Confronting the Abortion of Children with Down Syndrome

Eileen Haupt is speaking on "Confronting the Abortion of Children with Down Syndrome" at the 2010 National Right to Life Convention.

Chances of conceiving a DS baby increases with maternal age. All chromosomes are normal.  DS was named after John Langdon Down who in 1866 gave a name to the characteristics associated with DS people. 1930s, researches suspected DS might be caused by a chormosomal abnormality. 1959, the "extra chromosome" discovered by Dr. Jerome Lejeune, a French geneticist. This opened up a whole new field known as cytogenics. Modern treatment of DS: institutions, involuntary sterilisations, disabled were rounded up, experimented on and killed during Nazi Germany. In 60s and 70s in America, DS began to be raised at home. Routine use of amniocentesis for the purpose of aborting them. We have a schizophrenic treatment of people who are DS. Lejeune's discovery was meant for good, but now it is used to seek and destroy pre-born DS babies. He was ostrasised from the medical community for his pro-life views.

Mothers are put under incredible pressure to abort their preborn babies with DS.

Prenatal testing: Screening tests (show the "risk" of baby having DS) and Diagnostic tests (can tell you definitively if baby has DS).

Ramifications of "Improved" Testing: this will result in more mothers choosing abortion. Accurate and non-invasive tests; it's much easier now to discover DS much earlier in the pregnancy... "before they've even felt their baby kick".

"A simple blood test that could save the lives of hundreds of unborn babies each year." - a comment on the new DS testing. They're happy because with the old kind of testing there was a risk of the pre-born baby dying from amniocentesis - no consideration is given to the pre-born babies who are diagnosed as DS and subsequently killed by abortion.

Where do the DS Advocates stand? Sadly, the National Down Syndrome Society and National Down Syndrome Congress take a neutral stand on the abortiong of DS babies. They also partner with American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and others. However parents with DS children, shocked at the figure that approx. 90% of DS diagnosed babies are aborted, start blogs and are active in their communities. The International Down Syndrome (IDS for Life) and Keep Infants with Down Syndrome (KIDS) were established.

Methods used to abort DS babies. Because DS cannot be definitively diagnosed til 2nd Trimester, they are aborted in 2nd trimester, usually between 16 - 20wks.

In Italy a mother had a selective abortion to abort the twin that was diagnosed with DS. However the babies switched positions and the non DS baby was aborted - the mother then went back to have her DS baby aborted as well. A U.S. case, a doctor lost his license for accidently aborting the wrong twin baby - the non DS baby.

The missing factor in this prenatal testing is love. "The one thing that prenatal testing can't tell you, is how much joy your special child will bring" - Eileen Haupt

Why the heck are Down Syndrome babies being aborted? There is a waiting list to adopt children with DS.