad. But the family has worked through that. Palin said she and Todd feel blessed and chosen by God. With a big family including four older kids, grandparents, aunts and uncles, Palin said, they will have lots of support for what's ahead. In their eyes, she said, "he's absolutely perfect." --- In a letter she e-mailed to relatives and close friends Friday after giving birth, Palin wrote, "Many people will express sympathy, but you don't want...

TRONDHEIM, Norway, August 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A recently published Norwegian study of prenatal detection of trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) reveals that 84% of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome in the country are aborted. The study also concludes with the observation that "based solely on maternal age and second-trimester ultrasound imaging, the prenatal detection rate of trisomy 21 cases was poor and remained unchanged throughout the 18-year study period."The study was conducted by the Norwegian National Center for Fetal Medicine and published in the August 2008 issue of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.The research was based on data obtained from...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The results of Gov. Sarah Palin's prenatal testing were in, and the doctor's tone was ominous: "You need to come to the office so we can talk about it." Palin, known for a resolve that quickly launched her from suburban hockey mom to a player on the national political stage, said, "No, go ahead and tell me over the phone." The physician replied, "Down syndrome," stunning the Republican governor, who had just completed what many political analysts called a startling first year in office. She had arrived at the Capitol on an ethics reform platform after...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband Todd, having put their pro-life beliefs into personal practice, introduced their fifth child to reporters and photographers April 21. Their son, born April 18, has Down syndrome. "When we first heard, it was kind of confusing," Palin, 44, said of the testing early in her pregnancy that showed her baby had Down syndrome. The news was "very, very challenging," she said, according to the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News. However, the governor said, she and her husband came to believe that God has blessed them. Palen said her son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, is...

Juneau, AK (LifeNews.com) -- As many as 80 percent of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome become victims of abortion, but Alaska Gov, Sarah Palin didn't let her child become a statistic. Palin, who has deeply-felt pro-life views, gave birth to her fifth child this week and the baby was diagnosed with the condition. On Tuesday, Palin confirmed her baby, named Trig Paxson, has Down syndrome."Trig is beautiful and already adored by us," Palin said in a statement LifeNews.com obtained."We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gave birth to a baby boy early Friday, becoming the second U.S. governor to have a baby while serving in office. Palin's labour began Thursday, about a month early, while she was attending a Republican Governors' Association meeting in Grapevine, Texas, said spokeswoman Sharon Leighow. Palin, 44, the first woman to serve as Alaska governor, delivered a keynote luncheon address on Alaska energy issues Thursday before flying back to Anchorage and delivering the baby Friday morning, exactly a month before her due date, Leighow said. The baby, named Trig Paxson Van Palin, is the fifth child...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading pro-abortion group has said it will not oppose a bill that will help reduce the number of abortions on babies who are potentially afflicted with Down Syndrome. The measure has already received approval from a Senate committee and is headed to the full chamber for a debate and vote. Last month, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved the Pre-natally and Post-natally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act on a unanimous vote.The bill is designed to help reduce the number of abortions of babies with Down syndrome and other conditions.Sen Sam Brownback,...

The parents of a girl with Down syndrome have caused a public outcry in the U.K. by subjecting their daughter to cosmetic surgery to improve her appearance. Georgia Bussey underwent "radical and painful" cosmetic surgery three times by age 5 so she could "fit in" with her peers, the U.K.'s Daily Mail reported Sunday. Parents of another girl with Down syndrome told the paper that they were also considering altering her appearance in the future so she could be more "accepted.” Critics in the U.K. slammed the parents, with some even claiming the procedures were tantamount to child abuse. However,...

OTTAWA, March 3, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Yesterday's Ottawa Citizen featured a two page spread detailing the moving experiences of three separate families with Down Syndrome children. In the articles three sets of parents candidly speak of their struggles to care for children with special needs, their deep appreciation for the beauty and the enrichment that their children have brought to their lives, and of Canada's pervasive anti-disability mindset and the pressure to abort those with disabilities. One father, Michael Shaw, told the Citizen that it is thanks only to the negligence of a doctor - who did not communicate to...

