Down Syndrome Now Detectable In 1st Trimester

[Sojourner]

There's not a sad enough smilie for this. It's things like this that make me pray for Jesus' hasty return.

[url="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/09/AR2005110902079.html"]Here's a recent article from the Washington Post.[/url]

[url="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111102212_pf.html"]And another from the same paper.[/url]

[url="http://nationalreview.com/lopez/lopez200511300840.asp"]And an article from the National Review Online commenting on the first two pieces.[/url]
Here's what NRO editor Kathryn Jean Lopez opens with:
[quote]The Spine-Chilling Euphemism of the Month Award goes to the Washington Post for its recent front-page headline: "Down Syndrome Now Detectable In 1st Trimester: Earlier Diagnosis Allows More Time for Decisions."

One "decision" is, of course, whether to terminate the pregnancy — the "A" word (abortion, for those not into subtlety). The less-nuanced, terribly un-P.C., and perhaps you'll consider downright mean among us might use a k-word. The decision being over whether to kill an innocent child, who is completely dependent on his mother's choices. Doctors estimate that between 80 and 90 percent of Down children are now aborted once pre-natal tests issue "warnings."[/quote]

Here's one paragraph with a ray of hope toward the end:
[quote]And in denying children with Down Syndrome their lives, parents close themselves off to beautiful blessings. John McGinley, who plays Dr. Perry Cox on the NBC comedy Scrubs, was pretty down to earth about it in an interview last year, "[W]hen you have a child who was born with special needs, it's very confusing and disconcerting and you really don't know which end is up and you feel like you're from Mars and you did something wrong. It turns out that God blessed you with a really special package."[/quote]

[homeschoolmom]

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

[Sojourner]

Thank you for posting that. It's beautiful.

[photosynthesis]

this is so sad... my aunt had an abortion because her doctor told her that her unborn child had a 60% chance of having Down's. that's a cousin that I never got to meet another thing is that those tests are often WRONG

[photosynthesis]

HSmom, i thank you for posting that too... that made me smile!
and i'm sorry about the unity candle

[homeschoolmom]

It always makes me cry... that someone would tear up their ticket for an exciting adventure just because it wasn't what they expected...

[homeschoolmom]

Whenever one of my kids disappoints me I think, "Welcome to Holland" and try to see the upside of whatever happened that upset me.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='photosynthesis' date='Dec 5 2005, 02:28 PM']this is so sad...  my aunt had an abortion because her doctor told her that her unborn child had a 60% chance of having Down's.  that's a cousin that I never got to meet another thing is that those tests are often WRONG
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That is true.

My friends Mike and Julie had a test with their third child which showed a chance that their child would have Down Syndrome. Turns out he didn't have it. He's now two years old.

[Ave Maria Totus Tuus]

Lord have mercy on us.

Edited December 5, 2005 by Ave Maria Totus Tuus

[RC_]

This genocide against the handicapped is evil.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='RC_' date='Dec 5 2005, 02:43 PM']

This genocide against the handicapped is evil.
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Yes it is.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='RC_' date='Dec 5 2005, 02:43 PM']

This genocide against the handicapped is evil.
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yep.

[Carrie]

[Lil Red]

[Didacus]

does anyone see an end in sight for abortion?

I sure can't.... I hopoe I'm wrong...

May God have mercy on us all!

[MilesChristi]

One of my younger brothers is mentally handicapped, and he goes to a special education school where many of his peers have Down syndrome. Having worked there as a volunteer myself, I can attest that these children often have a better appreciation for life and inner joy about them than most people society would call "normal."

The kingdom of God belongs to such as these, and may God have mercy on the people who would dare harm them.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

I have a friend named Keri who would have been tested as having Down's Syndrome, but she had a different disease which results in some of the same physical features but no others...now, of course, they shouldn't be killing anyone, but you'd think these people, who agree with me that the death penalty kills many people who don't deserve it, would think that killing anyone who appears to have diseases even if they don't would be a reason to avoid killing anyone all together...

[Dreamweaver]

Horrible! This is eugenics! Someone deciding who is fit to be born and who isn't. I've known several mentally handicapped people throughout school, and they can be the happiest people in the world. They're always smiling and having a good time.

I'd also like to say that the tests are horribly inaccurate. My younger brother had some abnormal results from a prenatal test, and he doesn't have any mental handicaps.

[Tink]

[img]http://www.weadore.com/smf/Smileys/default/love9.gif[/img]
[img]http://www.weadore.com/smf/Smileys/default/sad2.gif[/img]

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='RC_' date='Dec 5 2005, 02:43 PM']
This genocide against the handicapped is evil.
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Were you born with your handicap?