YouTuber says he and wife have received a 'tremendous amount of death threats' after ending pregnancy due to Down syndrome

Sounds like a lot of people are speaking for an absent infallible creator, and they are wishing death upon this couple as its divine mouthpiece.  When God gifts you a disabled child, he has his reasons.  Who are we to question the omnipotence of our mighty mythical creator?

Sounds like a lot of people are speaking for an absent infallible creator

If their 'God' had supposedly done it via miscarriage, like it apparently does with up to a third of all fertilized eggs, then they'd all still be worshiping it and thanking it.

nobody's business but theirs, and that's what those tests are for ...

How 'bout developing a test, on all, prior to pregnancy to determine if any abnormalities exist to help the "couple" decide whether or not they wish to have children?

That helps with some diseases, but some, like Down Syndrome, are usually spontaneous mutations, and there is no way to test for that prior to conception.

So, basically, until the introduction of the sperm to the egg, there would be no way to test either party to determine if there is a "possibility" of a mutation - or does the mutation occur at conception?

Not a science person so be gently with me.

In the case of Down Syndrome, no.  General risks can be given - chances of trisomy 21 (the chromosomal defect that causes it) increase with maternal age, or when a couple has already had a child with Down syndrome, but that's about it.  The mutation occurs at conception, or, rarely, later in embryonic development.  Two entirely normal parents can have a child with Down syndrome, and in fact this is how most children with Down syndrome are conceived, because Down syndrome has fairly severe effects on fertility.

exactly!

First of all, it is the decision of the parents to make, no one else's.  However, surely the parents should have known there would be some very unfavorable feedback from those who think it is their right alone to make the decision, no matter what their own moral or religious beliefs may be. 

It is the fault of the parents that they are being slammed by the over zealous, self-righteous opinions of others. Thus, the parents are the ones to blame for the ugliness that is now being directed toward them and their family.

JMOO

I agree that exposing yourself to the public is an extremely bad choice, no pun intended, but I didn't grow up in their generation with the resources to post my every private thought and/or what I had for breakfast somewhere online. it was a conscious choice for them to put themselves out there, whatever their motivation, and now they get to live with the consequences, good and bad.

"The same people who shame you for using the R-word would abort their baby if the child had Down syndrome."

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Lol, maga has waived away the taboo of using the R word, while wishing death on anyone who would abort a disabled zygote.

I didn't expect you'd get it.

[✘] By all means, ask a high functioning person with downs syndrome if being called a retard by a pro lifer would bother them more[✘]

I didn’t expect you to get it either.

Your posts are the epitome of histrionic.  The choice of words you use to degrade progressives says everything - “cheerfully endorsing killing anything that might inconvenience  them”, “happily see all those with people exterminated because they believe people with disabilities shouldn't exist”.  Somehow wanting for humans to have control of their bodies is equal to being ecstatic about killing babies.

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You take too many liberties with your generalities. While there may be some liberals that are 'performative with morality" - such ones are distinct and apart from liberals that stand up for fairness, equality, and equity for their fellows—including women. Do not overstate the scorn pro-lifers hold for us. . . it is not a good look-in fact, right now in my opinion it makes for invalidity. 

Republicans and conservatives talk a 'good' game about liberty and freedom. . . and yet somehow it is the self-same grouping of pro-lifers that want people to live according to THEIR freedoms and THEIR liberties without any contrasting! Additionally, I find it. . . interesting and telling that the pro-lifer 'gang' can pass judgement on the decisions made by couples in CRISIS whom are devastated at what they as a TEAM will have to decide. . .and not decry those "parties" that death-wish this couple!

Here is a thought, decide if freedom and liberty is really what conservatives want for our citizenry, or just people willing to go along to get along. 

Their right and nobody else's business

Absolutely correct

From a Facebook page called Payton's Path:

I wish there was the same viral outrage for the living children with disabilities as there is for this one couple who chose to terminate their pregnancy because of a disability.

I wish people fought this hard for accessible playgrounds, inclusive schools, funding for therapies, respite care, adaptive equipment, accessible housing, and medical supports.

