My husband and I have a wonderful 10 year old child who happens to have Down syndrome. She is not “suffering” at all. Yes, she wears glasses (so does my husband and so do I). Yes, she had a heart problem – it was completely repaired when she was 10 weeks old. She does not have any more infections than any other child, but what’s the big deal if she did? If you knew a child was going to have, say, asthma, would you decide that, instead of having the child “suffer” with such a malady, that child should never live? Who are we to play God and decide which is a malady or condition that warrants a person being given the chance to live and which warrants a person not being given life? With Jane, either she was given an inaccurate view of what living with Down syndrome is like or she wasn’t concerned about the child, but herself. Either, I believe, is tragic.

Also, I completely agree that, like all children, those with Down syndrome will read what is written, especially as it concerns them. I believe Jane has tried to convince herself that the decision she made was correct, but is tormented that perhaps it wasn’t. I think her story is evidence of the negative information out there, information that our children may read. I’ll pray for her and our children tonight.