by Mary Ann McGivern
I read a troubling essay by Tucker Carson on Slate that links prenatal testing for Down syndrome and abortion. Carson wrote it in 1996.
Simply summarized, as testing for genetic birth defects has improved, fetuses with those defects are being aborted.
My heart aches for the parents making the decision for abortion. I ache, too, for the loss within our community of persons with Down syndrome, loving individuals who need a lifetime of care.
That care is expensive. And it gets more expensive as the person grows older, ages out of the school system and continues to need some degree of supervision. I would be very happy to get rid of our nuclear weapons and nuclear delivery systems and earmark the money for care of everyone in our society with disabilities.
That's it in a nutshell. I want children with disabilities to be born, and I want their parents to be confident the children will receive the lifelong care they need.
