Writing on Politico.com, Ben Smith says Sarah Palin is transforming herself into the leading figure of the anti-abortion movement, thanks largely to the presence of “her disabled son, Trig.” Palin’s youngest child was born with Down syndrome after his mother received a prenatal diagnosis.

Smith says Trig has been a “conspicuous presence” on Palin’s book tour, carried by his mother as the former vice presidential candidate descends from her tour bus or private jet to meet fans, and then handed off to an aide or local dignitary as she autographs books.

He says Trig has become both a “powerful political rallying point and a kind of shield,” with allies claiming her opponents believe she should have had an abortion rather than bearing her son.

“Mother and son have become objects of the left’s unrelenting scorn” and of hatred reflecting “a broader societal bias against disability,” wrote Christian conservatives Gary Bauer and Dan Allot.

Those people are, in fact, rather hard to find, with Bauer and Allot relying on obscure bloggers for evidence of vitriol.

(Photo by AP/Politico)

From Pediatrics, Reuters/ABC:

The prevalence of Down syndrome at birth rose by more than thirty percent in 10 U.S. regions from 1979 to 2003, according to new work by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that nearly 12 babies per 10,000 born in 2003 had Down syndrome, as compared with about 9 babies in every 10,000 born in 1979. It found that Down syndrome was more common among Hispanics and whites than among African Americans, and was more often found in boys than in girls.

Dr. Adolfo Correa of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects, one of the study’s authors, told Reuters that the increase in prevalence is probably caused by the increasing trend toward later child-bearing. Women over 35 are five times more likely than younger women to have children with Down syndrome, he said.

Correa said the research couldn’t determine what effect widespread prenatal screening and selective abortion have had on the incidence of Down syndrome.

Because the incidence of Down syndrome at birth is increasing and medical advances are lengthening the life expectancies of people with the disorder, the researchers said, the number of people with Down syndrome is likely to increase over time.

The scientists concluded that more research is necessary to determine whether health services are meeting the needs of people with Down syndrome across the lifespan, and suggested the development of registries to track the development and health needs of people with Down syndrome throughout their lives.

The ten regions studied were Georgia (5 metropolitan Atlanta counties), California (11 counties), Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina, Arkansas, New York (excluding New York City), Oklahoma, Texas and Utah. Arkansas reported the smallest prevalence of Down syndrome at birth, at 9.7 per 10,000, while Utah reported the highest, at 13.7.

See also:

In Utah, Down syndrome is more prevalent — Salt Lake Tribune A Utah expert on birth defects says the state’s higher incidence of Down syndrome births is likely caused by the ages and attitudes of mothers. Utah women are having children into their late 30s and 40s, he said, and are less likely to have abortions if the condition is diagnosed in utero.

The higher prevalence is “not because there is something wrong with Utah,” he said in an e-mail, “but is basically a function of family choices.”

(Graphic from the Salt Lake Tribune)

UPDATE:

See also: Down syndrome births rise unexpectedly — By Joseph Shapiro on NPR

Lon Jacobs, general counsel for News Corporation and a pro-choice Democrat, writes in the Wall Street Journal that he empathized with Sarah Palin when she spoke in an interview last week about the “cruel attacks on her son Trig.”

Jacobs, whose 13-year-old daughter has an intellectual disability, says he perceives a widely held presumption that society would be better off if children like his daughter were eliminated before they could be born. “In too many quarters we have moved from a society that protects the right to abortion to one that promotes it,” he says. “This is especially true with regard to those with disabilities.” An excerpt:

I don’t presume to tell others what to do when they are faced with these difficult decisions. But I worry that women who find themselves pregnant with a child who has a physical or mental disability get only one message, which is all about the burden about to be dumped in their laps.

…  I have no magic answers. I do have a beautiful daughter who lights up my world when I look into her trusting little face, who enriches our family with her life, and whose big-heartedness brings out the best in those who know her. I sometimes wonder how many Americans deprive themselves of that same joy because of an aggressive message that abortion is the only sensible choice.

In my mind, President Bill Clinton had it about right when he called for abortion to be safe, legal and rare. If that is to be more than just a convenient political spin, we who support a woman’s right to choose should do our part to celebrate the life side of choice.

The [UK] Sunday Times carries an excerpt from Sarah Palin’s memoir in which she describes the “the problems and the joy of living with her special needs son.”

“Did I have enough love and compassion in me to do this? Don’t you have to be wired a little differently to be gifted with the ability to raise a special-needs child, a child who isn’t “perfect” in the eyes of society? I didn’t know if I should be ashamed of myself for even thinking these things.

“I read that almost 90% of Down’s syndrome babies are aborted – so wasn’t that a message that this is not only a less-than-ideal circumstance but also one that it is virtually impossible to deal with? Now, just a couple of hours into this new world, I could not get my arms or heart around it. That fleeting thought [abortion] descended on me again, not a consideration so much as a sudden understanding of why people would grasp at a quick ‘solution’, a way to make the ‘problem’ just go away. But again, I had to hold on to that seed of faith.”

