With 90% of Down’s Syndrome Fetuses Aborted, Moral Compass Needs Reset

To the editor:

In the past year or so, I stumbled across the fact that about 90 percent of fetuses diagnosed with Down’s syndrome are aborted. My first reaction was disbelief. When I saw the statistic several more times (Discover magazine, Time magazine, New York Times, LifeSiteNews.com and others), my disbelief turned to sadness.
   
I am not unbiased in this matter. My wife and I have a 38-year-old daughter, Kathy, who was born with a less common syndrome named Saethre-Chotzen syndrome. She, like many with Down’s, has both mental and physical limitations.

As Kathy grew up, we were involved in her activities and interacted with her friends, teachers and caregivers —just as we did with our other children. I have been a coach with Special Olympics and Sports For Exceptional Athletes for many years. I have had the opportunity to observe others with challenges similar to Kathy—many of them with Down’s syndrome.
   
The lives of my wife and I and our other children are different because of Kathy—not worse or better, just different. Kathy falls near the left end of the intelligence continuum and she has had a few more physical problems than most. She will never drive or have children. Dealing with some routine situations is difficult for her and she needs help with them.

But none of that stops Kathy from participating in and enjoying life. She is involved in swimming and bicycling programs and exercises at a local gym. She works in a supported employment program five days a week. She helps around the house.

She socializes with a group of her peers. She is an aunt.

At times, she is happy, sad, angry, excited, proud, disappointed—most of the same emotions that we “regular” people experience. I am confident that most people who have had the opportunity to know Kathy feel better for having done so. I am also confident that to a person they could not fathom the idea of preventing her from experiencing life as we all do.
   
I am sad, almost to tears, every time I contemplate the fact that so many have made the decision not to allow others like Kathy to exist. I wonder why a diagnosis of Down’s made them decide to abort. Was it that raising a child with limitations would be inconvenient? Were they afraid of being embarrassed? Was it their egos? Did someone persuade them that a Down’s life is a life not worth living? 
   
Those who decide to have children know that doing so is a life-style changer. Most parents will testify that even “normal” kids require a lot of work—and they fall all across the spectrum of intelligence and success and looks and happiness.

Few of them become president or wealthy executives or star athletes. Most of us aren’t either. Who are we to say at what point on the intelligence or physical continuum life should be denied?

Maybe there is a point, when there is good reason to expect that a life of suffering and not much else is in store, that abortion might be considered. But that type of life is nowhere near what those born with Down’s and similar syndromes face.
   
What has happened to our society? Many of us, under the name of compassion, argue for all sorts of government support for the less affluent and accomplished, yet passionately support abortion of fetuses because they have “defects.”

Many of us proudly appreciate the differences between cultures of those immigrating into our country yet are unable to accept differences between “normal” individuals and those with genetic syndromes.

Think about it: Ninety percent of parents who conceive a child with Down’s syndrome make the “choice” to end that life—simply because it doesn’t meet their standards or hopes or ego needs. That is immoral—legal or not. In fact, it is not too far from the eugenics practiced in the early 20th century until it was adopted by the Nazi regime—and then condemned by most compassionate citizens.
   
I know that we are a better society than a 90 percent Down’s syndrome abortion rate indicates. I hope that by sharing my observations and thoughts I can convince some to think differently about abortion of those not meeting our definition of normal because of genetic abnormalities.

Our moral compass has malfunctioned, but it can be gotten back on track.
     
Russell Buckley
La Mesa