Interesting link, zooey. Although I am pro-choice, I personally wouldn't abort a Down's baby. I did do the prenatal testing more just to prepare myself and my husband if that were the case. Especially after having a miscarriage, any pregnancy would have been welcome!

Right before I got pregnant I read a popular fiction book called The Memory Keeper's Daughter and that was actually very helpful to me in seeing what a full life that Down's people live and the varying degrees of the condition. I didn't think the book was the end-all be-all like some people did (every book club I knew of read it at some point that year), but I did enjoy the read.

No woman has ever told the whole truth of her life.

-Isadora Duncan

I am also pro choice but did not undergo the testing either pregnancy because I knew I would not abort a Down's Syndrome baby.  92% seems like a high number for women that choose to abort a fetus after a positive Down's test.

Funny, Lilred...I didn't care for that book either. Very stock character-ish to me. Anyhoo, you all know I'm very much pro life, so I cannot think of that statistic without becoming emotional. I also have never faced that prospect. I never would have aborted my child, but would've been at least temporarily devastated at the challenges they faced, the life they wouldn't live. Then I'd hope I'd be like the parents in this article and welcome the pure love, the blessing, the joy that so many people with Downs bring to the lives of those around them.  I feel like this is a holocaust of some of the most wonderf, innocent people God put on this Earth. Some will read that statement and think it is a platitude, but I have met many families with Downs kids in it and they have ALL mentioned how fortunate they were to have that kind of love and purity of soul in their lives, and the joy these folks have in so many things many of us take for granted. THey face challenges, yes....many....but what mortal doesn't? Who can say what God ( or life...or the universe...whatever you want to believe in) has in store for any of us?

A good book I read several years ago was "Waiting For Adam". The author's name escapes me, but the book is well worth looking up on Amazon. The mom was a brilliant PhD candidate at Harvard with one small child already and a husband working out of the country when she found out she was unexpectedly pregnant with a child with Downs. Their journey is really powerful.

" It takes a joyful sound to make the world go round"-Bob Marley

As a member of the disAbility community, I'd like to thank you all for your perspectives here. In the Down syndrome community, there's a saying: "They've found a cure for Down syndrome. It's called abortion."

Like MMM, I am pro-choice and did not choose to have testing. It would not have aborted a child bc of Down syndrome. And, interestingly, I had a child with a disAbility anyway. Life. Work. That. Way. 

People with Down syndrome can grow up to lead very productive lives, hold jobs (I know one who's a photographer! and others who hold a variety of jobs), get married (know one,) drive (know one,) go to college, even (know several). And, we're aborting them bc they have Down syndrome?

I'll end with one of my life bottom line statements: You can either choose Love. Or, Fear....

LEISA: MLM Moderator-Div/Single-SpecNeeds-WAHM

Count your Blessings. Find the Joy. Celebrate the Good.

Blog: www.leisahammett.com * Autism Art: www.GraceGoad.com

I personally would not choose to abort a child with Down, and honestly can't imagine ever making that decision no matter what the reason.  This brings to mind the discussion we had about people who abort their babies if they aren't of the desired sex. 

Here's where you may want to throw stones.  As a country, if we're going to be pro choice then we're pro choice.  It may be distasteful to abort a baby with Down, and even more so to abort a baby because she isn't a he.  But those are reasons like any other.  What reason is better than another?  If we're pro choice we're pro choice.  We can't stop people at the abortion clinic door and ask them the reason and turn certain people away because we dislike their reasons for their actions.  The action is the same regardless of the reason. 

I don't see how aborting a baby with Down is any different than aborting a baby without Down.  Could you really draw that line?  Look at a newborn with Down and say, "Thank goodness you didn't abort this precious, pure, loving little soul."  Then look at a baby without Down and say, "Yeah, this one can go.  No biggie."  Babies with Down are precious, special little people.  But my babies don't have Down and they're pretty precious and special too.

Probably going to regret posting this, huh?  :)

MLM MANIAC

If you can't say something nice, don't create a username.

Thanks, saranan. That's very well-said.

" It takes a joyful sound to make the world go round"-Bob Marley

Saranan I get your point.  I've said before that I am pro choice but don't think I could have an abortion for *any* reason.  But I do support a person's right to choose that for themselves. 

What week does conclusive Down's Syndrome testing even become available to a family?  I didn't think there was any 100% sure test anyway. 

Saranan, you are absolutely right, that we might not like people's reasons but it is the same action. LIke MMM, I might not like someone else's reason but I do support the right to choose for themselves. From my personal experience (and this is my personal experience, not fact) working at a forensics/paternity testing clinic, there were some women who chose to have their child that-dare I say it-probably shouldn't have because they were such horrible, cruel mothers. For me-and again, my personal experience, which has shaped my pro-choice view-I'd rather be dead than go through the daily parade of horrors these kids go through. I know not everyone agrees with me or would make the same choice and that's OK. I know that other people choose differently because of their life experience.

All of that babble is to say  if a pregnant woman thinks she'd be a terrible parent to a Down's baby, well, I personally wouldn't make that choice but I respect her right to do it. I'm sick of seeing women who have children and treat them horribly. Similarly, I don't like white supremacists or Rush Limbaugh but I respect their right to free speech as permitted by the law.

MMM, if I recall, the first trimester "quad screen" just tells you how likely Down's is by a variety of tests (ultrasound to look for the thickened neck + blood tests for 3 markers or particular substances in your blood). I thought it was done around 10 weeks. The definitive testing is usually done after the first trimester through amnio (I think) and then they can do a karyotype (look at a picture of the chromosomes) to check for the chromosomal abnormality.

No woman has ever told the whole truth of her life.

-Isadora Duncan

Lilred- I think I feel completely where you're coming from. I respect how caring you are and I truly think you've come to the place you're in with the issue because you hate the idea of children suffering needlessly. I don't want to argue with anyone, but I want to throw this out there as food for thought:

Imagine that someone could see you at the lowest point in your life, when you are at your most vulnerable, in the most pain, struggling with finances or health or abusive relationships. Now imagine that someone has a gun, and they now have the right to decide if your life is worth living. Not you, someone completely other and separate from yourself gets to look ahead at what they believe to be your probably future (not your actual future, just what they forsee) and decide if your life is worth the living.

" It takes a joyful sound to make the world go round"-Bob Marley

I am wondering when and why pregnant women started getting tested for Down's Syndrome in the first place.  I have heard that it gives the parent(s) time to prepare but are there other health issues involved?  Or is it just a case of the technology being available so the information is shared with parents, similar to gender testing? 

The article also mentions that the high rate of terminated pregnancies may be due to lack of education in terms of how to care for a child with Downs and what a person with Downs can actually accomplish later in life.  I grew up around a girl with Downs and now she has a job and is on the board of the local Special Olympics organization so maybe I just have a different perspective on the quality of life a person with Downs Syndrome can actually enjoy.