Ohio considers Down syndrome abortion ban - what are your thoughts?

by Jackie Borchardt from Cleveland.com and Northeast Ohio Media Group:
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio woman who learns her unborn child has Down syndrome would not be allowed to terminate the pregnancy under legislation sought by the state's largest anti-abortion group.
A yet-to-be introduced bill would prohibit abortions sought because a pre-natal screening or diagnostic test showed the fetus could have Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21. The genetic disorder causes developmental delays and intellectual disability of varying degrees.

Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, said details such as how the law would be enforced are still being determined as the bill is drafted. Gonidakis said any penalties would be for the physician, not the woman, consistent with other legislation the group has supported.

"Everyone wants to be born perfect and none of us are, and we don't think we should devalue life based on a false sense of perfection," Gonidakis said.

Leona Lewis: Abortion of Babies Down Syndrome ‘Hurts My Heart’

by Lauretta Brown from CNS News:
(CNSNews.com) – Upon learning that 90% of babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted, singer/songwriter Leona Lewis said it was “incredibly sad” and “hurts my heart a bit.”
Lewis, a Brit who shot to fame and a successful musical career after winning the X Factor in 2006, made her remarks on Wednesday at the Global Down Syndrome Foundation Gala at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.
At the event, CNSNews.com asked Lewis,  “What do you think of the statistic that nine out of ten babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted?”
Lewis said, “I think that’s so sad. I think that’s incredibly, incredibly sad and, yeah, it hurts my heart a bit.”
The high rate of abortion after a diagnosis of Down Syndrome was reported in the New York Times as early as 2007 and has been confirmed by several different studies.
“About 90 percent of pregnant women who are given a Down syndrome diagnosis have chosen to have an abortion,” reported The Times.

Nine Out of Ten Mothers in Norway Choose Abortion for Down Syndrome Diagnosis

by Øzgur Camur from The Nordic Page Norway:

 

In 2012, 49 children were born with Down syndrome in Norway, the lowest figure ever recorded. 87 percent of women knowing that the fetus had Down syndrome chose to have an abortion.

New figures from the Medical Birth Registry (Medisinsk fødselsregister) show that 49 children were born with Down syndrome in 2012. This is the lowest figure since the birth registration has started to be applied in 1999, writes Dagsavisen.

According to the newspaper’s report, about nine out of ten pregnant women terminated their pregnancy, when they learned that the fetus had Down syndrome. The percentage has been between 80 and 90 percent for several years. As a result, 69 fetuses with Down were aborted in 2012.

Christian Democrat deputy Dagrun Eriksen found the trend as a strong signal of failing society, even though she emphasized that she does not criticize the individual’s choice to have abortion.

- First and foremost, we as politicians should criticize ourselves. The most important thing is that parents who give birth to disabled children should get the help they need, she says.

SD lawmakers reject abortion ban for Down syndrome

by Chet Brokaw from the Associated Press and San Francisco Gate:

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A measure that would have banned aborting fetuses diagnosed with Down syndrome was rejected by a South Dakota legislative committee Thursday, with lawmakers saying it could jeopardize the state's legal defense of abortion restrictions passed in previous years.

Lawmakers on either side of the issue joined to defeat the bill despite an emotional plea from its sponsor, Rep. Isaac Latterell, R-Tea, who talked about his love for his two sisters, Eva and Grace, who have the genetic disorder.

"I hope you can see what a treasure my sisters are and how much they can teach us about what is truly important in life," Latterell said. "We must stop killing children simply because they have Down syndrome before they even have a chance to shower us with their love, as Eva and Grace have with me."

The House and Human Services Committee voted 8-4 to scrap the measure after a vote to pass it ended in a 6-6 tie.

English and Welsh women are eight times more likely to abort a baby with Down syndrome than Irish women

