People Who Want to Abort Babies with Down Syndrome Give Their Reasons<\/strong><\/h3>\nRayna Rapp, who aborted a baby with Down syndrome herself, interviewed parents who were waiting for the results of Down syndrome screenings. These parents all intended to abort their babies if they tested positive. Here are some of their comments:<\/p>\n
\n- I would have a very hard time dealing with a retarded child\u2026 I would feel grief, not having what I consider a normal family.1<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- I have an image of how I want to interact with my child, and that’s not the kind of interaction I want, not the kind I could maintain.2<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- I’m something of a perfectionist. I want the best for my child. I’ve worked hard, I went to Cornell University, I’d want that for my child\u2026 I’m sorry I can’t be more accepting, but I’m clear I wouldn’t want to continue the pregnancy.3<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- The bottom line is when my neighbor said to me: “Having a ‘tard, that’s a bummer for life.”4<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- I just couldn’t do it, couldn’t be that kind of mother who accepts everything, loves her kid no matter what. What about me? Maybe it’s selfish, I don’t know. But I just didn’t want all those problems in my life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- If he can’t grow up to have a shot at becoming the president, we don’t want him.6<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- It’s devastating, it’s a waste, all the love that goes into kids like that. 7<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- I think it’s kind of like triage, or like euthanasia\u2026 We’d have to move, to focus our whole family on getting a handicapped kid a better deal\u2026 Why spend $50,000 to save one child?8<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Down](\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1-blog-Kennedi-Beahn.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAborting babies with Down syndrome is often seen as compassionate. Ob-gyn Katherine McHugh wrote in the Washington Post<\/em><\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\nResearch suggests that women terminate between 60 and 90 percent of pregnancies diagnosed with Down syndrome. These decisions are made out of love and compassion, a seemingly obvious concept but one that bears emphasizing.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nAbortionist Says Aborting Down Syndrome Babies is Like Prescribing Antibiotics<\/strong><\/h3>\nThere is an organization<\/a> devoted to placing children with Down syndrome with adoptive parents, and they present stories of families<\/a> that have welcomed a Down syndrome child into their lives.<\/p>\nNevertheless, many still believe hurtful and ablest stereotypes.<\/p>\n
Abortionist Malcolm Potts described abortion as a valid way<\/a> to eliminate children with Down syndrome:<\/p>\nAbortion is a way in which nature \u2014 Darwinian evolution \u2014 deals with abnormalities\u2026 If a woman asks me to do what nature failed to do and she wishes it, I will, with great comfort, abort a Down syndrome when it’s been diagnosed in a pregnant woman if she wants it. I see abortion as a necessary healing process.<\/p>\n
Potts refers to the child as \u201ca Down syndrome,\u201d reducing him or her to a medical diagnosis and dehumanizing them. He compares aborting these children to prescribing antibiotics:<\/p>\n
As a doctor, if someone has pneumonia and their immune system is not keeping up with it, I will prescribe an antibiotic. If they have an abnormal baby and they wish to have an abortion, I will give them a medical abortion. To me, it is the same basic ethic that all, I think, physicians have.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nTeaching \u201cCounselors\u201d to Recommend Abortion<\/strong><\/h3>\nA textbook meant to teach medical professionals how to \u201ccounsel\u201d women considering abortion discourages \u201cnon-directive\u201d counseling when a child is disabled. Instead, it encouraged \u201ccounselors\u201d to directly advise abortion:<\/p>\n
When counselling, the aim of the health professional involved would normally be to support a decision-making process but not to influence it. There has recently been lively debate whether a non-directive approach is possible or even ideal when fetal abnormality has been discovered\u2026<\/p>\n
By receiving non-directive counselling, the couple are urged to make their own impossible decision at a time when they are grief stricken and in emotional turmoil. Couples in this kind of situation are often desperate to be advised what to do, and being able to say “the doctor advised us to have a termination” can sometimes be a blessed relief.9<\/sup><\/p>\nThere is evidence that doctors are taking this advice to heart.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPainting a Negative Picture of Life with Down Syndrome<\/strong><\/h3>\nJo-Ann described herself as \u201cfearful and anxious\u201d when she learned there was a one in 93 chance her preborn child would have Down syndrome. She says<\/a>:<\/p>\nWe were given a handout that itemized all the health issues related to Down syndrome. It painted a very negative picture of this condition. I do not recall receiving any information about support groups.<\/p>\n
