The Senate yesterday approved by unanimous consent a bill designed to provide support to parents and prospective parents who receive a diagnosis of a disability. The measure now goes to the House, as it appears increasingly likely that Congress will extend beyond this Friday’s scheduled adjournment.

Promoted by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), the measure provides that families receiving a prenatal or postnatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome or other conditions would be offered up-to-date information about the nature of the conditions and be connected to support services. It would also set up a registry of parents willing to adopt children with disabilities.

It was among a package of health care bills that went down in July when Senate Republicans blocked them in a partisan power play, and also failed to muster the Senate’s unanimous consent last week when Sen. Brownback brought it up again. The House passed a different version of the bill earlier.

The bill, known as the Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, represents a rare moment when advocates on opposing sides of the abortion debate join forces.

Sen. Kennedy, a staunch advocate of abortion rights for women, has promoted it as a pro-family measure that would provide needed support to couples who are routinely undergoing prenatal testing as part of obstetrical care. With more women postponing childbearing to later years, more of them are receiving diagnoses of genetic and other abnormalities in their pregnancies.

Sen. Brownback, who passionately opposes abortion, has portrayed the measure as an effort to save the lives of babies with Down syndrome. “To deny children with disabilities a chance at life will make us more insensitive, callous and jaded, and will take away from the diversity of American life,” he said in remarks on the Senate floor last week. “I don’t think this is what we were meant to do.”

Presidential candidate John McCain signed on as a co-sponsor to the bill earlier this month shortly after naming Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Palin’s son, Trig, has Down syndrome.

See also:

Reid: Senate work far from finished — UPI

Finish line is slipping away for Congress – The Hill

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 at 4:51 am and is filed under Down syndrome, NOT2BEMISSED, abortion, families, genetics, politics, prenatal diagnosis, selective termination. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.