CHAPEL HILL - A professor's comments on Down syndrome and abortion angered some students on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus this week. Professor Albert Harris told students in his embryology class Monday that he thinks fetuses with Down syndrome should be aborted. In his lecture notes, he wrote: "In my opinion, the moral thing for older mothers to do is to have amniocentesis, as soon during pregnancy as is safe for the fetus, test whether placental cells have a third chromosome #21, and abort the fetus if it does. The brain is the last organ to become functional." Harris, who has...

All across the land this fall, people have been gathering to promote awareness and acceptance of Down syndrome. Central to their message is the idea that people with the condition are valued family members who lead happy, fulfilling lives. At the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, scientists have been meeting to develop research agendas to improve the lives of people with Down syndrome, the genetic condition that results when a person has three copies of the 21st chromosome instead of the usual pair. But in the places where medicine is practiced, a very...

At the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, scientists have been meeting to develop research agendas to improve the lives of people with Down syndrome, the genetic condition that results when a person has three copies of the 21st chromosome instead of the usual pair. But in the places where medicine is practiced, a very different and less benevolent awareness of Down syndrome reigns. As a result of recent changes in technology and standards of care, women are undergoing prenatal diagnostics for Down syndrome in unprecedented numbers -- often multiple times during their pregnancies....

Friday Five: Jill Stanek by Jennifer Mesko, associate editorA life-changing event catapulted her into the pro-life movement, and now she's obsessed with it. (Editor's Note: This is the second in our series of Friday interviews with people of interest to family advocates. The format is simple: five questions every Friday.)When Planned Parenthood tried to sneak an abortion clinic into suburban Chicago this year, it forgot to do its homework on local life advocate Jill Stanek. She, along with thousands of other pro-lifers, helped to delay the opening of the nation's largest abortion clinic for 14 days.Eight years ago, Stanek...

Catholic Pro-Abortion Ontario Premier Confronted at Campaign Debate by Pro-Life Candidate Pro-life singer David MacDonald runs against Premier Dalton McGuinty in Ottawa South By Paul Lauzon and John-Henry Westen OTTAWA, September 28, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In Ottawa South, Liberal Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's riding, well-known pro-life singer David MacDonald is running for the Family Coalition Party. MacDonald has posted numerous signs and delivered over 10,000 pro-life and pro-family flyers in the riding. In a moving and dynamic presentation at an all candidates debate Wednesday - with Premier Dalton McGuinty looking on - MacDonald spoke of his experiences as a Broadway...

Recently, while wandering through my local grocery, I turned the corner, heading up the cereal aisle. I had no more walked ten feet when I caught the attention of a stranger – a young man in his mid-twenties – walking toward me. Upon seeing me, his face lit up and a smile spread from ear to ear. I smiled in return, his pace quickened and he marched straight over to me and with a welcoming voice said, "Hello, how are you?" I stopped, we exchanged a few friendly words and then after a hardy “goodbye,” he moved on to greet...

Every year we look forward to Doug volunteering at family retreats that we hold for disabled children and their moms and dads. He is young and athletic, a senior in college, handsome, articulate, and intelligent. The kids love him (and so do a few girl volunteers). When he first began volunteering, we assigned Doug to a little boy with Down syndrome. The two hit it off wonderfully. This energetic young man possessed a knack for relating to the boy; from that year onward, he always asked to be assigned to children with Down syndrome and their parents. Recently Doug said,...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorAugust 27, 2007Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- Officials in Italy are investigating a botched abortion done on twin brothers where the healthy brother became the victim of the abortion and the twin, who has Down syndrome, lived. The disabled brother was the target of the abortion procedure and the case is raising the ugly specter of abortions done to kill disabled people.The abortion was done on a 38-year-old woman in June at a hospital in Milan, but news of the mistake only recently came to the public's attention.Doctors at the San Paolo hospital told Italian media that the...

Loving Our ChildrenFor the past few years, I’ve been telling BreakPoint readers about our culture’s undeclared war on people with Down syndrome. Earlier this year, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended that all pregnant women, regardless of age, undergo amniocentesis. Obviously that’s to put them under increasing pressure to abort the child if a genetic defect is detected. I thought that I heard every possible argument for and against this barbarism, but I was wrong. Apparently, in addition to asking themselves “what would Jesus do?” women should ask themselves “what would Darwin advise?” But Dr. Frank Boehm of...

