From MSNBC.com, CNN, CBS, AP and elsewhere:

Sarah Palin tried to shift the campaign’s focus to abortion Saturday, using arguments that stressed a connection between her prolife stance, people with disabilities, and religion.

In an address in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Palin spoke at length of her own attachment to her son Trig, who has Down syndrome, and accused Barack Obama of  “unconditional support for unlimited abortions.”

“Most troubling though, most troubling even, is that as a state senator, Barack Obama wouldn’t even stand up for the rights of infants born alive during an abortion,” she said. “These infants, often babies with special needs, they’re simply left to die.”

About her son, she said:

“Yes, every innocent life matters. Everyone belongs in the circle of protection. Every child has something to contribute to the world, if we give them that chance. There are the world’s standards of perfection … and then there are God’s, and these are the final measure.

“Every child is beautiful before God and dear to him for their own sake, and as for our beautiful baby boy, for Todd and for me, he’s only more precious because he is vulnerable. And in some ways, you know I think that we stand to learn more from him than he does from us.”

Full text of Palin’s Johnstown remarks on abortion are here.

(AP photo)

From WKYC-TV [Cleveland], and Foxnews.com:

At a campaign stop Friday in North Olmstead, Ohio, Sarah Palin drew a connection between her pledge to advocate for people with disabilities and her opposition to abortion.

“With John McCain and me in the White House, they’ll (people with disabilities will) be a priority, because every life is going to be cherished, and we’ll make sure that needs are met and that we’re manifesting our commitment to those who have challenges that others perhaps have not had to face yet,” she said in an interview with WKYC-TV.

The comments came in connection with Palin’s appearance in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening of a center for adults with disabilities. The Michael T. George residence was built by Cleveland-area businessman Tony George and named for his five-year-old son, who has Down syndrome.

… “My belief and John McCain’s belief is that a culture of life is best for America where every innocent human life is recognized as having great potential and great promise to make this world a better place.”

Video here.

(Screenshot from WKYC-TV)

Mark Henderson, science editor of the [UK] Times, says the prospect of a reliable and risk-free prenatal blood test for Down syndrome points up the need to educate medical professionals on how to counsel prospective parents about the tests and the results. An excerpt:

At present, only about 32,000 high-risk women [in the UK] are offered tests that diagnose Down’s reliably, after full counseling about the implications. When the new procedure comes in, 20 times this number will be suitable for such accurate diagnosis. There is a real danger that without detailed planning, not all of them will get the counseling they need to make informed decisions about how much they want to know, and how they might deal with unwelcome news.

The success of a Down’s blood test will require more than clever science. Just as important will be careful thought about how it will be delivered by health professionals, and explained to pregnant women and their partners.

Writing in the American Spectator, Daniel Allott says high rates of selective abortion of fetuses with Down syndrome reveal “a culture increasingly unaccepting and intolerant of children with developmental disabilities, who often face brutal and sometimes deadly prejudice.”

Allott says a fundamental misconception about the lives of people with intellectual disabilities is at the root of prejudice against them. He says the Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, signed this week by the president, is needed to give parents accurate information about what it’s like to raise a child with a developmental disability. An excerpt:

People with developmental disabilities challenge our view of the world. Because they require more patience and self-giving, they can be sources of growth, tolerance, joy and hope to those they encounter. Unlocking these powerful truths is especially important in a time when superficial, exploitative and selfish relationships have become all too common.

From the White House Press Office:

On Wednesday, October 8, 2008, the President signed into law:

… S. 1810, the “Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act,” which authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a grant program to collect and disseminate information regarding Down syndrome or other prenatally or postnatally diagnosed diseases and to coordinate the provision of support services for those who receive a diagnosis of one of those diseases.

Earlier post here.

Stanford test performs accurately on 18 samples

From the BBC, San Jose Mercury News, New York Times, Nature News, Stanford University press release on Marketwatch:

Stanford University researchers say they have designed a new prenatal test that uses a maternal blood sample and would be much safer than current methods like amniocentesis, according to a study published Monday.

Current prenatal genetic tests like amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) carry a small but significant risk of miscarriage, with estimates ranging from one-half a percent to two percent. “Right now, people are risking their pregnancies to get this information,” said Yair J. Blumenfeld, a Stanford postdoctoral medical fellow and co-author of the paper describing the technique.

Stanford scientists say their technique will allow parents to spot Down syndrome and other genetic conditions earlier in pregnancy than with amnio and CVS, avoiding the risk of miscarriage.

(more…)

From the Boston Globe:

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, praised Sarah Palin’s son Trig at the annual “Respect Life March” on the Boston Commons yesterday as he urged Americans to fight against abortion and what he termed “the culture of death.”

In coverage of the event, Boston Globe religion writer Michael Paulson identified Trig Palin as “the child with Down syndrome whom Governor Sarah Palin chose not to abort.” An excerpt:

“I very seldom get to see any television, but I did watch part of the political conventions, and for me the star of the conventions was Trig Palin, whose mother said that he was ‘beautiful’ and ‘perfect,’ ” O’Malley said. “And when his little sister used that spit to slick his hair down, I mean, I stood up and applauded.”

O’Malley’s reference to the 5-month-old child comes in a political season in which the role of the abortion issue for Catholic voters has become more contested than ever.

With video.

See also Paulson’s “Articles of Faith” blog.