The \u201ccounselor\u201d pressured her to have an amniocentesis, with its risk of miscarriage, to diagnose her baby. She was repeatedly told, again and again, that this would give her the opportunity to abort. Jo-Ann recalls, \u201cThe last thing I remember her saying to us was, \u2018You do not need to have this child.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Her son James was born with Down syndrome. Jo-Ann says she has a \u201cwonderful family\u201d that was \u201cmade more complete\u201d by her son.<\/p>\n
Cynthia Yunke recalls telling the doctor she wouldn’t abort her baby with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n
According to her, the doctor \u201cmutter[ed] something about getting back to me in a few days because, \u2018I don’t think it is registering with you what I have just told you.\u2019\u201d10<\/sup><\/p>\nAnother doctor, after detecting a possible problem via ultrasound, \u201cshook her head with great displeasure\u201d11 <\/sup>when the child’s mother told her she hadn’t had a screening to detect anomalies. The doctor arranged an amniocentesis for the next morning at 9 AM. According to the mother, Robin Roach, \u201cshe never even gave us a choice.\u201d<\/p>\nThe perinatologist doing the test assured Robin that she would still have time to abort if it came out positive. Robin recalls thinking, \u201cWhy did she keep saying that? No one asked me if I even wanted to.\u201d12<\/sup><\/p>\nSeveral days later, the doctor told her her child had Down syndrome and said, \u201cI understand from the perinatologist that you would like to terminate.\u201d Robin objected, saying she hadn’t decided what to do.<\/p>\n
She describes herself as being \u201cconfused, sick, and hurt\u201d and \u201cangry that the perinatologist had been so aggressive and intrusive in my private affairs, especially at a time when I was so vulnerable to the power of suggestion.\u201d13<\/sup><\/p>\nShe had her son over the objections of her doctors.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1-blog-Brian-Jahr.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSecular Pro-Life highlighted another case<\/a> where a woman was told her child was at risk for Down syndrome. Before the diagnosis was even confirmed, \u201cThe doctor gave me a long list of negative health conditions involved with Down syndrome\u2026 He emphasized it shouldn’t be hard for me to get immediately pregnant after an abortion if I wanted to \u2018try again for a normal baby.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\nWhen the amniocentesis came back positive, the doctor again mentioned abortion. Fortunately, she and her husband found another doctor who was supportive. She named her daughter Kaylen and later adopted another little girl with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n
In a study of 3,000 parents<\/a> of children with Down syndrome, the majority reported that their doctors painted a dismal picture of life with Down, mentioning only the negative aspects.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nDehumanizing Babies with Disabilities<\/strong><\/h3>\nWhen an amniocentesis found that Jessica Capitani’s preborn son<\/a> had Down syndrome, the doctor went ahead and scheduled an abortion for her. When she didn’t keep the appointment, she says, he was \u201cvery surprised.\u201d<\/p>\nCapitani says that the doctor began calling her 21-week-old son \u201cit\u201d and \u201ca fetus\u201d instead of \u201cbaby\u201d as soon as he discovered the disability, \u201c[a]s if I had a horrible cyst growing inside of me they couldn’t wait to eradicate. There was that subtle pressure to have the abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another woman was told her baby<\/a> \u201cwould be more like a fish than a human and would only be as smart as a baboon.\u201d<\/p>\nOne doctor that if she had her baby with Down syndrome, her child would \u201cjust be hanging off of you, drooling.\u201d The doctor \u201ccontort[ed] her face into a saggy, expressionless imitation\u201d of what she thought a disabled child would look like.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPressured, Scorned and Harassed<\/strong><\/h3>\nPregnant at only 16, Danielle Urie\u00a0<\/a>was told her child had a heart defect and would require major surgery. While she was still \u201cin deep shock,\u201d her doctors advised abortion.<\/p>\nShe says, \u201cThey gave me half an hour to decide\u2026 I told them there and then there was no possibility I was going to abort. They told me Steven wouldn’t be able to have a good quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although problems with the baby’s heart were found not to be as serious as originally believed, doctors later told her her son had Down syndrome. She calls Steven the \u201cmost amazing, beautiful, kindhearted little boy in the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kristina Artukovi\u0107 describes the reaction of doctors<\/a> when she and her husband refused to abort their baby with Down syndrome:<\/p>\n[M]y husband and I were repeatedly harassed and generally scorned by the medical community. They tried to set us on the right track: screen, diagnose, abort. They made clear that as obstetricians, they were deeply aware of things, and, as mere parents, we were ignorant and irresponsible for wanting our child.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1-blog-name-unknown-at-Christmas.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nFootnotes<\/strong><\/p>\n1. Rayna Rapp Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America (New York: Routledge, 1999) 133
\n2. Ibid., 133-134
\n3. Ibid., 91
\n4. Ibid., 138
\n5. Ibid., 92
\n6. Ibid., 134
\n7. Ibid., 146
\n8. Ibid.
