{"id":242194,"date":"2021-03-26T15:43:50","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T20:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=242194"},"modified":"2021-03-25T23:38:25","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T04:38:25","slug":"down-syndrome-heidi-crowter-diagnosis-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/down-syndrome-heidi-crowter-diagnosis-pregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Down syndrome campaigner Heidi Crowter: \u2018I\u2019m not a devastating diagnosis or a crisis pregnancy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Disability rights advocate <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/disability-advocates-fight-discriminatory-abortions-northern-ireland\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heidi Crowter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is speaking up for the humanity of people who, like her, have Down syndrome. Crowter is part of a UK-based advocacy group called \u201cDon\u2019t Screen Us Out,\u201d an organization that ensures prenatal screenings for the condition are only conducted for ethical purposes. Sadly, as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2020\/12\/28\/uk-downs-syndrome-births-halve-parents-opt-blood-test-identify\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Telegraph<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> reported, the number of babies born with Down syndrome in the UK has plummeted 54% since the screening tests were made available about a decade ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/news\/arid-40249490.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">British government<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> imposing a law on Northern Ireland that allows abortions in cases of \u201csevere fetal impairments\u201d such as Down syndrome, it seems that Crowter\u2019s advocacy is needed now more than ever.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a recent interview with News Letter, the advocate said that people in Northern Ireland should be allowed to determine their laws.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey are their own people, and they should have a say in their laws,\u201d Crowter said. \u201cIt upsets me that they can lose control and they might force something on them they do not want to do. I think that you shouldn\u2019t force something on people that they don\u2019t want.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe reason I feel so strongly about abortion is because I am someone who has Down\u2019s syndrome,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t want people to see me as \u2018a devastating diagnosis\u2019 or \u2018a crisis pregnancy.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I want them to see the real me. I don\u2019t want to be treated differently because of my [extra] chromosome.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ:\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/disability-advocates-fight-discriminatory-abortions-northern-ireland\/\">Disability advocates fight for an end to discriminatory abortions in Northern Ireland<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earlier this month, more than 1,500 people signed an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dontscreenusout.org\/niopenletter\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">open letter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> calling for lawmakers in Northern Ireland to support the Severe Fetal Impairment Abortion Bill. If the legislation were advanced, then it would prohibit late-term abortions on preborn babies with non-lethal disabilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, it seems there is much work to be done when it comes to rescuing preborn children with genetic disorders from abortion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heidi&#8217;s mother, Liz Crowter, also spoke with News Letter about the hurt she felt when she heard Down syndrome described as a \u201cdevastating diagnosis\u201d during a recent Northern Island Assembly. The mother shared how she was offered a prenatal screening during her pregnancy with Heidi, but her Christian faith compelled her to turn it down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIn hindsight finding out might have helped me prepare myself for Heidi\u2019s birth but it wouldn\u2019t have changed my decision to keep her,\u201d Liz said.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI am delighted and proud to be her mum. I am thankful for her and all she does, the joy and amusement she brings to every situation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every baby in the womb is worthy of life, not due to any immediate ability but by nature of what they are: a human being. Killing an innocent human being is wrong, and babies diagnosed in-utero with genetic conditions are more than their diagnoses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveactionnewsonline\/\">\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disability rights advocate Heidi Crowter is speaking up for the humanity of people who, like her, have Down syndrome. Crowter is part of a UK-based advocacy group called \u201cDon\u2019t Screen Us Out,\u201d an organization that ensures prenatal screenings for the condition are only conducted for ethical purposes. Sadly, as The Telegraph reported, the number of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":617,"featured_media":233173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7,5,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Down syndrome campaigner Heidi Crowter: \u2018I\u2019m not a devastating diagnosis or a crisis pregnancy\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;I am someone who has Down\u2019s syndrome. And I don\u2019t want people to see me as \u2018a devastating diagnosis\u2019 or \u2018a crisis pregnancy.\u2019&quot; ~ Heidi Crowter\" \/>\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\/down-syndrome-heidi-crowter-diagnosis-pregnancy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Down syndrome campaigner Heidi Crowter: \u2018I\u2019m not a devastating diagnosis or a crisis pregnancy\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;I am someone who has Down\u2019s syndrome. 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