{"id":65666,"date":"2015-07-01T07:26:16","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T11:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=65666"},"modified":"2015-06-30T17:27:39","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T21:27:39","slug":"reproductive-justice-when-prenatal-diagnosis-makes-children-disappear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/reproductive-justice-when-prenatal-diagnosis-makes-children-disappear\/","title":{"rendered":"Reproductive justice: When prenatal diagnosis makes children disappear"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor’s Note: Live Action News believes that parents need to receive full information about any disability or disease their preborn child is diagnosed with. Many diseases initially called “fatal,” “terminal,” or “incompatible with life” are actually quite different. Sadly, many doctors give worst case information to parents, and fail to inform parents of life-giving options such as in-utero surgeries, the benefit of waiting to see the real facts and the condition of the baby, support organizations, and hospice care. For true stories illustrating this, read about Grayson<\/a>, Titus<\/a>, Angela<\/a>, Cayden<\/a>, and Bella<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Recognizing that the majority of Americans are not comfortable with our abortion-on-demand jurisprudence, the mantra of abortion advocates is almost always tempered.\u00a0 The former catch-phrase \u201csafe, legal, and rare\u201d\u009d has recently morphed into \u201creducing the need for abortion.\u201d\u009d\u00a0 (The Obama Administration made it clear that it was need<\/em> not numbers<\/em> of abortion that they are looking to reduce.)\u00a0 Yet, when we talk about making abortion \u201crare\u201d\u009d and \u201creducing the need\u201d\u009d for abortion, I always wonder where do the babies who are aborted because of a prenatal diagnosis fit in?<\/p>\n

What I have come to realize is, for those that subscribe to this rhetoric, they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath White completely changed his mind about his daughter<\/a> with Down syndrome and regrets pushing his wife to abort her.<\/p><\/div>\n

A recent AP article<\/a> announced that, \u201cSome of mankind\u2019s most devastating inherited diseases appear to be declining, and a few have nearly disappeared, because more people are using genetic testing to decide whether to have children.\u201d\u009d However, it is not entirely accurate to state that the diseases<\/em> are disappearing.\u00a0 Rather, in many cases, it is the children<\/em> who are diagnosed with the disease that \u201cdisappear.\u201d\u009d\u00a0 As the article notes, \u201cmore women are being tested as part of routine prenatal care, and many end pregnancies when diseases are found.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

How many is \u201cmany?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

Studies report staggering numbers.\u00a0 In California, Kaiser Permanente offers prenatal testing for couples who carry cystic fibrosis mutations.\u00a0 From 2006 to 2008, of the 87 pregnant women who underwent testing, 23 were found to be carrying a child with cystic fibrosis.\u00a0 Of the 17 children projected to have the severest type, only one was not aborted.\u00a0 Of the six diagnosed with less severe cases, four were aborted.<\/p>\n

Justice works toward the elimination of disease, but not by \u201celiminating\u201d\u009d those who are sick.\u00a0 When prenatal testing identifies a terminal condition, real reproductive justice provides resources and information about Hospice or palliative care for newborns and infants.\u00a0 These children and their families deserve true support \u2014 medical, spiritual, and psychological \u2014 as they face the end of a short life.<\/p>\n

\"racism,We also know that children are aborted in droves upon the diagnosis of Down Syndrome, which is a disability, not a disease.\u00a0 In Ireland, up to 50% children diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted.\u00a0 That half of all children diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted is shocking, but it is a relatively low rate when compared to the neighboring United Kingdom where the number is around 90%.\u00a0 In the United States, the percentage of Down Syndrome babies carried to term is in the single digits.<\/p>\n

Such high percentages of abortions after a prenatal diagnosis begs the question \u2014 are we really a society so bent on perfection that we do not want children with disabilities or illnesses, or is not enough being done to provide families with support and alternatives to abortion when tests prove positive?\u00a0 The answer is probably both.<\/p>\n

\"The

The cover of Sports Illustrated Kids featuring Connor and Cayden Long. Cayden’s parents were told by doctors to abandon him because of his cerebral palsy.<\/p><\/div>\n

Studies suggest that many undergoing prenatal testing are not thinking in terms of abortion.\u00a0 Yet, when a woman is given the news that the child she is carrying has a disability or illness, but before the reality of the diagnosis even settles in, she is often urged by her doctor to \u201cterminate\u201d\u009d the pregnancy quickly.\u00a0 One study found most abortions because of fetal abnormality occurred within 72 hours of the woman receiving the test results.\u00a0 Three days hardly allows time to become informed about resources available to parents of children with these disabilities.\u00a0 But as women weigh the news, they are faced with pressure from their physicians who want to avoid complications of a later term abortion.<\/p>\n

Pressuring women to abort, and abort quickly, after a prenatal diagnosis is not reproductive justice.\u00a0 The long term effects on women of these abortions should not be ignored.\u00a0 Even Planned Parenthood, the nation\u2019s largest abortion provider, notes on its website that studies show that \u201cthose who choose abortion because of genetic conditions may suffer more serious emotional effects and may have a greater need for counseling than those who elect abortion for socioeconomic or psychological reasons.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

There is no justice in ending a life because it is less-than-perfect, and there is no justice in setting women up to suffer serious emotional effects.\u00a0 Real reproductive justice will be only attained when we stop equating a prenatal diagnosis with a \u201cneed\u201d\u009d for abortion \u201c\u201c and when \u201crare\u201d\u009d no longer means the disabled, the sick, and the terminally ill.<\/p>\n

Other posts from AUL\u2019s Reproductive Justice Series:<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n