[redpoll]

As much as I admire Gov. Palin’s decision, the headline on this story is misleading. Anyone who knows the family understands that there was never any pressure for the governor to abort this child. It might be nice just to praise her love for life and leave the politics aside. Sarah and Todd’s actions speak louder than any headline or political posturing.

[giotto]

Anyone who knows the family understands that there was never any pressure for the governor to abort this child.

How do you know that? I would be willing to bet that her doctor was the first to advise terminating the fetus.

[Question_Assumptions]

A woman over 35 gets quite a bit of pressure for invasive genetic testing and ultrasound tests to detect Down's Syndrome, the assumption being that she'll have an abortion if they find it. Since most women have so few babies, there is a lot of incentive to only have perfect ones and to discard the rest. And quite a bit of this is due to encouraging women to wait until their late 30s or 40s to have children, when they only have time for one or two and the risk of Down's Syndrome and other genetic problems skyrockets.

[DesScorp]

“Anyone who knows the family understands that there was never any pressure for the governor to abort this child.”

I’ll guarantee that if it wasn’t Sarah Palin, the doctors would have recommended an abortion. If there was no pressure, it was only because the doctors knew better than to even bring the subject up with her.

[coop71]

Agreed.

[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”...

[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.

[sitetest]

Dear redpoll,

My own experience suggests that when one's unborn child is diagnosed with Down Syndrome, there are at least subtle pressures from one's health care providers to do away with the child. Pressure to obtain the death of the child can also come from other corners of one's life.

sitetest

[genxer]

Of course she was pressured. Doctors, nurses its constant.
I just had a friend whos son was diagnosed wtih Anencephaly
and was constantly pressured to abort the child. David was very lucky God picked my friends for his parents. Although he only lived 4 hours, the lives he touched has been immense. It allowed alot of dialog on why not to abort. So although it may not have been a political pressure. I’m sure Pallin received alot of pressure.