Gentry: Special needs children deserve a chance
Potential bill offers more information to pregnant women
Thursday, December 6th, 2007
My mom is a para-professional, and she has worked with special needs children for as long as I can remember. When she got pregnant at 40, she was given an amniocentesis, the test which, among other things, looks for Down Syndrome in the baby. I was 12, and I remember asking what she would do if she found out the baby had Down Syndrome. She said, “I’d love it, the same way I love you and your brother.” My mom wasn’t concerned with the deficiencies her child might have; she just felt lucky to be able to have a baby so late in life.
Unfortunately, not all potential mothers feel the same way. In fact, according to the Lawrence Journal World, doctors estimate that as much as 80-to-90 percent of women terminate their pregnancies upon learning that their future child will have mental or physical disabilities, such as Down Syndrome.
This has prompted Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback and Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy to collaborate on the “Down Syndrome Bill,” which, if passed, would obligate doctors to give patients more information when mothers learn their baby will be born with special needs.
The bill, while a step in the right direction, is not a quick fix for this problem. Deciding to terminate your pregnancy is a serious decision, and if women are convinced to do it with little information, then more information will only impact a few women.
I felt heartbroken when I saw the sky-high percentage of women that terminate pregnancies that will result in babies with Down Syndrome. I have met so many happy and thriving children and adults with Down Syndrome, and I wish those other mothers had given their babies a chance.
I’m sure some of the mothers felt they were being noble, denying themselves a child for the good of the baby. No life is better than a life with physical and mental hardship, right? Well, off-hand, I can think of very few people who, even on their worst day, would honestly rather choose death over living their life.
My goal is not to turn this into a pro-life versus pro-choice discussion. Whether I am pro-choice or pro-life, I do not interfere with another person’s right to do what they want with their body or their fetus. My problem lies with those who choose to terminate a pregnancy on the basis of a mental illness. I understand that a mother will initially be disappointed.
Everyone wants their children to have the best chance at life, and learning that their child has Down Syndrome means that child will probably never be the doctor or lawyer they always wanted. However, the child will still be theirs. Down Syndrome is not an immediate prescription for an unhappy life. They will still giggle when you tickle them and smile when they see you. Most importantly, Down Syndrome does not mean a reliant life. Depending on the level of severity, they may even graduate from high school and go on to live relatively independent lives.
I hope the Down Syndrome Bill passes and is able to change mothers’ minds about having a child with Down Syndrome, even if only a few. I hope that women can be brave enough to give their special needs child a chance at life. Most of all, I hope that they realize a baby with Down Syndrome is still a baby, and one that deserves a fair chance at life.
Gentry is a Kansas City junior in English and pre-medicine.
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"Whether I am pro-choice or pro-life, I do not interfere with another person’s right to do what they want with their body or their fetus. "
that is the pro-choice stance.
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