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What if Babies With Special Needs Were No Longer Born?

By Sherry Bushnell

    Have you ever thought about what will be happening as the recent recommendations by the (ACOG) American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that all pregnant woman, regardless of age, be given a prenatal test to detect a variety of special needs (January 2007) is implemented?
    At first glance, it sounds like a great medical advancement…. to be able to “find” genetic problems. Getting rid of babies that have defects does not mean that a cure has been found for special needs! It just means that nearly all unborn babies with Down syndrome and other special needs will be aborted in the first or second trimester. With this present recommendation, people with Down syndrome will no longer be.
Can this medical advancement truly be considered beneficial? There certainly are people who are very much in favor of getting rid of unborn babies with special needs. Why?
Are their lives inconvenienced with caring for children who have special needs? Will they make more money if unborn babies with special needs become rare? Are they sorry about all the suffering in the world? (Is this their way of coping with their own hurt?)
Apparently the idea of death is more attractive to people who cannot see past their own imperfections.
When my daughter Tally was born with Down syndrome 20 years ago, I admit to being really scared. I didn’t mind the idea of raising a child with special needs, but her suffering and upcoming surgeries frightened me. Yet the peace that covered our home, our lives and those surrounding her, was incredibly tangible.
After she passed away right after open heart surgery, I began a journey of growth that is lasting even now. I cannot imagine what life would have been like without her influence and God’s endless demonstrations of love, firm calling and then blessing in obedience, if I had not been willing to give her up.
If my baby with Down syndrome had not been born, if I had aborted her instead, I might still be selfish, centered on my own pleasure and focused on the “ideal life”.
I worry about that in the search for “perfect” babies and with all the very sophisticated prenatal testing, medical doctors who approve of killing unborn babies just because their chromosomes are different, or that they have a cleft lip, or spina bifida.
At this rate, medical ethicists will soon justify the abortion of fetuses with genetic markers for a whole variety of things parents may not want to face. Mental-health issues, a tendency toward addictions to alcohol or drugs, childhood cancer, obesity, arthritis, autoimmune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and a whole host of other unknown syndromes and problems. The idea of raising a child with special needs frightens expectant moms and dads.
But think about this, even with advanced testing, we will never be able to prevent disability.
What about car crashes, strokes, sporting and hunting accidents, or even just falling off a cliff? Will we some day euthanize children or even adults who become cognitively or physically disabled by accident?
Raising a child with special needs can be challenging. Watching them fall behind in ability compared to others their age, is only the start of accepting what is meant to be. The gap widens as our children get older and the difference in mental, social, and physical ability becomes strikingly obvious. Watching them try to socialize and be rejected hurts us as much as it is confusing to them!
But our children with disability are also very much a blessing. I remember Jordon’s first smile, (Jordon is our son with Down syndrome whom we adopted when he was just a few days old, 6 months after Tally died). His little lop sided smile and his funny shell shaped ears made him look like the cutest little elf you ever saw. Our hearts swelled with pride as we watched his blossoming attempts to communicate his love to us. The love Jordon gave back to us more than healed our broken hearts. We began to see that the love a special needs child bestowes on someone is like a precious jewel. Extra blessings, extra comforting, extra meaningful.
Just 2 generations ago, parents were told to put their babies with Down syndrome in institutions like Pennhurst. Some, like my great aunt in Rhode Island who had a special needs child, refused. In the mid-1970’s when the horrifying realities of these places were made public, they were all closed.
At the same time, parents with children who were disabled at home started fighting for public education and therapy for their children. The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act was implemented in 1974.
By the early 1990’s inclusion into regular classrooms in the public school became a mandatory ruling.
The pendulum swing has had many pluses and yet a few minuses. Unfortunately, not all public schools and teachers are equipped to handle all special needs. Has our demand for tolerance for special needs people made our “helper” less compassionate?
Our cry for government program funding to help children and families with special needs has created federal mandatory spending. Has our push for “full potential” created a monster?
Just as we have discovered how much children with special needs can learn and contribute to society, they are being endangered!
We need to share our enthusiasm for living with disability with expectant parents, physicians, and bioethicists who profess to define quality of life and define “perfection”.
What ACOG’s recommendation means is that there will be a real need for more families like you and I, willing to educate and comfort women in record numbers who will be receiving a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome or other genetic disability.
While the quality of life for citizens with disability is better than ever, the atmosphere that often surrounds the delivery of a diagnosis of Down syndrome or other medical concern is not.
Studies show that medical professionals often use negative language and rely on out-dated information to scare birth moms into an quick decision. They may encourage moms to have an “early birth” for the sake of the child, or have an abortion to preserve their family life.
As NATHHAN and CHASK families, we can be prepared to share with those in contact with birth parents in crisis. Woman’s care centers, crisis pregnancy centers and Christian OBGYN’s need to know that CHASK exists. With your help, your crisis pregnancy center and the moms in your area will know about positive resources. Please take the time to get CHASK brochures to your local pregnancy resources. Just call us, or e-mail your pregnancy resource’s address, and we will send them out free. God bless you as we work together to protect and save “the least of these”.