\n9. Joanna Brien, Ida Fairbairn Pregnancy and Abortion Counseling (London: Routledge, 1996) 130-131
\n10. Cynthia Yunke “Surprise!” in Kathryn Lynard Soper Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives (Bethesda, Maryland: Woodbine House, 2007) 115
\n11. Robin Roach “Oh, Yeah?” Kathryn Lynard Soper Gifts\u2026, 26-27
\n12. Ibid.
\n13. Ibid., 28<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
================================<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For more of our posts on this topic, see: <\/em><\/p>\nA Lawyer\u2019s Turnaround on Baby Doe with Her Own Down Syndrome Baby<\/a><\/p>\nAbortion and People with Disabilities<\/a><\/p>\nWomen with Disabilities Speak<\/a><\/p>\nHow Euthanasia and Poverty Threaten the Disabled\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
- \n
- I have an image of how I want to interact with my child, and that’s not the kind of interaction I want, not the kind I could maintain.2<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- I’m something of a perfectionist. I want the best for my child. I’ve worked hard, I went to Cornell University, I’d want that for my child\u2026 I’m sorry I can’t be more accepting, but I’m clear I wouldn’t want to continue the pregnancy.3<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- The bottom line is when my neighbor said to me: “Having a ‘tard, that’s a bummer for life.”4<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- I just couldn’t do it, couldn’t be that kind of mother who accepts everything, loves her kid no matter what. What about me? Maybe it’s selfish, I don’t know. But I just didn’t want all those problems in my life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- If he can’t grow up to have a shot at becoming the president, we don’t want him.6<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- It’s devastating, it’s a waste, all the love that goes into kids like that. 7<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- I think it’s kind of like triage, or like euthanasia\u2026 We’d have to move, to focus our whole family on getting a handicapped kid a better deal\u2026 Why spend $50,000 to save one child?8<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
Aborting babies with Down syndrome is often seen as compassionate. Ob-gyn Katherine McHugh wrote in the Washington Post<\/em><\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n
Research suggests that women terminate between 60 and 90 percent of pregnancies diagnosed with Down syndrome. These decisions are made out of love and compassion, a seemingly obvious concept but one that bears emphasizing.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Abortionist Says Aborting Down Syndrome Babies is Like Prescribing Antibiotics<\/strong><\/h3>\n
There is an organization<\/a> devoted to placing children with Down syndrome with adoptive parents, and they present stories of families<\/a> that have welcomed a Down syndrome child into their lives.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, many still believe hurtful and ablest stereotypes.<\/p>\n
Abortionist Malcolm Potts described abortion as a valid way<\/a> to eliminate children with Down syndrome:<\/p>\n
Abortion is a way in which nature \u2014 Darwinian evolution \u2014 deals with abnormalities\u2026 If a woman asks me to do what nature failed to do and she wishes it, I will, with great comfort, abort a Down syndrome when it’s been diagnosed in a pregnant woman if she wants it. I see abortion as a necessary healing process.<\/p>\n
Potts refers to the child as \u201ca Down syndrome,\u201d reducing him or her to a medical diagnosis and dehumanizing them. He compares aborting these children to prescribing antibiotics:<\/p>\n
As a doctor, if someone has pneumonia and their immune system is not keeping up with it, I will prescribe an antibiotic. If they have an abnormal baby and they wish to have an abortion, I will give them a medical abortion. To me, it is the same basic ethic that all, I think, physicians have.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Teaching \u201cCounselors\u201d to Recommend Abortion<\/strong><\/h3>\n
A textbook meant to teach medical professionals how to \u201ccounsel\u201d women considering abortion discourages \u201cnon-directive\u201d counseling when a child is disabled. Instead, it encouraged \u201ccounselors\u201d to directly advise abortion:<\/p>\n
