Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Gives Birth to Down Baby Despite Abortion Pressure

Life News ^ | 4/22/08 | Steven Ertelt

[wagglebee]

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 gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives," she said.

'We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed," the 44 year-old governor added.

Trig was born on Friday, one month before his due date, and he weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces.

Pro-life advocates heaped praise on Palin about the news and said she and her family made a courageous decision to keep the baby.

“I can't help but remember Governor Palin’s campaign slogan ‘Take a Stand,'" Debbie Joslin, the president of Eagle Forum Alaska told LifeNews.com.

"Her choice to value life in a very personal way speaks volumes and gives those of us in the pro-life community in Alaska cause to believe that we truly do have a pro-life leader in charge of our state," she said.

"When so many in our culture have chosen to devalue the lives of those who face special learning disabilities, Governor Palin shines as a great positive role model," Joslin added.

Billy Valentine, a pro-life student leader who worked on the presidential campaign of Sam Brownback, was equally excited.

"Thanks be to God that Gov. Palin is pro-life and the baby wasn't one of the 80% of Down syndrome lives that are aborted each year," he said.

"Say a prayer for Gov. Palin and her family and thank God that the baby is blessed with a pro-life family," Valentine added.

The Palins have four other children including Track, 18, Bristol, 17, Willow, 13 and Piper, 7.

[reg45]

who names their kid “Track”?

Someone with the last name of "Starr".

[Migraine]

Someone with the last name of "Starr".

...or Enfield

[chgomac]

Welcome to the world little one...you are indeed a gift! I love this mom’s way of explaining her special child:

Emily Perl Kingsley
© 1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved.
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this......
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”
“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”
But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

[muawiyah]

The ghouls over at the Washington Post are crying in their beer tonight having lost that one.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Bless her and her family.

[ellery]

Many congratulations to the Palin family! Welcome, little Trig.

[Mr. Silverback]

Bravo Mr. and Governor Palin!

[cpforlife.org]

Pro-Life PING

Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[PGalt]

WOOOHOOO Trig!

Welcome to the world!

We are doing our best to make it a better place for everyone.

life

[miliantnutcase]

I’m not going to Hell if I “LOL” at that, am I?

[Tired of Taxes]

Congratulations, Gov. Palin, to you and your family on your new bundle of joy!

I had a close relative with Down Syndrome. People with Downs are truly angels on earth. They retain a sweetness and innocence throughout their lives.

[baa39]

You two make me chuckle. It’s true, from the names of those children, we would never guess it’s a Catholic family....or wait, maybe it isn’t? Anyway, God bless them all, those Down’s children are very sweet, trusting and affectionate.

[LadyDoc]

Actually, just by doing the tests and telling the woman she “has a choice” (which we docs have to do) is a way to pressure a woman into abortion.

So unless she had a good prolife doc, who would put it quietly as supporting life, there is pressure in presenting the choice of abortion as “value free”...

[Lesforlife]

I like all the names! As a Gramma of a twin named Piper,
I say hear hear!

Governor Palin is a REAL woman - gorgeous, a fulfilled
mother, professional and conservative to boot.

God bless her and keep her strong!

Precious Trig will be a blessing to this wonderful family.

[8mmMauser]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

8mm

[Tax-chick]

LOL!

[Tax-chick]

They sound like a terrific family in spite of the names. Maybe “Trig” is short for “Trigve,” a nice Scandinavian name :-).

[Migraine]

Or Trigonometry; maybe the kid will be a savant (and wouldn’t that be great? never a dull moment, anyway).

[MrB]

I was wondering where this “pressure to abort” was coming from, and all that was mentioned in the article was that 80% of DS babies are aborted.

The sad thing is, that test isn’t entirely accurate. You hear about diagnosis of DS and the baby is just fine when born.

[Tax-chick]

And “Track” could be short for “traction” or “tractor.” I see lots of worse names in the school honor roll lists in my local newspaper.