VATICAN CITY, AUG. 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- An abortion in Milan that killed a healthy twin fetus instead of her sibling with Down syndrome is a case of eugenics "imposing its law," says L'Osservatore Romano. After it was discovered that the unborn baby with Down syndrome survived, a successive abortion later ended her life. The Vatican's semi-official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano is reporting the story in its Tuesday edition. The abortion was actually performed in June, but only recently made public. According to L'Osservatore Romano, "eugenics is imposing its law." The article says the case can be attributed to "the culture of...

Italian police have been asked to investigate a case in which doctors treating a 40-year-old woman who was pregnant with twins aborted a healthy foetus while leaving a second, malformed one untouched.The San Paolo hospital in Milan yesterday confirmed a report of the blunder in the daily Corriere della Sera. A statement from the hospital said the twins had changed places inside the womb between the first ultrasound scan and a second one carried out shortly before the operation, which took place in the 18th week of the pregnancy. It said it had handed the case notes to the "competent...

Brownback and Kennedy Team Up to Support Mothers of Disabled Children By Elizabeth O'Brien WASHINGTON, DC, July 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Wednesday Senators Sam Brownback and Edward Kennedy reintroduced the Pre-natally and Post-natally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act (PPDCAA), which proposes to offer information and services for expectant and young mothers of handicapped children. According to a recent press release from Brownback's office, the PPDCAA, which is an amendment to the Public Health Service Act, would ensure that care is offered not only during the woman's pregnancy, but throughout the year following the child's birth as well. The PPDCAA also...

Pending Legislation Could Save Down Syndrome Babies This week, Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., introduced the Pre-natally and Post-natally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act. The legislation would provide families who receive a diagnosis of Down syndrome or any other condition with up-to-date information about the condition and support services. Dawn Vargo, associate bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said: "It's important to have life-affirming policies that will encourage families to give birth to children with an adverse diagnosis."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said Wednesday that her month-old son, Cole, has been diagnosed with Down syndrome. "This news has been difficult to get our arms around. Like every parent, we have hopes and dreams for our children," McMorris Rodgers said in a letter to constituents and supporters. "Although initially stunned, we are embracing our son and preparing for what may lay ahead." McMorris Rodgers, a second-term Republican from eastern Washington state, was the first member of Congress in more than a decade to give birth while in office. Down syndrome occurs when a person has three,...

Oklahoma City, OK (LifeNews.com) -- Gov. Brad Henry has allowed a bill to become law that would get the state government out of the abortion business. The measure would prohibit abortions at state-funded medical facilities and Henry decided not to veto it after having rejected a previous measure the legislature approved. After the veto, state lawmakers reworked the bill to add rape and incest exceptions to it to meet Henry's ban.They left alone provisions that prohibit Medicaid-funded employees or facilities from promoting abortions because they are funded with state taxpayer dollars. In a press release the governor's office sent out,...

Oklahoma City, OK (LifeNews.com) -- The Oklahoma state Senate has approved a revised bill to attempt to satisfy Gov. Brad Henry, who earlier vetoed the measure to get the state government out of the abortion business. The rewrite comes after two attempts by the state Senate to overturn Henry's veto failed by one vote each time. The House approved the measure last week and it prohibits Medicaid-funded employees or facilities from promoting abortions because they are funded with state taxpayer dollars. But Henry wanted rape and incest exceptions added to the bill so Rep. Rebecca Hamilton, an Oklahoma City Democrat,...

DETROIT — Sarah Itoh, a self-described “almost-eleven-and-a-half,” betrayed no trace of nervousness as she told a roomful of genetic counselors and obstetricians about herself one recent afternoon. She likes to read, she said. Math used to be hard, but it is getting easier. She plays clarinet in her school band. She is a junior girl scout and an aunt, and she likes to organize, so her room is very clean. Last year, she won three medals in the Special Olympics. “I am so lucky I get to do so many things,” she concluded. “I just want you to know, even...

Lab mice with the mental retardation of Down syndrome got smarter after being fed a drug that strengthened brain circuits involved in learning and memory, researchers reported Sunday. After receiving once-daily doses of pentylenetetrazole, or PTZ, for 17 days, the mice could recognize objects and navigate mazes as well as normal mice did, researchers said. The improvements lasted up to two months after the drug was discontinued, according to the report in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Scientists said the study opened a promising avenue for research in a field that had seen little success.