(Photo from the [UK] Sunday Times)

‘Before the birth of son Trig, Palin says she knew the abortion option was there’

From ABC News (with video):

In an interview to be aired on “20/20,” former Alaska governor Sarah Palin tells Barbara Walters about her decision to continue her pregnancy after tests revealed that her baby would have Down syndrome. The interview includes footage of Palin’s son Trig, as well as other members of the family talking about the impact of Trig on their lives.

An excerpt:

Ninety-two percent of women who get that news terminate the pregnancy, according to research reviewed by Dr. Brian Skotko, a pediatric geneticist at Children’s Hospital Boston.

Palin said she knew abortion was an option but was able to overcome the fear of the unknown to go ahead with the birth.

“I knew that the option was there. … I thought again, for that split second, ‘OK, now I know, too, why, when that fear strikes you, because of the unknown,’” she said. “I understood then, too, why a woman would consider [abortion] an easier path to perhaps, if you will, do away with the problem, instead of understanding that every child has purpose. There is destiny for every child. And it can be good, in our world. And that’s what I held onto.”

When asked by Walters if her “right to life” stance on abortion dictated her choice, Palin said her decision was not “politically motivated.”

“My decision certainly wasn’t a political decision. It was a holding onto a seed of …that promise that things will be okay if we choose life. And that certainly has come to fruition in my life,” she said.

Two of Palin’s children said they did not know about Trig’s Down syndrome diagnosis until after he was born. Todd Palin said he expects Trig to keep up with the family’s outdoorsy lifestyle and do all the things the couple’s other children have done. Kids with Down syndrome, he said, “are just beautiful gifts from God for all of us to learn from … and to make us stronger as we live. He is just another kid in our house. … But he has, but he has just been a blast.”

(Photo from AP/National Review)

Said to be trying to spare women’s feelings

From the [UK] Daily Mail:

An independent British registry  reports that unborn babies with Down syndrome in the UK are being aborted at a rate twice as high as the government’s official tally.

Experts said doctors have been trying to spare women’s feelings by classifying such abortions as “social” rather than noting that a diagnosis of Down syndrome prompted the abortion.

Professor Joan Morris, the director of the National Down’s Syndrome Cytogenetic Register, warned that skewed reporting on abortion forms is yielding “wholly inaccurate data”. The register is considered highly reliable because it gathers data from hospital genetic testing labs and tracks each case individually, while the Department of Health relies on reports submitted by doctors.

Between 2004 and 2008, the NDSCR reported a total of 4,777 abortions carried out on fetuses with Down syndrome in the UK. Over the same period, the Department of Health reported 2,168 such abortions.

‘As more than 90 percent of women carrying a child with DS choose to end pregnancies, parents raising these kids say they’re a ‘gift”

In its coverage of recent research documenting widespread terminations of pregnancies involving Down syndrome, ABC News shifts its focus to the growing concern that women are making their decisions based on misinformation and myths about the disorder.

Author Susan Donaldson James interviews Dr. Brian Skotko, who says research suggests that mothers are getting inaccurate, incomplete and sometimes offensive information. Advocates for people with Down syndrome worry that the decline in births will lead to reduced funding to study the disorder.

Boston filmmaker Melanie McLaughlin had no knowledge of Down syndrome when her daughter Grace was born, but was encouraged after the First Call program of the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress introduced her to a family of a five-year-old with the syndrome.

“She played hide and seek, and she kept jumping out, telling us where she was hiding,” McLaughlin said. “She was amazing. I was thinking she would be sitting in a chair unresponsive and drooling. “Actually, she was much like our other children,” McLaughlin said. “We thought, maybe we can go forward.”

A Connecticut woman told ABC News that she terminated her pregnancy after Down syndrome was diagnosed and her doctor “didn’t paint the brightest picture” and didn’t introduce her to anyone with the condition. She said the stress of the experience made her feel that “we were falling apart.”

A Utah mother said she and her husband were given scant support after a Down syndrome diagnosis and wish they had received accurate information and positive feedback. She and her husband decided not to terminate. Their daughter is now thriving in first grade..

“The most important things you can provide are accurate, up-to-date information, and what it’s like to parent a kid with Down syndrome, just to have someone who walks in those same steps to listen and share their own story,” said Sarah Cullen, family support director for First Call, which takes no position on whether to terminate pregnancies.

At last count, the story had drawn more than 170 comments. Many of the commenters are arguing about abortion rights, while others say the author should have done more to explore the lives of adults with Down syndrome, and did not adequately take into account the shared public cost of their ongoing care. Yet another said the real tragedy here is a society in which caring for people with disabilities is widely perceived as impossibly burdensome, and the health care system cannot be counted upon.

(Photo from ABC News)