By Dr. Peter Saunders from National Right to Life News Today:
Editor’s note. Dr. Saunders is a former general surgeon and is CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a UK-based organization with 4,500 UK doctors and 1,000 medical students as members.
If you have Down’s syndrome and your mother lives in Ireland then your chances of making it to birth are considerably greater than if you have the misfortune to be conceived in England or Wales.
English and Welsh women are 7.6 times more likely than Irish women to have an abortion for a baby with Down’s Syndrome, 6 times more likely to have an abortion for Edward’s syndrome and 4 times more likely to have one for Patau’s syndrome.
Furthermore the Irish birth rate for Down’s syndrome babies is about twice that for England and Wales.
The way these figures are derived is explained below. The calculations are not simple as many babies with all these conditions are not diagnosed until after birth.
Some of the most common congenital abnormalities accounting for abortions in England and Wales are ‘trisomies’, in which there are three copies of one particular chromosome rather than two.
The most common trisomies are Down’s syndrome (trisomy 21), Edwards’ syndrome (18) and Patau syndrome (13). People with DS now have an average life expectancy of between 50 and 60 but those with Edwards’ syndrome (ES) and Patau syndrome (PS) will all die in early childhood.
The National Down Syndrome Cytogenetic Register (NDSCR) was set up on January 1, 1989 and holds anonymous data from all clinical cytogenetic laboratories in England and Wales of cases of DS, ES and PS diagnosed before or after birth.

Outlawing Abortion Won’t Help Children with Down Syndrome

by Allison Piepmeier from The New York Times:
My daughter, like all kids, is a delight and a lot of work. Now 4, she talks nonstop, although her speech isn’t always comprehensible. She reads. She performs class conversations for me: “What does a cow say? Moo. Great work, Maybelle!” This evening she sang me “I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No” from “Oklahoma!” (a song that, in my daughter’s case, is clearly untrue because she excels at saying no).

Maybelle has Down syndrome, a condition I knew almost nothing about before she was born. During the four years she has been alive, I have been repeatedly surprised by her curiosity, her individual sense of humor and how much she has accomplished. She doesn’t fit the stereotypes at all. For this reason, it is troubling to me that rates of termination for pregnancies where Down syndrome is identified are extremely high. The most recent research suggests that for every child born with Down syndrome, another is terminated. With the increasing availability of noninvasive prenatal tests that can take place within the first few weeks of pregnancy, many in the Down syndrome and disability rights communities fear that abortion rates will skyrocket, that a process often identified as eugenic will escalate, and that Down syndrome will essentially be eliminated — at least among those with the resources for prenatal testing and the desire to terminate.

That is why some parents of children with Down syndrome are celebrating the news that North Dakota has become the first state to outlaw abortion for fetal conditions like Down syndrome. One parent wrote that “it felt like a small victory seeing that abortions based on Down syndrome were banned — like saying, see, individuals with Down syndrome are valued and protected.”

North Dakota Senate passes legislation protecting preborn with heartbeat, Down Syndrome

from Live Action News by Lauren Enriquez:
Why would a heartbeat not be considered life? It makes so much sense. These are the simple words of Rep. Bette Grande (R-Fargo), a North Dakota legislator who aligns common sense with legislation. This combination of logic and law tends to be avoided by the pro-abortion counterpart, as a quote from Elissa Berger of the ACLU attests: [W]e should be able to agree that this personal decision is best made by a woman and her family, not politicians.
This overused soundbite from the abortion lobby affirms the disconnect between common sense and legislation: does abortion affect one life or two? Two. So shouldn’t the abortion decision take into consideration both of the lives affected by it?
As a result of the hard work of commonsense legislators like Rep. Grande, North Dakota has installed legislation that protects pre-born children whose fetal heartbeat can be detected. This means that the right to life of pre-born children as young as – wait for it – five or six weeks’ gestation are now protected by North Dakota state law.
There is still work to be done, of course: pro-lifers won’t rest until all life is protected by law. But this breakthrough in North Dakota is certainly laudable progress, and it may serve as a catalyst for the more stringent laws needed to protect life beginning at fertilization.
As if this were not cause enough for celebration, North Dakota’s heartbeat legislation passed in the Senate on Friday alongside another phenomenal bill that will add unprecedented protections to genetically unique pre-born children, such as those with Down syndrome. The bill, also sponsored by Rep. Grande, is similar to bans on sex-selection abortion. It prevents pre-born children from receiving a death sentence based solely on an undesirable abnormality.
Rep. Grande does not mince words when addressing the rekindled phenomenon of eliminating genetically “abnormal” children arbitrarily. In a poignant but accurate comparison, she observed:

It takes you back to Hitler, and we know where that went. He started going after those with abnormalities, and I think it’s an absurdity we would go back to that kind of thing.

These two piece of legislation will make their last stop at Governor Dalrymple’s desk. The leader has indicated that he will sign the bills into law. We hope and pray for that day, and we applaud North Dakota for its daring efforts in the face of opposition.

