Thursday, March 10, 2011

So sad

I'm all for being prepared, but there's no question that the intent of this new set of non-invasive prenatal testing (in the article posted below) is not to help parents to be prepared to either parent a special child with Down syndrome or prepare themselves for releasing the child for adoption if they don't feel they can parent that child.  No, it's to lower the risk to 'normal, healthy' fetus when checking for Down syndrome and allow those with Down syndrome to be aborted more easily.


Over 95% of babies diagnosed before birth in the USA are aborted.  Seriously.

Worldwide that number is even higher based on cultural expectations for our kids.

Would the world really be a better place if no one was born with intellectual delays?  Would it be a more perfect and pure place?  Or would we just be digging in our heels, much like Hitler did, to say "let's purify the race and make it as I see it to be perfect"?

What happened to I knew you before you were born (Jeremiah 1:5) and I formed you in your mother's womb (Psalm 139:13)?

I can't imagine my life without my 5 children with Down syndrome. They bring so much joy, so much fulfillment, and I can promise you that they love their lives too.

Who is going to tell them that their mothers should have had a blood screening before they were born so that they didn't have to suffer through their lives???  

That is the message that the new prenatal testing sends.  It says "Let's know for sure with non invasive procedures so that if the child will have Down syndrome we can dispose of it before it is able to be called murder."

It's a sad reality.  And it's not some weird theory of mine. It's the truth of the current viewpoint in the medical world and-- apparently-- in about 95% of people who are told that their baby would be born with Down syndrome... but they instead aborted it.

Just Sad.
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Here's the article, originally published HERE

Blood test developed to check for Down's syndrome in pregnant women's children

A simple blood test to check unborn children for Down's syndrome has been developed that could save pregnant women from invasive examinations that risk miscarriage.

Scientists used a new technique to identify a key DNA difference that flags up a condition that affects 10,000 newborns in the UK every year.
The method enabled them to correctly diagnose 14 Down's syndrome cases and 26 normal ones, highlighting its potential clinical importance.
At present, pregnant women are given the odds on whether they are carrying a child with Down's syndrome and if they want to know for certain they have to undergo one of two invasive processes - either amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.
The first involves taking a sample of fluid from around the foetus and can, in some cases, cause a miscarriage even if the woman is carrying a healthy foetus. The second requires taking a fragment of the placenta.
Invasive testing takes place in about 30,000 British women a year. About one in every hundred of these will miscarry.
So Dr Philippos Patsalis and colleagues looked for chemical differences in the blood of mother and child as it crossed the placenta.
Down's syndrome which is characterised by severe physical and intellectual impairments is caused by having three copies of chromosome 21, instead of two, and the researchers were able to identify the telltale defect in the unborn babies.
Dr Patsalis, of The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, said: "The method is simple and fast and easy to perform in every genetic diagnostic lab worldwide because it does not require expensive equipment, software or special infrastructure.
"The test is the first worldwide to demonstrate 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity in all normal and Down's syndrome pregnancies examined."
All pregnant women are offered screening for Down's syndrome which entails an ultrasound scan of the baby and a normal blood test for the mother. From the results, experts can estimate a woman's risk of having a baby with Down's.
Women at higher risk can then opt to go for one of the two invasive diagnostic tests that both involve inserting a needle into the womb to collect cells or fluid from around the baby.
Dr Patsalis, whose findings are published online in Nature Medicine, said: "Downs syndrome is considered to be the most frequent cause of mental retardation, with an incidence of one in 700 child births in all populations worldwide.
"The approach described here has opened the way for non invasive prenatal diagnosis of Down's syndrome to be potentially employed in the routine practice of all diagnostic laboratories and be applicable to all pregnancies.
"Such a non-invasive approach will avoid the risk of miscarriages of normal pregnancies caused by current, more invasive procedures."
He added: "Furthermore, we speculate this diagnostic strategy may prove advantageous in the future over the current biochemical screening methods for Down's syndrome.
"Nevertheless, a larger-scale study will need to be performed to assist the introduction of the diagnostic strategy into the clinical practice of prenatal diagnostic laboratories."

4 comments:

  1. Very discouraging and disheartening. Painful to see such distain for our sweet angels. We must, however, hold our heads high and set an example of unconditional love in the hopes that it will be contagious.
    Looking forward to seeing you ALL on the 20th, Meredith! :)

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  2. The entire tone of the article makes me angry. "Down Syndrome is characterized by SEVERE physical and intellectual impairment" Not true! If this is how women are counseled no wonder so many have abortions. "this approach will avoid the risk of miscarriage of NORMAL pregnancy", as if no one is concerned about the risk of their DS child being miscarried. The only advantage to this test that I can see is that you can have an early diagnosis without risking your child (with or without DS).

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  3. Absolutely heartbreaking. Marissa does not have DS, but she does have many other medical diagnoses. It wasn't that many years ago that an attempt wouldn't have even been made to save her life. Yes, she has struggles and yes, her life is different from others' her age, but she is happy in her own way and I cannot imagine my life without her!!

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  4. A friend just gave me a link to your blog, and I look forward to reading more about your special family.

    I do want to comment on this post, though, as there are some very legitimate reasons for this blood test.

    I am 49 years old ... and we just found out that I am pregnant. It's been 9 years since my last pregnancy (baby #10).

    Obviously, because of my age, my chances of having a Downs baby are higher than most. I have NO intent of having an amnio (since my risk of miscarriage is already so high). However, my doctor did explain to me a VERY good reason for doing the blood test to determine Downs.

    We live in a small farming community. We have a "local" hospital, in a bigger city ... 30 minutes away. However, we are 100 miles from Seattle, which has state-of-the-art medical facilities. My doctor, completely in support of our choice to NOT abort, even if we find "abnormalities" ... would like me to take the blood test. If it is determined that my child may have any medical difficulties at birth, than we will make the choice to deliver this child in Seattle. We want the very BEST for our child, so we believe it is important for us to know if our child will need more advanced medical facilities.

    We have had a child air-lifted to Seattle ... in critical condition. We do NOT want that for another child ... especially a newborn.

    Just want you to know that there ARE very legitimate and GOOD reasons for this test.

    Laurel
    mama of 13

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