Abortion and a Down Syndrome Diagnosis

The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of the Abortion Museum. However, we do post content from both sides of the issue in order to foster intelligent discourse.

This week popular YouTube influencer Jesse Ridgway disclosed that he and his wife Ashley had made the decision to terminate her pregnancy due to a Down syndrome diagnosis. This revelation has sparked controversy for several reasons.

First, many have noted the contrast of their choosing to care for a severely ill dog who is in total kidney failure with their reluctance to care for and support their human child who likely had Down syndrome. The dissonance between willingness to care for an ailing pet and ending the life of a differently-abled child was not lost on their fans.

Jesse openly justified their decision by saying, “When I first confronted this news, I was shocked but optimistic. ... I signed on to be a parent, come what may ... but I just didn’t fully understand what Down Syndrome entailed.”

While I don’t have a child with Down syndrome, I have a stepson with a significant disability which has made his life harder, but his life is a good one. Although I know he has faced and will face hard things, he is a special person and the world is a better place with him in it. This young man who, according to his diagnosis, never should have walked or talked just finished his recreational league baseball season and has a job he enjoys. He loves country music and talking about severe weather.

His life is worth living.

I also have several close friends with children with Down syndrome. I’ve seen how loved they are and yet how difficult life can be for them. It is truly a spectrum of different abilities and challenges and health conditions. Down syndrome comes in many sizes and shapes, just like all children.

But here is the issue, no parent would choose for their child to deal with a disability. If they could wave a magic wand and give perfect health to their child, they often would (And some parents have reached out and said they wouldn’t even erase it, this is who they are!).

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No kids come with a healthiness guarantee!

Genetically typical children still get cancer or other injuries or illnesses. Parenting is stepping into the unknown to shepherd whatever child God gives you through this life. That’s the deal.

Furthermore, abortion doesn’t heal your child, it ends the life of a child already in existence. It ends the life of a unique, one of a kind, never-to-be-repeated-in-the-history-of-time person. And reeks of eugenics (the killing of others for being somehow less human). Ending the life of a child for genetic issues is the same as forced sterilization of poor, low IQ women. It is the same as Nazi extermination of Jews. Ending the life of someone for being the wrong kind of human or not having the same character traits as desired is the historic practice of eugenics rearing its ugly head today. No human should have to perform certain tasks or be able to meet certain standards to justify living.

In a culture that claims to be very "woke," this was extremely ableist of them.

Additionally gruesome is that this was a second trimester abortion. Based on comments by Ridgway, their son was likely viable outside of the womb, or nearly so. This child was fully formed and could feel pain. He was likely injected in his heart to “induce fetal demise” and then ripped limb from limb to remove him from her body.

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No diagnosis excuses brutally slaying your child.

Yet, Down syndrome is a death sentence for most around the world. Not because it’s fatal, but because of abortion. 67% of US parents who receive a Down syndrome diagnosis abort, while the percentage is 90% in the UK and up to 95-100% in places like Iceland. Doctors do a terrible job of supporting parents through this diagnosis, most encouraging abortion.

This family killed their son because it might have been too hard to parent him. I’ve got news for them. No one gets a perfect kid, and parenting is too hard for all of us. It stretches you and grows you. It reveals your selfishness and changes you if you let it. It also expands your capacity to love and makes the world feel like a brighter place.

Is parenting a child with a diagnosis of Down syndrome hard? Absolutely. But there is no way to know how hard it will be. Many people with Down syndrome live happy, productive lives. They have jobs and even sometimes marry. It's such a spectrum that it's hard to know ahead of time. And we need to do a better job supporting parents with caring for these children, especially with expensive medical needs as they grow into adulthood. We need to be a culture that supports their lives as much as their births.

The way our world treats a diagnosis of Down syndrome says more about our humanity (or lack thereof) than theirs. Having an extra chromosome doesn’t make you less human. Human rights are for all humans, not just perfect ones. I haven't met any of those yet anyway.