{"id":236520,"date":"2020-12-21T13:46:40","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=236520"},"modified":"2020-12-20T21:08:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T03:08:20","slug":"mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Linzi Graham was 18 weeks pregnant with her third child when she learned her preborn baby had Down syndrome. Scared and full of misinformation, she scheduled an abortion. But the night before what would have been a 21-week abortion, (babies at <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/21-weeks-wisconsin-miracle-baby-christmas-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">21 weeks<\/a> have survived outside the womb) she changed her mind and canceled that appointment.<\/p>\n<p>Graham lives in <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abortions-surge-by-nearly-150-in-ireland-after-legalization\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ireland<\/a> and abortion was still illegal in the country at the time, so her abortion was set to take place in England. But during the weeks leading up to her appointment, she researched the condition and &#8220;saw amazing families going through what I was so afraid of.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She and her partner Keith Patterson decided not to go through with the abortion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPositiveaboutDownSyndrome%2Fphotos%2Fa.821613544666659%2F1557989561029050%2F&amp;width=500&amp;show_text=true&amp;appId=137960262968925&amp;height=333\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Speaking to other parents made a big difference,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;I realised I was only having a termination because I was afraid, and that the more information I had, the better.&#8221; She said she understands that mothers often feel like they aren&#8217;t strong enough to raise a child with disabilities because she felt that once herself. But she was wrong.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All I had in my mind was misinformation, fear and negativity, but I can&#8217;t explain how glad I am that I changed my mind,&#8221; she told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/fabulous\/13292316\/emmerdale-downs-syndrome-abortion-agonising-memories-four-mums\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Sun<\/a>. &#8220;The reality of life with a child with Down&#8217;s Syndrome in 2020 is completely different from what I feared it was.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This year, the UK show <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/british-soap-emmerdale-down-syndrome-eugenic-abortions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Emmerdale<\/a> ran a storyline that included the abortion of a baby with Down syndrome. The show has faced criticism over the episode, and for Graham, it was heartwrenching to see.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPositiveaboutDownSyndrome%2Fphotos%2Fa.821613544666659%2F1557989651029041%2F&amp;width=500&amp;show_text=true&amp;appId=137960262968925&amp;height=333\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was incredibly upset,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It brought me back to when I was in that position. I worry if this had been going on then I might have seen a termination as the only sensible choice, and my beautiful baby might not be here now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Today Graham is grateful she didn&#8217;t go through with the abortion because her daughter Matilda is &#8220;amazing.&#8221; She underwent heart surgery at 13 weeks old but otherwise, life has been normal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My other kids don&#8217;t see her as anything other than their little sister,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;She&#8217;s been able to do so much more than we thought. She loves swimming, she models for a local boutique and the plan is for her to go to mainstream school.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Graham wants everyone to know that there is a &#8220;joyful reality of life with a child with Down&#8217;s Syndrome&#8221; and people facing the diagnosis of a child need to hear about that joy \u2014 &#8220;not negativity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveactionnewsonline\/\">\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a> for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Linzi Graham was 18 weeks pregnant with her third child when she learned her preborn baby had Down syndrome. Scared and full of misinformation, she scheduled an abortion. But the night before what would have been a 21-week abortion, (babies at 21 weeks have survived outside the womb) she changed her mind and canceled that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":236542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During the weeks leading up to her abortion appointment, Linzi researched Down syndrome and &quot;saw amazing families going through what I was so afraid of.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During the weeks leading up to her abortion appointment, Linzi researched Down syndrome and &quot;saw amazing families going through what I was so afraid of.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-21T19:46:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-21T03:08:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/positive-about-down-syndrome-facebook-linzi.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"567\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\"},\"headline\":\"Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-21T19:46:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-21T03:08:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/\"},\"wordCount\":445,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Human Interest\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/\",\"name\":\"Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-21T19:46:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-21T03:08:20+00:00\",\"description\":\"During the weeks leading up to her abortion appointment, Linzi researched Down syndrome and \\\"saw amazing families going through what I was so afraid of.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\",\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nancy Flanders\"},\"description\":\"Nancy Flanders is Associate Editor for Live Action News. She has 25 years of experience writing and editing. For more than a decade, she has focused her work on pro-life issues through human interest stories and political issues regarding abortion and physician-assisted death as well as research articles and op-eds dismantling the lies of the pro-abortion, pro-death agenda. Her work has appeared in Catholic Digest, Pregnancy Help News, and a variety of other publications.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/nancy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown","description":"During the weeks leading up to her abortion appointment, Linzi researched Down syndrome and \"saw amazing families going through what I was so afraid of.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown","og_description":"During the weeks leading up to her abortion appointment, Linzi researched Down syndrome and \"saw amazing families going through what I was so afraid of.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2020-12-21T19:46:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-21T03:08:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":567,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/positive-about-down-syndrome-facebook-linzi.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nancy Flanders","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nancy Flanders","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/"},"author":{"name":"Nancy Flanders","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef"},"headline":"Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown","datePublished":"2020-12-21T19:46:40+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-21T03:08:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/"},"wordCount":445,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Human Interest","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/","name":"Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-21T19:46:40+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-21T03:08:20+00:00","description":"During the weeks leading up to her abortion appointment, Linzi researched Down syndrome and \"saw amazing families going through what I was so afraid of.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mom-chooses-life-down-syndrome-fear-unknown\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mom chooses life for baby girl with Down syndrome after overcoming fear of the unknown"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef","name":"Nancy Flanders","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nancy Flanders"},"description":"Nancy Flanders is Associate Editor for Live Action News. She has 25 years of experience writing and editing. For more than a decade, she has focused her work on pro-life issues through human interest stories and political issues regarding abortion and physician-assisted death as well as research articles and op-eds dismantling the lies of the pro-abortion, pro-death agenda. Her work has appeared in Catholic Digest, Pregnancy Help News, and a variety of other publications.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/nancy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236520"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236543,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236520\/revisions\/236543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}