Parents Concerned by Rise in Abortion for Down Syndrome
12/18/2018
For years, parents and advocacy groups for children with Down Syndrome have been deeply concerned by the increase in abortion when a diagnosis of Down Syndrome is made. Now new statistics on abortion from England and Wales show that such abortions have increased by 50 percent in the last 10 years.
These abortions often occur after parents are given poor information and pressured or coerced to abort by medical staff. Most people also don’t know about the negative impact that such abortions can also have on parents and families.
As one mother commented on a news story about a family who underwent abortion after their son was diagnosed with Down Syndrome:
Down syndrome strikes fear into the hearts of many expectant families. … I have a daughter with Down syndrome and I’m glad to say that Down syndrome is only part of her story and even that doesn’t lead to despair. [The newspaper] presents the story of a woman counseled into aborting her unborn baby due to the predicted limitations he would have had. Counseling should be a little more challenging than that surely.
Supporting, and I mean properly supporting, a woman who loves her baby to carry on with her pregnancy is the modern challenge that we face. This woman wanted her baby; she should have been offered much more than a termination.
Here are some articles on prenatal testing, abortion and the impact on parents and families:
The Impact of Abortion After Prenatal Testing: What the Research Says
Prenatal Testing and Coerced Abortion
Psychiatric Disorders Linked to Abortion for Fetal Anomalies
Women Share Their Stories of Abortion After Prenatal Testing
My Sister Has Down Syndrome, Would Abortion Be Okay?
6 Ways to Help Parents Who Receive a Difficult Prenatal Diagnosis
Thankfully, there are also many resources for parents whose unborn children have been diagnosed with Down Syndrome or other conditions. This includes the viral video above, in which young people with Down Syndrome reassure an expectant mother about what life with her child will be like. Go here to see more videos from families about how their lives have been blessed by their children with Down Syndrome.
Resources and Help
5 Things Parents Need to Hear
Encouraging information for parents who have learned their child has Down Syndrome, before or after birth
Be Not Afraid
An online outreach to parents who have received a poor or difficult
prenatal diagnosis. Provides help parents as they seek as they seek to
honor the life of their baby, no matter how frail or how brief.
Isaiah’s Promise
Offers support and information to families who have received a severe or
fatal prenatal diagnosis. Includes links to other organizations with
helpful information.
Anencephaly.net
Online resource with links to multiple resources, articles and
information for families who have received a diagnosis of anencephaly.
Anencephaly.info
Offers personal stories, support and information for families who have
received a diagnosis of anencephaly. Help for affected parents,
caregivers and friends. (Site is available in multiple languages).
Prenatal Partners for Life
A group of concerned parents (most of whom have or had a special
needs child), medical professionals, legal professionals and clergy
whose aim is to support, inform and encourage expectant or new parents.
They offer support by connecting parents facing an adverse diagnosis
with other parents who have had the same diagnosis. They have many
resources such as adoption agencies with clients waiting to adopt and
love a special needs child should a parent feel they could not care for
them.
Morning Light Ministry/Hope in Turmoil Book
Morning Light Ministry offers free support to parents who are carrying
their baby with a difficult prenatal diagnosis to term. They offer
support by telephone and email, prayer support and assistance in
creating a birth plan for your child. They also offer a book, Hope in
Turmoil: A Guide for Decision Making After Receiving a Difficult
Prenatal Diagnosis Regarding Your Baby (free download or order a print version).
The book Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics, by Melinda Tankard Reist contains powerful stories from women who continued their pregnancies after being advised due to abort due to the mother or child’s disability.
This page from Life Issues Institute has lots of references, resources and links for parents, including support groups for parents who have received a new diagnosis.
Visit our pregnancy help and help after abortion pages for more resources.
