In a letter to the editor of TCPalm.com, George W. Iliff urges that prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion be used to rid society of the problem of birth defects.

The reality is that requiring the birth of a baby with known birth defects is evil. We must therefore avoid allowing emotions to cloud our rational consideration of this subject.

… The birth of a baby is a miracle, but six billion miracles on Earth and counting are more than enough, thank you. It is inconceivable to intentionally allow a baby with serious birth defects to be born and cause a lifetime of suffering for both the child and the family.

We should be thinking in terms of healthy, happy families rather than get derailed by some ideological dogma.

TCPalm.com is a website of the Scripps Newspaper Group, part of the E.W. Scripps Company. It represents newspapers in southeast Florida.

Iliff is listed elsewhere on the site as a guest columnist, a registered professional engineer and a member of Mensa.

In a first-person piece in the [UK] Guardian about her son with Down syndrome, writer Annie Rey describes her journey from terror to acceptance of her son, Paddy.

Rey had a long-held fear of people with disabilities, and fell deep into despair when Paddy was diagnosed with DS at birth. She entertained fantasies about giving baby Paddy up for adoption and fleeing to New Zealand, and was wary of parents of other children with DS who said they were happy. (They seemed to her “sandal-wearing types who loved humanity.”)

Over time, Rey came to realize that “none of us knows what the future holds, and being physically sound to begin with isn’t the only thing that matters.” Paddy’s speech therapist tells her it’s reasonable to expect that her son will eventually be able to drive, work and hold down a relationship — things she had not previously realized were possible.

Paddy is now two “and we adore him,” Rey writes. He’s a person in his own right who dances, sings, learns and delights his family.

Knowing the fear I had of disability, and how close I came to having amniocentesis, it makes my blood run cold to think that if I had had the test and miscarried, we might now be childless. More importantly, we would not have Paddy. And I truly believe that if my precious boy did not exist, our world, and probably the world at large, would be a poorer place.

Company says new test detects Down syndrome correctly without mistakes, using sample of mother’s blood; Rollout seen for next year.

Bloomberg News (updated), Associated Press report in Forbes, CNN, Business Week, Sequenom press release:

Shares of Sequenom Inc. surged Wednesday after the company said its method for detecting Down syndrome before birth worked without giving false-positive results. The company will continue to develop the test and plans to sell it in the U.S. in the first half of next year.

The result “blows expectations away,” Elemer Piros, an analyst with Rodman & Renshaw Inc. in New York, wrote in a note today. “Sequenom’s platform could usher in an entirely new paradigm in which a single test could replace the current range of surrogate marker methods that must be employed to obtain reliable results.

Sequenom rose $1.67, or 22 percent, to $9.33 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

Oppenheimer and Co. analyst Kevin DeGeeter said that if the results are repeated in a larger study planned for later this year, the Sequenom test could become the front-line test in a market valued at between $1 billion and $1.5 billion.

(more…)

From WCAI, public radio on Cape Cod:

Ari Shapiro presents a thought-provoking and nuanced conversation about the challenges posed by prenatal screening, selective termination and informed consent. Crissy Condon and Bill Roslansky have three children (at left). Matthew was born with Down syndrome three years ago after the couple had been reassured by doctors that their prenatal screen was “negative.”

Bill and Crissy hadn’t really understood that screening only delivers probabilities, while diagnostic testing (amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling) is needed to produce a definitive result.

(more…)

Writing in the [UK] Independent, columnist Dominic Lawson says current British abortion law contains remnants of eugenic prejudice against people with disabilities. The Human Fertilization and Embryology Act specifies that abortions of “seriously handicapped” fetuses (the term is not defined) may be performed at any time up until birth, whereas fetuses without disabilities may only be aborted up to 24 weeks gestation.

A proposed amendment to the law, which would have provided expectant mothers with up-to-date information and referrals when disability is diagnosed prenatally, was conclusively defeated last week.

And there you have it: such rights as are imputed to all “viable” unborn children are absolutely withdrawn if the child is not … normal.

… Not only did the great majority support the notion that a disabled unborn child could be terminated right up until 40 weeks’ gestation, they didn’t even want there to be a legal requirement that such a decision is based on more than an understandable spasm of panic, or even horror.

(more…)

In an extended essay in the New Atlantis, Caitrin Nicol reports that children born with Down syndrome today have brighter prospects than at any other time in history, yet the abortion rate for fetuses diagnosed with Down syndrome tops ninety percent.

She traces this apparent contradiction to “inadequate” practices for delivering Down syndrome diagnoses to pregnant women, saying that current practices “fail to serve the needs of pregnant women feeling anxious, pressured, and frightened for their babies’ welfare, and they fail to do justice to the dignity and potential of persons living with a disability.”

Nicol reviews some recent books that offer a more human view of the experience of Down syndrome — five by parents, family and friends of affected individuals, and one by people with Down syndrome themselves.

She sums up by reflecting on the question posed by one proud big brother: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every family had a kid with Down syndrome?”

That question, of course, does not express the wish that more children would struggle with disabilities, but rather that more families might find within themselves the means to understand, and to transmit to future generations, the profound truth that every life is filled with meaning, and every child is a source of joy. (more…)

Writing on the Canadian National Post website, journalist and television personality Leslie Roberts says abortion may be an acceptable choice when a disability is diagnosed prenatally. Roberts is an anchor of Global Ontario’s Newshour.

Roberts’ comments were prompted by the recent news that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s infant son Trig had been diagnosed with Down syndrome before birth. Palin has been mentioned as a possible running mate for John McCain. (Earlier posts here.)

The parents with special needs children I’ve met can only be described as saints, but to paint all those who ended the pregnancy as cruel and irresponsible is unfair. Of those I’ve gotten to know there is a common confession: If they had to do it over again, many would consider ending the pregnancy. Not due to the burden, but for the sake of the child’s future.

… Most parents equip their children with the tools to take care of themselves once they leave the nest. Children with special needs have just that — special needs that require care, often for life. With their child denied the ability to learn how to take care of themselves, their parents live a life of not only devotion to their child’s every needs, but also of fear about who will care for them long term.

Before you judge someone who has turned to the medical community rather than their religious institution for guidance, understand that sometimes even the “bad choice” can be an acceptable one.

Roberts’ contact information: lroberts@globaltv.com

See response from Stephanie Meredith here.