According to The New York Times, about ninety percent of unborn children who are diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. Moreover, when a prenatal cystic fibrosis test was developed, the number of children born with cystic fibrosis in Massachusetts dropped by fifty percent. No studies have been done to asses the cause of the drop, but the odds of this being simple coincidence are quite low. A likely cause is the prevalent cultural notion that "flawed" human beings do not have lives worth living.Parents whose child has been diagnosed with Down syndrome or cystic fibrosis are often apprehensive and frequently terrified. They have little idea what to expect for the future and even less understanding of the resources available to assist them in providing for their child. Unfortunately, their fears are often heightened by doctors who present the news as a tragedy or encourage the parents to pursue an abortion. In their time of trial, many of these parents are not given sound information about the reality of raising a handicapped child.
I thank God that no one "counselled us" out of the safe delivery of our special needs child! What would our life be without him?!
I was talking to my sister about this one time. She has been asked 'the question' twice now. Basically the doctors ask whether or not she would like to know if their baby is disabled, implying that the baby could be aborted if it is. My sister always answers, "Disabled or not, it's my baby!"
ReplyDeleteWhen my wife was pregnant with our son Ryan, he was growing more quickly than normal. Our obstetrician scheduled an appointment for us with a genetics counsellor, believing that he might have Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome. But I am grateful that no one mentioned the idea of abortion ... though of course we wouldn't have considered such an idea.
ReplyDeleteWith our first child we had to insist most energetically to the obstetrician that we did not want an amniocentesis, because it was too risky to the child and because we'd never kill our baby regardless of the results. But we had to assert over and over again that we understood the consequences and still did not want the test.
We praise God for Will and the rest of your family, Paul. You all reflect God's grace in many different ways!