I read a fact the other day on the internet: Eight percent of all babies in the womb who test positive for Down syndrome or a genetic anomaly survive and are born. That means 92% of all babies who test positive are aborted. Ninety two percent never get a chance. Reading that fact shook me […]
Part of the recently upheld Affordable Care Act that many in the disability community applaud is the elimination of policy exclusions for pre-existing conditions. I agree that our culture should not discriminate against and withhold heath care from an individual based on a physical or mental disability. Early Intervention services, exceptional educators, and medical advances […]
Recently, local media covered the story of Amelia Rivera, a young girl with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome reportedly denied a kidney transplant by a local hospital. Amelia’s syndrome results in serious developmental delays, and according to her parents, the hospital declined a transplant due to her diminished mental ability and shortened lifespan. It’s unwise to assume that […]
As word spread of a new non-invasive, highly accurate prenatal test for Down syndrome, MaterniT21, the headlines could hardly have been more sensational: The End of Down Syndrome! Will We Cull Those with Down Syndrome? Are Kids with Down Syndrome on the Road to Extinction? This mainstream response seems to suggest a terrible acknowledgment of what happens […]
If any one type is removed from the system, the cycle can break down, and the community becomes dominated by a single species. (Dr. Richard Lankau, “Loss of Genetic Diversity Threatens Species Diversity”) Leticia, I’d like to discuss your recent re-coining of the term “Genetic Diversity,” which I think is an important step toward reclaiming […]
One of my pet peeves was brought to mind by World AIDS Day. Not that I oppose finding a cure for HIV. I was a social worker when AIDS emerged in the eighties. I helped a young man with HIV who was kicked out of the Greenwich Village loft that he had shared with his […]
Manic: affected with, relating to, characterized by, or resulting from mania There is no other word that better defines man’s desire to perfect man than the mania that drives so many to eliminate human imperfection by killing human beings. This craving has gripped the very core of those we have come to identify as the […]
When Gemma Andre submitted photos of her young daughter, Taya, to a UK modeling agency at the urging of a family member, she didn’t say anything about the fact that Taya was born with Down syndrome. “No one asked the question, ‘Is your child disabled?’ So I didn’t mention it,” Gemma told the Daily Mail […]
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I often think of these words from The Declaration of Independence as I look into the eyes of my beautiful […]
In the past week a powerful pro-life photo featuring a child with Down syndrome has started circulating around Facebook. The image shows the smiling child holding a sign declaring that he is the “10%” of children with Down syndrome who managed to survive abortion after Roe v. Wade. “I am God’s handiwork and I bear […]
As a young boy growing up a popular phrase taught was “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” This advice proved to be very useful in my childhood and very handy when as an adult I became a Police Officer and dealt with a barrage of inappropriate names from […]
Among the groups honored by an audience with the Holy Father during World Youth Day, was a group of sick and disabled youth from St Joseph’s Hospital. Like the seminarians, university professors, and women religious, the Holy Father wanted to remind them of their vital importance in the life of the Church. This may surprise […]
How many times have you heard an expectant mom say, “I don’t care if it is a boy or a girl, as long as the baby is healthy?” But what happens when the baby isn’t healthy? How does one’s world change when a child is diagnosed with major health issues, either before or soon after […]
After waiting nearly three years to dig through Sarah Palin’s 13,000-plus old emails, journalists searching for juicy headlines from her brief tenure as Alaska’s governor were left empty-handed. The 300 pounds of printed correspondence dumped on the public this month revealed little new information aside from Palin’s fondness for exclamation points and faux-curse words like […]
The following has been released by Right to Life New Zealand Inc. The Killing of Unborn Children with Down syndrome – A Crime Against Humanity: Complaint to be lodged with the International Criminal Court Right to Life applauds the producer of TV3’s 60 Minutes programme for providing a service to our community by producing an […]
Today the French government holds the fate of thousands of innocent lives in their hands. The French Parliament is considering a bill mandating that health care professionals offer universal pre-natal testing for Down syndrome. When a diagnosis of Down syndrome is given to a pregnant woman in France, there is a 96% abortion rate. Most […]
It was the first day of spring in 2005. I was at the florist in the seaside village where I grew up, assembling a basket of flowering spring plants for my sister who had just given birth. To have my hands immersed in budding greenery, inhaling earthy scents, replaced for a few moments the pall […]