When counselling, the aim of the health professional involved would normally be to support a decision-making process but not to influence it. There has recently been lively debate whether a non-directive approach is possible or even ideal when fetal abnormality has been discovered\u2026<\/p>\n
By receiving non-directive counselling, the couple are urged to make their own impossible decision at a time when they are grief stricken and in emotional turmoil. Couples in this kind of situation are often desperate to be advised what to do, and being able to say “the doctor advised us to have a termination” can sometimes be a blessed relief.9<\/sup><\/p>\n
There is evidence that doctors are taking this advice to heart.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Painting a Negative Picture of Life with Down Syndrome<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Jo-Ann described herself as \u201cfearful and anxious\u201d when she learned there was a one in 93 chance her preborn child would have Down syndrome. She says<\/a>:<\/p>\n
We were given a handout that itemized all the health issues related to Down syndrome. It painted a very negative picture of this condition. I do not recall receiving any information about support groups.<\/p>\n
The \u201ccounselor\u201d pressured her to have an amniocentesis, with its risk of miscarriage, to diagnose her baby. She was repeatedly told, again and again, that this would give her the opportunity to abort. Jo-Ann recalls, \u201cThe last thing I remember her saying to us was, \u2018You do not need to have this child.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Her son James was born with Down syndrome. Jo-Ann says she has a \u201cwonderful family\u201d that was \u201cmade more complete\u201d by her son.<\/p>\n
Cynthia Yunke recalls telling the doctor she wouldn’t abort her baby with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n
According to her, the doctor \u201cmutter[ed] something about getting back to me in a few days because, \u2018I don’t think it is registering with you what I have just told you.\u2019\u201d10<\/sup><\/p>\n
Another doctor, after detecting a possible problem via ultrasound, \u201cshook her head with great displeasure\u201d11 <\/sup>when the child’s mother told her she hadn’t had a screening to detect anomalies. The doctor arranged an amniocentesis for the next morning at 9 AM. According to the mother, Robin Roach, \u201cshe never even gave us a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The perinatologist doing the test assured Robin that she would still have time to abort if it came out positive. Robin recalls thinking, \u201cWhy did she keep saying that? No one asked me if I even wanted to.\u201d12<\/sup><\/p>\n
Several days later, the doctor told her her child had Down syndrome and said, \u201cI understand from the perinatologist that you would like to terminate.\u201d Robin objected, saying she hadn’t decided what to do.<\/p>\n
She describes herself as being \u201cconfused, sick, and hurt\u201d and \u201cangry that the perinatologist had been so aggressive and intrusive in my private affairs, especially at a time when I was so vulnerable to the power of suggestion.\u201d13<\/sup><\/p>\n
She had her son over the objections of her doctors.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nSecular Pro-Life highlighted another case<\/a> where a woman was told her child was at risk for Down syndrome. Before the diagnosis was even confirmed, \u201cThe doctor gave me a long list of negative health conditions involved with Down syndrome\u2026 He emphasized it shouldn’t be hard for me to get immediately pregnant after an abortion if I wanted to \u2018try again for a normal baby.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When the amniocentesis came back positive, the doctor again mentioned abortion. Fortunately, she and her husband found another doctor who was supportive. She named her daughter Kaylen and later adopted another little girl with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n
In a study of 3,000 parents<\/a> of children with Down syndrome, the majority reported that their doctors painted a dismal picture of life with Down, mentioning only the negative aspects.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Dehumanizing Babies with Disabilities<\/strong><\/h3>\n
