{"id":96612,"date":"2016-06-24T14:45:34","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T18:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=96612"},"modified":"2016-06-29T09:31:12","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T13:31:12","slug":"parents-walk-abortion-choose-life-son-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/parents-walk-abortion-choose-life-son-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents walk out of abortion, choose life for their son with Down syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>At 15 weeks pregnant, Claire Martin and her husband Benjamin were expecting to have a routine ultrasound of their baby boy. Instead, the doctor shocked them with the news that their son has Down syndrome.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->\u201cMy doctor was wonderful. He was very factual, he left emotion out of it and said, \u2018Your baby does have Down syndrome\u2019 and my husband and I were both crying,\u201d Martin told the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/femail\/article-3651860\/Couple-tell-moment-decided-not-terminate-son-diagnosed-Syndrome.html#ixzz4COfIBoR4\">Daily Mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The doctor advised that they go home and discuss the diagnosis with their family and friends and decide whether or not they would abort the baby.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI found that the people that gave me the most grief, although not intentionally, were sometimes those closest,\u201d said Martin. \u201cI told all my family I was pregnant with a baby with Down syndrome and they would say, \u2018I\u2019m so sorry\u2019 and would cry and then hug me. I even had one person say, \u2018If this was a dog what would you do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/AbortionProcedures.com\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-88619\" src=\"https:\/\/www.liveactionnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/levatino-ad-LAN.jpg\" alt=\"levatino-ad-LAN\" width=\"306\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/levatino-ad-LAN.jpg 306w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/levatino-ad-LAN-300x221.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 306px) 100vw, 306px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The negativity, discrimination, and fear of the unknown is what ultimately led the couple to decide to abort their son, and they scheduled the appointment. However, after they arrived for that appointment, one show of support changed everything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[W]e were sitting there [for the abortion] but then my husband dragged me outside,\u201d Martin told Daily Mail. \u201cHe said, \u2018What are we doing? Let\u2019s go home, we can\u2019t kill this baby\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was relieved, I needed someone to say they were on my side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Baby Xavier was born in April, and the parents have no regrets with their decision to keep and love their son.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just remember feeling nothing but love,\u201d said Martin. \u201cIt was almost like everything that we\u2019d been through over the past nine months didn\u2019t matter because we had a perfect little baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, the same negativity that plagued the Martin family is also common among strangers. People have called their baby hideous and have been rude on more than one occasion. However, there are also strangers who fuss over Xavier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have no regrets at all. I have no idea what I was so scared of, but I was absolutely terrified and I do not know what to expect,\u201d said Martin. \u201cI hate the word \u2018normal\u2019, but he\u2019s the same as any normal baby. I\u2019m going to love him no matter what \u2013 I\u2019m completely over the moon to be his mum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Babies with Down syndrome are targeted for abortion at an alarming rate, <a href=\"https:\/\/lozierinstitute.org\/new-study-abortion-after-prenatal-diagnosis-of-down-syndrome-reduces-down-syndrome-community-by-thirty-percent\/\">with up to 67%<\/a> of those who receive a diagnosis of Down syndrome becoming victims of abortion. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifenews.com\/2016\/03\/24\/indiana-becomes-second-state-to-ban-abortions-based-on-down-syndrome\/\">North Dakota and Indiana<\/a> have both moved to ban abortion based on a prenatal diagnosis such as Down syndrome, but that hasn\u2019t stopped pro-abortion groups and businesses such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifenews.com\/2016\/04\/07\/planned-parenthood-sues-to-overturn-law-banning-abortions-on-babies-with-down-syndrome\/\">Planned Parenthood<\/a> from fighting to ensure that these laws are not passed.<\/p>\n<p>All children, including those with Down syndrome like Xavier, should be allowed to live their own lives. When we offer only sympathy to parents facing such a diagnosis, we are telling them that their child is somehow not a child worth celebrating. But each child is a blessing, and deserves to be loved and cared for no matter what. Sometimes all it takes is one person stepping up and telling a scared parent that their child is worthy, and beautiful, and loved. For Martin, that person was her husband, and his decision to stop the abortion changed their lives for the better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At 15 weeks pregnant, Claire Martin and her husband Benjamin were expecting to have a routine ultrasound of their baby boy. Instead, the doctor shocked them with the news that their son has Down syndrome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":66517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[429,5031,9251],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Parents walk out of abortion, choose life for their son with Down syndrome<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Moments away from aborting their baby, all it took to was one person to speak up and baby Xavier&#039;s life was spared, and a family saved.\" \/>\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\/parents-walk-abortion-choose-life-son-syndrome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parents walk out of abortion, choose life for their son with Down syndrome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Moments away from aborting their baby, all it took to was one person to speak up and baby Xavier&#039;s life was spared, and a family saved.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/parents-walk-abortion-choose-life-son-syndrome\/\" \/>\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=\"2016-06-24T18:45:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-06-29T13:31:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/down-syndrome-2-e1436827089852.jpg\" 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