DS and abortion

I don't often write about the contentious issue of the selective termination of babies prenatally diagnosed for Down syndrome.

One of the reasons that I don't write about it is because I strongly support a woman's right to determine her own health care values and choices.

I also feel that governments need to stay out of bedrooms, relationships, and out of the business of family planning - except to support peoples autonomous right to direct their own wishes, values and actions.

Yet.

The issue of families purposely terminating wanted pregnancies for Down syndrome is a very divisive one in the community.

Yes, abortion for DS makes a value judgement about the life of a person with DS. The value judgement is that it is better to be dead than to live a life with DS.

This is sad for me, because I think my daughter's life does have value and that she does and will continue to make a difference in the world.

However, if we as a society have acknowledged that women have the right to autonomy over their own bodies in terms of abortion, then we have to accept that just as some women terminate for financial reasons, or emotional reasons or for family planning reasons, that the presence of a major chromosomal difference which can come with a host of complications is a valid reason to terminate a pregnancy.

Yet.

These are wanted babies. These are loved babies. These are babies which women and families think are better off dead than to live a life with a disability like DS.

I always thought I would terminate a pregnancy with DS, but when it came down to it, this is the baby I wanted: with or without DS. And everything I know now about our lives and about Phoenix convinces me that we made the right decision. There is nothing about her having DS that is insurmountable.