When an amniocentesis found that Jessica Capitani’s preborn son<\/a> had Down syndrome, the doctor went ahead and scheduled an abortion for her. When she didn’t keep the appointment, she says, he was \u201cvery surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Capitani says that the doctor began calling her 21-week-old son \u201cit\u201d and \u201ca fetus\u201d instead of \u201cbaby\u201d as soon as he discovered the disability, \u201c[a]s if I had a horrible cyst growing inside of me they couldn’t wait to eradicate. There was that subtle pressure to have the abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another woman was told her baby<\/a> \u201cwould be more like a fish than a human and would only be as smart as a baboon.\u201d<\/p>\n
One doctor that if she had her baby with Down syndrome, her child would \u201cjust be hanging off of you, drooling.\u201d The doctor \u201ccontort[ed] her face into a saggy, expressionless imitation\u201d of what she thought a disabled child would look like.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Pressured, Scorned and Harassed<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Pregnant at only 16, Danielle Urie\u00a0<\/a>was told her child had a heart defect and would require major surgery. While she was still \u201cin deep shock,\u201d her doctors advised abortion.<\/p>\n
She says, \u201cThey gave me half an hour to decide\u2026 I told them there and then there was no possibility I was going to abort. They told me Steven wouldn’t be able to have a good quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although problems with the baby’s heart were found not to be as serious as originally believed, doctors later told her her son had Down syndrome. She calls Steven the \u201cmost amazing, beautiful, kindhearted little boy in the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kristina Artukovi\u0107 describes the reaction of doctors<\/a> when she and her husband refused to abort their baby with Down syndrome:<\/p>\n
[M]y husband and I were repeatedly harassed and generally scorned by the medical community. They tried to set us on the right track: screen, diagnose, abort. They made clear that as obstetricians, they were deeply aware of things, and, as mere parents, we were ignorant and irresponsible for wanting our child.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Footnotes<\/strong><\/p>\n
1. Rayna Rapp Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America (New York: Routledge, 1999) 133
\n2. Ibid., 133-134
\n3. Ibid., 91
\n4. Ibid., 138
\n5. Ibid., 92
\n6. Ibid., 134
\n7. Ibid., 146
\n8. Ibid.
\n9. Joanna Brien, Ida Fairbairn Pregnancy and Abortion Counseling (London: Routledge, 1996) 130-131
\n10. Cynthia Yunke “Surprise!” in Kathryn Lynard Soper Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives (Bethesda, Maryland: Woodbine House, 2007) 115
\n11. Robin Roach “Oh, Yeah?” Kathryn Lynard Soper Gifts\u2026, 26-27
\n12. Ibid.
\n13. Ibid., 28<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
================================<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For more of our posts on this topic, see: <\/em><\/p>\n
A Lawyer\u2019s Turnaround on Baby Doe with Her Own Down Syndrome Baby<\/a><\/p>\n
Abortion and People with Disabilities<\/a><\/p>\n
Women with Disabilities Speak<\/a><\/p>\n
How Euthanasia and Poverty Threaten the Disabled\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
- I think it’s kind of like triage, or like euthanasia\u2026 We’d have to move, to focus our whole family on getting a handicapped kid a better deal\u2026 Why spend $50,000 to save one child?8<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- It’s devastating, it’s a waste, all the love that goes into kids like that. 7<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- If he can’t grow up to have a shot at becoming the president, we don’t want him.6<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- I just couldn’t do it, couldn’t be that kind of mother who accepts everything, loves her kid no matter what. What about me? Maybe it’s selfish, I don’t know. But I just didn’t want all those problems in my life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The bottom line is when my neighbor said to me: “Having a ‘tard, that’s a bummer for life.”4<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- I’m something of a perfectionist. I want the best for my child. I’ve worked hard, I went to Cornell University, I’d want that for my child\u2026 I’m sorry I can’t be more accepting, but I’m clear I wouldn’t want to continue the pregnancy.3<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n