I wish there were viral debates about why families wait years for services.

I wish there were headlines about children being excluded from activities because accommodations are “too difficult.”

I wish there were millions of voices demanding that disabled children be given every opportunity to thrive once they’re here.

But the truth is, the conversation often gets very loud before a child with a disability is born.

Then it gets very quiet.

The families raising these children are left navigating inaccessible systems, endless paperwork, financial strain, and isolation while the world moves on.

If people care about children with disabilities, that care shouldn’t end at birth.

It should show up in policies.

In communities.

In schools.

In healthcare.

In support for the families who spend every day fighting for their children to have the same opportunities as everyone else.

Our children deserve more than being the subject of a debate.

They deserve to be seen, valued, included, and supported throughout their entire lives.

If you’re not raising your voice just a loud for the children that are already here…

maybe sit this one out.

Written by: Carla Moore from Payton's Path

All great points.  We live in a strange dichotomy.  In America we have an ADA (disability act) that is federal law.  It had good intentions when it was written and enacted in the 1980s, but as a civil engineer I can tell you that it is so poorly written and immutable that it is genuinely unhelpful, and just sets unachievable goals that vastly inflate the complexity of the design process and cost of construction.  Elsewhere in the world this legislation does not exist and yet their disabled citizens do not feel discriminated against when their motorized wheelchair has to climb a grade steeper than 5%.  For context, a typical highway lane cross slope is graded at 2% and a road shoulder is graded at 6%.  It is a ridiculous threshold that will never change, because US politicians are too spineless to risk proposing changes to pragmatically reign in this legislation to work for the average disabled person, instead insisting that it serve a Hellen Keller amputee.  It’s all about virtue signaling and fear of a political ad sound bite that asks “why does my opponent hate the disabled?”

I worked on a job recently designing a facility that serves as a storage parking lot for a community’s garbage collection vehicles and a community recycle center.  The reviewer was overly concerned about accessibility, as if disabled people work as garbage collectors, or haul their recycling to a facility without using a vehicle.  Are they hitching a recycle wagon to their wheelchair and traveling by wheelchair to the recycle center?  Or are they doing what most everyone else is doing and recycling from home.  Mind you, at the site where this is proposed, the DPW poured a sidewalk in the public right of way that has three utility poles and one fire hydrant centered in the middle of that narrow sidewalk, obviously preventing wheelchair access.  When you are the city you are entitled to wipe your ass with the legislation that you force on your community.

The landlord at my office added a wheelchair ramp a few years ago.  His intentions were great.  Our county has an aging population, and many of my patients have mobility challenges.  They might not use wheelchairs, walkers, or canes, but stair steps are difficult for them.

It took months.  And building inspectors who checked off each step wouldn't agree with each other.  One would say it was fine as it was.  Then another would come along and make the construction workers re-do a bunch of things.  All our tempers were very short by the end of the process, especially the landlord's.  Truly a "no good deed goes unpunished" scenario.

My college friend who shared the post I quoted above is a former special education teacher, and these were her words about the lack of support for families with special-needs children:

SO MUCH YES! I started my teaching career in Special Education and children with special needs will always hold a special place in my heart. Parents of children with extensive special needs spend the majority of their children’s lives jumping through hoops, filling out redundant paperwork over and over and over, advocating for their children’s needs, advocating for their needs, and PLANNING. My God…the planning. It’s never-ending - the planning. For everything. For every possible scenario. For every possible outcome. For a future time when they will be gone but their children may still be here. And what does our society do? What does our government do? They make it as difficult as they possibly can to qualify for and pay for necessary treatments and services.

Another college friend has an autistic son who will never be able to live independently.  Last I heard, he was 13 and still not toilet-trained, and was unlikely to ever be.  Her ex disappeared, and the courts let him get away with sending her a child support check for 32 cents, because he was "trying".  So obviously, supporting her kids was left to her, and she was hardly ever able to hold a job.  She'd have to leave work for a meltdown at school, or because her son ran away (her parents were watching him, but he's bigger and faster than they are, and was determined to run off), or something.  She posts pics of herself with shiners now and then, because his meltdowns are physical.

