The Senate-approved S. 1810, “Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act” passed the House yesterday, and awaits President Bush’s signature.
Lead sponsor of the bill Sen. Sam Brownback (R) has been working closely with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D) on the measure. The law would require giving families who learn that their child may be born with or is born with a disability with facts about the condition, and with information on the many options and support services available on caring for children with disabilities.
The legislation also provides for the further development of peer-support groups and of a national clearinghouse on information for parents of disabled children. In addition, the bill creates a national registry of families who are willing to adopt children with pre- or post-natal diagnosed disabilities.
Brownback pointed out that “90 percent of children prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted, and that percentage is similar for children prenatally diagnosed with other conditions such as spina bifida and cystic fibrosis.” Brownback asserted that these high numbers “suggest that we as a society are not doing everything we can to protect every human life, at every stage.”
Last year, Brownback and Kennedy worked together on a similar bill (that ultimately did not pass) that would have required expectant families with unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome to be informed that genetic tests are not always accurate, and to be given current, reliable information on the kind of life that people with Down syndrome live and enjoy.
LifeNews.com reported that the “plight of Down syndrome babies has received significant attention thanks to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate, who gave birth to a baby with the condition earlier this year.”
Indeed, a recent Washington Post article, Trig’s Breakthrough, hailed Trig Palin as a “4-month-old civil rights leader” who has “smashed the chromosomal barrier.” According to The Washington Post, “civil rights protections for people with Down syndrome have rapidly eroded over the past few decades.”
The article described the rise of “eugenic abortion” in America:
“[W]hen Down syndrome is detected through testing, many parents report that genetic counselors and physicians emphasize the difficulties of raising a child with a disability and urge abortion. This is properly called eugenic abortion – the ending of “imperfect” lives to remove social, economic and emotional costs of their existence. And this practice cannot be separated from the broader social treatment of people who have disabilities. By eliminating less perfect humans, deformity and disability become more pronounced and less acceptable. Those who escape the net of screening are often viewed as mistakes or burdens.”
It is sad and markedly un-American that our society and its medical community do not recognize that children with Down syndrome, as The Washington Post put it, “learn slowly but love deeply” and are experienced by their families, not as a burden or shame, but as a “complex blessing.” On her son Trig, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin stated that, “We knew through early testing that he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us the unspeakable joy as he entered our lives.” Palin’s experience with her son Trig is a testimony to the inherent value of the lives of children with disabilities.
LifeNews.com described the Brownback-Kennedy team as “a rare show of bipartisan support.” However, The Washington Post pointed out the irony of this Republican-Democrat marriage on the eugenic abortion issue, stating that
“…the radical pro-choice radicalism held by Kennedy and many others – the absolute elevation of individual autonomy over the rights of the weak – has enabled the new eugenics. It has also created a moral conflict at the heart of the Democratic party. If traditional Democratic ideology means anything, it is the assertion that America is a single moral community that includes everyone. How can this vision be reconciled with the elimination of children with Down syndrome from American society?”
Despite the contradiction of Democratic principles and pro-choice radicalism, and despite the current standards of medical practice that fuel eugenic abortions, there is great hope for turning the situation around. The enactment of Brownback’s “Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act” and the ever-growing national attention on Trig Palin are steps in that direction.
The passage of S. 1810 in both the Senate and House is a great victory for disabled children and for parents who learn that their unborn children may be born with a disability.
To read The Washington Post article, Trig’s Breakthrough, click here.
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