Charles James, with the help of his wife, Donna, authored this article. Charles James is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and the Director of the Pre-Theology Program at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California. Donna James, RN, worked at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, California, for five years and specializes in obstetric nursing. My wife fell exhausted into a huge green chair in the lobby of the Red Lion Hotel. We had survived a Christmas dinner with former parishioners whose two boys, mixed with ours, created a chemical reaction that left us shell shocked. Friends of a former parish...

There's a big change coming for pregnant women: Down syndrome testing no longer hinges on whether they're older or younger than 35. This week, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists begins recommending that every pregnant woman, regardless of age, be offered a choice of tests for this common birth defect. The main reason: Tests far less invasive than the long-used amniocentesis are now widely available, some that can tell in the first trimester the risk of a fetus having Down syndrome or other chromosomal defects. It's a change that promises to decrease unnecessary amnios - giving mothers-to-be peace of...

Alzheimer's disease, a dreaded specter for many elderly, is far more likely to strike individuals with Down syndrome. Now, a study with a mouse model of Down syndrome may explain why. The work hints at potential targets for future drugs that fend off dementia--in people with Down syndrome and in the general population too. Down syndrome is caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. It affects roughly 1 in 800 people, causing mild to moderate mental retardation and a range of other health problems, including early-onset dementia. By age 40, the brains of all people with Down syndrome develop...

<p>Roy A. Filly, M.D.</p> <p>I have just reached the 30th anniversary of the first obstetrical sonogram I performed. Even having witnessed each of the technological advancements in sonography over those three decades, it is still difficult to comprehend the enormous improvements in image quality that have occurred. These improvements have brought sonography from a “promising” diagnostic tool to a mainstay of modern imaging. However, nowhere in medicine has this technique had a more profound impact than in the field of obstetrics. Thirty years ago there was essentially no such thing as obstetrical imaging and prenatal diagnosis was in its infancy.</p>

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/193364610 Effecting change related to hate speech and discrimation against a protected class of individuals Target: Chairman William C. Weldon, Babycenter.com, owned by JOHNSON & JOHNSON Sponsor: DSParents UnitedSignatures: 463 Goal: 1,000 Deadline: Ongoing... See Full Petition Email this Petition Babycenter.com is owned by JOHNSON & JOHNSON, and is host to several bulletin boards whose focus is the dissemination of topic-specific information for families and children. There are several boards on BC that are perpetually in conflict with each other and have been the source of an ongoing feud of several years time. Those boards are the Termination for Medical...

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, MARCH 9, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Many prospective parents are waiting for years to adopt children with Down syndrome, according to a recent article in the Associated Press. So why is there an extended wait for kids with special needs, who are usually more difficult to place with families? The reason might be: the growing acceptance of aborting babies with Down syndrome. Elizabeth Schiltz, law professor at the University of St. Thomas and contributor to "The Cost of 'Choice': Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion" (Encounter Books), shared with ZENIT how aborting children with Down syndrome has not only become...

ATLANTA - Down syndrome in the United States is more common than previously thought, at one case for every 733 live births, according to a new government report containing what are regarded as the most reliable estimates yet on the prevalence of 18 types of birth defects. Previously, Down syndrome, a type of retardation caused by a genetic mutation, was estimated to occur in a range of one in every 800 live births to one in every 1,000. The report, released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also found that cleft lip occurs in about one in...

Earlier Diagnosis Allows More Time for Decisions A first-trimester screening test can reliably identify fetuses likely to be born with Down syndrome, providing expectant women with that information much earlier in a pregnancy than current testing allows, according to a major study being released today. The eagerly awaited study of more than 38,000 U.S. women -- the largest ever conducted -- found that the screening method, which combines a blood test with an ultrasound exam, can pinpoint many fetuses with the common genetic disorder 11 weeks after conception. That allows women to decide sooner whether to undergo the riskier follow-up...

... Whenever I am out with Margaret, I'm conscious that she represents a group whose ranks are shrinking because of the wide availability of prenatal testing and abortion. I don't know how many pregnancies are terminated because of prenatal diagnoses of Down syndrome, but some studies estimate 80 to 90 percent. Imagine. As Margaret bounces through life, especially out here in the land of the perfect body, I see the way people look at her: curious, surprised, sometimes wary, occasionally disapproving or alarmed. I know that most women of childbearing age that we may encounter have judged her and her...