She loves her son.  Of course she does.  And there was no way to know this was how he would be.  But the people threatening this couple will never admit that this is the reality for many people whose children have such issues.  Lack of income.  Lack of support from the other parent.  Physical danger to the parent who stuck it out.  And where will he be after she's gone?  Rural WV, where she lives, does not have the resources to take good care of him.

My grandson was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome in the womb.  This is an extremely expensive disability to treat, with a low survival rate.  She was offered by the doctor the choice of terminating the pregnancy, and bravely chose not to terminate.  My grandson had a million dollars worth of surgeries before he was six months old, and his mother was already living check to check.  Medicaid ended up covering almost everything, but her life was turned upside down.  Today he seems as healthy (or more) than his peers at school, but he is developmentally delayed from the trauma of all that surgery at such a young age.  The point is that it takes more than just a village to raise a disabled child, it takes millions of dollars over their lifetime, and that cost either is covered by government or used to justify the super high insurance premiums we all pay.  Pro-lifers don’t want to have that conversation, but they’ll join in the criticisms over government entitlements and greedy insurance companies.

I'm glad he's done so well.

My cousin had two sons with congenital heart issues.  Her oldest had, IIRC, a ventricular septal defect that was repaired surgically when he was an infant.  He did really well until he was in his late 20s, when he developed a life-threatening infection near his surgical scar.  He is now a nurse.

Her younger son had tetralogy of Fallot, and has had multiple surgeries.  He also did well, even playing high school football, until he didn't.  He went into sudden cardiac arrest a few years ago, when he was still a teen.  He was medivacced to the hospital and resuscitated, and has done well since, but nobody knows how long that will last.  He is an EMT, which actually is comforting, because at work, he is surrounded by people who will know what to do if his heart decides to give out again.  TBH, I was surprised his agency would employ him for such a high-stress career.

My cousin, who passed away herself of a heart attack at the age of 52, was a waitress.  She and her first husband divorced, and her second husband owned a small business installing fences.  She was not a rich woman.  And she raised TWO medically complex sons, with all the work and expense that entails.  I honestly don't know, but I almost have to assume that she was on public assistance, or she'd have likely been bankrupt.

I look forward to gov't dictating health choices for bible thumpers in the near future ...

My daughter's friend (I watched this young woman grow up and become the beautiful, hard working young woman she is today) has a child with a severe form of dwarfism. It has a name but I can never remember what it is. Reid is a delightful little boy, always ready with a smile. But his developmental issues are a constant trial for his parents. He's been back and forth to specialists across the country. He will never walk and may never speak because of his hearing issues.

I admire his parents. She knew this baby was going to have this issue while she was still pregnant. But she's a devout person and couldn't abort. I understand that. But if she had, I wouldn't have condemned that decision, either and woe be to any one who did. They love their son but the expenses are real and so is the constant care.

So all of you who think no fetus should be terminated because of a defect...mind your own fucking business unless you are willing to start a Go Fund Me and help with the expenses and take on child care duties a few times a week

maga thumpers are big on judgement and absent on helpful action. they don't give a fuck about any kids but theirs after birth ...

Here's the "t"! This pro-lifers (and those that just like to 'fight') do not bother to get input from the child living with disability. Sure, children and adults put on 'survival' faces as they go through and ordeal in life. . . in a world that won't make a 'way' for them. . except to look down on them with some sort of version of 'pity.'

What is supposed to happen with children with severe downs syndrome. . .when s/he gets older. . . a lifetime of shortcomings under his or her belt?

It is so inconsiderate (and self-indulgent) to make an ideology around life. . . for its own sake. . . when so much is involved in living in this world.

maga thumpers have never held the spiritual high ground, and never will ...

That's hilarious coming from people supporting a party with a candidate with Nazi tats, fought to keep slaves, gave the country Jim Crowe and the SPLC.[✘]

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Had nothing to come back with so you went with unrelated nonsense.[✘]

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