Posted on 11/29/2007 9:56:15 AM PST by marthemaria
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 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. When the condition is detected, they are having abortions at rates that are thought to approach 90 percent. Those of us who actually have relationships with people with Down syndrome, and who see them achieving and thriving in their communities, view this paradox as baffling at best, tragic at worst. We cherish our friends and family members and think their unexpected extra chromosome is not the most important thing about them. And we worry that the relentlessness of genetic testing is amplifying stigma and bias against the 350,000 flesh-and-blood Americans who have the condition, as well as people who have other conditions that are now or soon will be prenatally discoverable. In recent conversations with obstetricians and gynecologists, I've found that we family members aren't the only ones with these fears. Physicians say they're disturbed by mounting demands from prospective parents for nothing less than the "perfect" child,. ..
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Has Al Gore weighed in on this? He used to make fun of them in speeches.
They should only test for things that they can actually treat neonatally. What good comes from knowing things like this up front? I find it odd that parents want to know the sex of their baby. I like the surprise.
How many "perfect couples" would rather try again in a couple of months and save themselves and their lifestyles if there is a chance their child will force them into inconvenience?
I am betting in places that status is everything to people this will become commonplace if they continue to expand the genetic testing at the parents request.
Just wait til they find a “gay” chromosome or gene sequence....................
Wait ‘til they discover the so-called “gay gene”.
Agreed, alot of these tests are pretty standard and I usually didn't ask questions but my sister in law refused her Down's syndrome test and I took a page from her book. What difference did it make, neither of us would have aborted our babies. At that time, baby was about 12" long before they could take the test.
Article says up to 90% abort due to Down's syndrome? Unbeliveable!
If the test says Down syndrome, look on the bright side. Your child will STILL be smarter than Kathy Griffin.
I’m pregnant with #8 and have always refused the blood test and the amnio.
If the child has Down’s, he/she is still our child and we will adjust.
They can sometimes spot the signs during ultrasounds (by looking at their neck and hands).
If they spot it - I would want to know just to be better prepared for the birth - not to schedule an abortion.
A Down’s baby is still a baby - these babies still are lives created by these parents.
I don’t understand how they can be seen as “disposables”
My wife’s cousin was tested when she was pregnant and the test concluded that the baby had downs and doctors tried to convince her to have an abortion. She declined
When the baby was delivered it was perfectly normal...Her only daughter/child she was able to concieve. Good for her she did not listen to the quacks and stood her moral ground
I know of a woman right now who is pregnant and the children has Down’s. She has offer the child for adoption, but if no one steps up she will abort.
Sadly this is not an isolated case.
Thats just a dream, at this point.
There are many couples who WANT to adopt a downs child.
Tell her to contact ME and I’ll make sure her baby is loved and cared for and adopted. I’ve already adopted four siblings as a single mother. One more wouldn’t be any problem. :-)
In every woman, one of the X chromosomes has been inactivated. Someone should come up with a way to inactivate the extra 21st chromosome in people with Down syndrome.
I am 11 weeks and 5 days along and had a doctor’s visit today where the question of the test for D.S. came up. I am 35, first child. My doctor suggested I not have the blood test but go ahead and have an extensive ultrasound with a specialist, I can’t remember now what she called the specialist. But she said the ultrasound would last about an hour and he would look at everything in detail. I have agreed to do that at about 20 weeks. However, I am glad she suggested I not have the blood test as I didn’t want to anyway. What can I do about the results but worry? There is no way I would have an abortion and I trust God to carry us through whatever happens. Lord, I had no idea being pregnant would be this stressful!!!!
This is a serious concern. My wife and I refused the tests for down syndrome while she was pregnant; we knew we would have the baby either way. The doctor actually lectured my wife on the irresponsibility of having a child with Down Syndrome and tried to persuade her to test, so as to abort in the event of Down’s.
To make matters worse, the blood test has quite a high false positive rate! So, in the event of a positive, if you do not immediately abort, a more invasive test in utero is performed, which actually carries a chance of miscarriage as a side effect of the test itself! All so that you can kill your child rather than be bothered by Down Syndrome. It made me furious.
Eugenics ping...
When I was pregnant with my third, I was 35, and living in NJ. All doctors were required to suggest amniocentesis to their ‘older’ mothers because of the ‘risk’ of Down’s, and to test for spina bifida. My doctor knew I didn’t want it, but he had to suggest it anyway. I asked if there was a less invasive way to figure out if the baby had spina bifida. He said, yep, just look at the ultrasound and check the baby’s spinal column. Bottom line; I refused the amnio, and did the ultrasound. The baby was a lovely little girl; our only girl, and she was joined two years later by our #3 son. By then we’d moved to MA, so I told the new doc the same thing I’d told the previous one, and they never did any special testing as far as I remember (it was 17 yrs ago).
Wow! That’s amazing, bless her for standing her ground no matter how it turned out.
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