Parents speak up: I was told to abort my baby

Last month, Yahoo printed an article by a mom who horrifyingly wrote that if she had known her daughter would have Down syndrome, she would have aborted her.

The mom argued that every woman should have the right to abort – in other words, kill – their child with Down syndrome if they want to.

Yet that’s not the real story here. The real stories are found in the over 1500 comments below the article.

Numerous people chimed in with their own true stories, making three things very clear.

1) We have no idea how many babies have been aborted for Down syndrome when they were actually perfectly healthy.

2) Parents are being rushed and prodded into making a decision for abortion – without being given the real, modern facts about having a precious child with Down syndrome.

3) Babies with Down syndrome have an absolutely equal right to live and are 100% equally as valuable as any other child. As one commenter said: “Disabled kids have a right to life too – and disabled kids can still experience joy, can still achieve, can still provide joy to their parents, and can still live full and meaningful lives. I don’t believe that it should be a women’s ‘choice’ to abort disabled children for the same reason I don’t believe it should be legal to kill disabled kids.”

Here are just a few of the stories:

Donna wrote of her own prenatal test being completely wrong:

… There is no reason to abort a child. Ever.

My daughter was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. There was no “choice” to me. No matter what she was and is my daughter. And guess what? The test was wrong.

Sharon and Greg shared about their own precious granddaughters:

My Down’s granddaughter, now a 27 year old woman, is joyful, helpful, more organized than we are. Works, live in a group home. At birth doctors told her parents they ‘didn’t have to keep her’, ‘they could turn her over to an institution! Heads up folks..many of the “Fetal Diagnoses” turn out to be wrong! grandma

… She is beautiful, she is loved and she is alive!

Jennifer reiterated the truth that blood tests don’t reveal everything:

I tested positive for possible downs through blood work years ago with my daughter. It was the longest 6 weeks of my life. I chose to keep her no matter what. We did the ultra sound and everything. Luckily for us she came out with not having downs, but now she has the early on set of schizophrenia at the age of 9. She is doing very well with medication, etc. but you can’t tell that in a blood test can you?

Linda told of her friend’s brother and the value he brought to the lives around him:

I have a friend who had a disabled brother. He lived with his parents and worked in a sheltered workshop. He recently died at the age of 79. Billy saw kindness in everyone .Sometimes Saints reside on this planet for a specific purpose,only.

Metalmom said:

I would advise anyone who may be thinking of aborting a Down syndrome fetus to not do it. Down syndrome children will love you and think you are the greatest person in the world throughout their entire lives.

My House shared of having to go through her pregnancy without medical care, because the doctor refused to help her when she chose life for her baby:

I was 19 when I found out my baby had down syndrome. I was 5 months pregnant when I felt in my heart that something was wrong with my baby. I begged by doctor to give me an ultrasound, they didn’t think it was necessary because all of my initial test results were good, but I felt in my heart that something was wrong. The ultrasound confirmed that the their was something wrong with the baby, and the amniocentesis let me know that it was down syndrome. We were so young and scared, we didn’t know what to think or do. I scheduled an abortion but I was never able to make the appt, something in my heart couldn’t allow me to do it. The doctors stopped giving me appts because they said he would probably pass away before I could give birth. … I finally gave birth, and out came a beautiful crying baby boy. … I went to the NICU and saw my beautiful baby. He was called him to Heaven at 2 months old, but I still thank God for the time I was allowed to spend with him. My miracle baby.

Michael, who was adopted, responded to My House, writing:

Apart from Christ, you can do nothing, but as you learned, with him, you can do anything. And now your baby is with the Lord and will be joyful forever. And you know who you are! God bless you and my biological mother who didn’t abort me!

Janika spoke for the couples waiting to adopt babies with Down syndrome:

I can guarantee there are people who DO want that child and would adopt him/her into a loving home. There are actually waiting lists for parents who want to adopt these wonderful children.

PattyW agreed:

Why does everyone assume that its either keep the child or abort it. There are many families that would willingly adopt a child with Down Syndrome. … I have a child with Down Syndrome and everyone’s posts are correct, its hard raising a child with a disability but very rewarding. Lets not forget that adoption is always an option over abortion.

Phil h told this story:

I had a neighbor about 20 years ago who was told her unborn child had severe issues and she should kill (abort) her child, she refused and had the baby. Today her son is 20 something, having gone to school through the gifted and talented program, a very intelligent young man who turned out perfectly normal with looks that could have made him a model if he wanted….

Chester mourned the loss of children with Down syndrome – something that is very personal for him:

I’ve volunteered at a camp for children with disabilities for 35 years. When I started the vast majority of children we served had Down Syndrome. Now, the vast majority of the kids are on the autism spectrum. There are very few Down Syndrome kids who get to live anymore. The ones I knew were all very special and sweet and loved life.

If they ever develop a prenatal test for autism, I guess we’ll just close up shop.

B told of being pushed to “terminate” her perfectly healthy twins because one of them was prenatally (and wrongly) diagnosed with Down syndrome:

They told us one of our twins had downs syndrome. Asked us 3 times if we wanted to terminate the pregnancy. We said no we wanted to have them anyway. They just turned 1 last month and neither has downs or anything else wrong with them. If we would have listened to the doctors we would have killed 2 perfectly healthy babies…

Patricia shared her thoughts about all babies:

No one can be guaranteed that their child is going to be totally healthy. You pray and love and raise the child you were meant to have. They have rights too!