Babies -- Bought, Sold and Traded LONDON, SEPT. 17, 2005 (Zenit.org) Abortion advocates' decades-long push to deny or downplay the humanity of the unborn child is bearing fruit. Unborn children are increasingly being treated like consumer products, if recent news stories are an indication. Last Saturday the London-based Times published a story describing how the Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, in Kharkov, sells baby parts. The list on its Web site offers a variety of cells and other tissues from babies. The institute alleges that the material comes from fetuses...

LONDON (AP) - Using ultrasound to look for the nose bone in early pregnancy could help to identify Down syndrome babies sooner, new research suggests. Some experts say the test, described for the first time this week in The Lancet medical journal, could be a major step forward, bringing the detection rate of Down syndrome screening up from about 65 percent today to about 98 percent, and allowing diagnosis in the first trimester rather than in the second, when the condition is normally confirmed. Because the method has a lower false positive rate than current screening tests, it could also ...

COLUMN ONE A Late Decision, a Lasting Anguish # A Kansas doctor is under investigation for performing abortions others won't. His clients say outsiders can't grasp their pain or gratitude. By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer WICHITA, Kan. — The moment is burned forever in her mind: The small exam room, her husband's ashen face, her sobs as the doctor guided a needle into her womb to kill her son. It's been 4 1/2 years, and still Marie Becker can feel Daniel kicking inside her, kicking and kicking as she choked back hysteria — kicking until the drug stopped his...

  NATIONAL DOWN SYNDROME SOCIETY SLAMS MAUREEN DOWD FOR "INSENSATIVE AND DEMEANING...SLUR" The National Down Syndrome Society has issued the following statement condeming Maureen Dowd for her statements in a recent national television appearance. The NDSS was responding to an inquiry from The National Debate. The National Down Syndrome Society is extremely disappointed by Maureen Dowd's recent use of the term "extra chromosome conservatives" in an interview on Bill Maher's show "Real Time" on HBO. Using "extra chromosome" as a negative descriptor is insensitive and demeaning to the more than 350,000 people in the United States who have Down syndrome,...

During a recent television appearance, New York Times pundette Maureen Dowd said something that should have effectively ended her career. In an on-air discussion with HBO's Bill Maher, Dowd said that those who oppose the expansion of funding for stem-cell research come from "what Lee Atwater used to call the extra-chromosome conservatives." If anyone fails to take in the full meaning of Dowd’s statement, she was referring to the condition that causes Down Syndrome. In other words, if you oppose stem-cell research, you must be as stupid, unsophisticated, and laughable as someone who suffers from Down Syndrome. Wow, that's funny...

Lying in the darkened doctor's office, Kate Hoffman stared at the image of the 11-week-old fetus inside her on the ultrasound screen, a tiny ghost with a big head. It would have been so sweet, Ms. Hoffman said, if something had not been so clearly wrong. Ms. Hoffman's first three children had been healthy, and she was sure this one would be, too. She was not planning to have the amniocentesis procedure often used to test for fetal health problems, preferring to avoid even the slightest risk that the insertion of a needle into her uterus would cause her to...

Good News for Would-be Mothers: Early, Non-Invasive Method to Assess Down Syndrome Risk a Success 2/5/04 10:25:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk, Women's Health and Medical Reporter Contact: Stacy Scarazzo of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, 202-367-1632 NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A study unveiled today at the 24th annual Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) meeting brings hope to all pregnant women looking for an early, non-invasive way to assess their risk of delivering a baby with Down Syndrome. The trial reveals that measuring fetal neck fold thickness (nuchal translucency) by ultrasound, combined with a measurement of...

A Brooklyn elementary schoolteacher was removed from class and arrested on assault charges yesterday after a 10-year-old student with Down syndrome complained she doused him with air freshener when he passed gas. Jane Fasone, 58, a veteran teacher at Public School 72 in East New York, is accused of spraying the boy's buttocks and mouth and making him stand against a wall, sources said. "It's hard to believe she would do something like that," said Phyllis Esposito, 55, Fasone's neighbor in Marine Park. Esposito said Fasone, the married mother of two adult sons, has taught disabled children for years. "She's...