UK Govt Grossly Under-Reports # of Babies with Down Syndrome Babi Aborted

by Dr. Peter Saunders from LifeNews.com:
Some of the most common congenital abnormalities accounting for abortions in England and Wales are ‘trisomies’, in which there are three copies of one particular chromosome rather than two.
The most common trisomies are Down’s syndrome (trisomy 21), Edwards’ syndrome (18) and Patau syndrome (13).
But how many of each are aborted?  Well it depends very much on who you ask.
The National Down Syndrome Cytogenetic Register (NDSCR) was set up on 1 January 1989. It holds anonymous data from all clinical cytogenetic laboratories in England and Wales of cases of Down’s, Patau and Edwards syndromes diagnosed antenatally or postnatally.
Its 2010 annual report was published in December 2011 and is available here.
In 2010, 1,868 Down’s syndrome diagnoses were made, 1,188 (64%) prenatally and 680 (36%) postnatally. Of the 1,188 babies diagnosed prenatally 942 were aborted, 25 miscarried or were stillborn, 52 were born alive and in 167 the outcome was unknown.
Of the 466 babies diagnosed prenatally with Edwards’ syndrome 344 were aborted. Of those 191 babies diagnosed prenatally with Patau syndrome 151 were aborted.
So in total, according to the NDSCR, there were at least 942 babies with Down’s syndrome, 344 with Edwards’ syndrome and 151 with Patau syndrome aborted in 2010.
This gives us an overall total of at least 1,437 abortions of babies with one of the three conditions. I say ‘at least’ because the NDSCR estimates that a substantial proportion of those babies with trisomy with ‘unknown’ outcomes were also aborted.
But if we go to the Department of Health’s abortion statistics we get a different story altogether.
The Abortion Statistics for England and Wales in 2010 were published in May 2011 and are also available on line.
But they tell us (Table 9) that in 2010 there were only 482 abortions for Down’s syndrome, 164 for Edwards syndrome and 51 for Patau’s syndrome. Together these made up 30% of the 2,290 abortions carried out for congenital abnormalities (ground E) in that year. But the total with one of these three conditions is only 697.
The disparities are astounding. 740 babies aborted with one of the three trisomy conditions, or 51.5% of the NDSCR’s total of 1,437, were apparently not reported by the Department of Health. For Down’s syndrome 460 out of 942, or 49%, were not reported.
If the NDSCR statistics are accurate, and there is no reason to doubt them, then this means that the Department of Health is being notified about less than half of the abortions carried out for trisomy 13, 18 or 21.
Does this mean that doctors are knowingly falsifying abortion certification forms by neglecting to put down the true diagnosis for babies with congenital abnormalities? Or are they perhaps, possibly even deliberately, mis-classifying them as abortions on mental health grounds? Or are they just not bothering to report at all?
Is this possibly even evidence of a failure of abortion reporting on a much greater scale?
Might this be an under-reporting problem that goes much beyond babies with trisomy conditions? Might it actually be that only half of all abortions for any fetal abnormality are being reported?
Is it even possible that this degree of under-reporting operates across other categories of abortion, perhaps even all categories? In other words might the Department of Health figures be grossly under-reporting the total number of abortions in England in Wales?
Whatever the truth of the matter is, the disparities in the figures are alarming and need to be investigated urgently.
LifeNews.com Note: Dr. Peter Saunders is a doctor and the CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a British organization with 4,500 doctors and 1,000 medical students as members. This article originally appeared on his blog. He is also associated with the Care Not Killing Alliance in the UK.

UKIP suspends Down syndrome abortion call candidate

from BBC News:
The party said Geoffrey Clark, who is standing for Kent County Council, would not be a UKIP councillor if elected.
Mr Clark said on his website he did not endorse the abortion idea but suggested it to cut the national debt.
Learning disability charity Mencap said it was disgusted and horrified at Mr Clark's personal manifesto.
UKIP said Thursday's ballot paper would still list him as its candidate but, pending an investigation, he would not be a UKIP councillor.
Chartered accountant Mr Clark, 66, who is also standing for Meopham North ward on Gravesham Borough Council in Thursday's by-election, says on his website his comments are personal and do not reflect UKIP policy.

He calls for a national debate and an urgent government review of the NHS, which he says "risks becoming unaffordable in the future".

The review should look at "compulsory abortion when the foetus is detected as having Down's, spina bifida or similar syndrome which, if it is born, could render the child a burden on the state as well as on the family".
He says the review should also look at medical treatment for those aged over 80, "which is disproportionately costly to the NHS" and might also include "legalising euthanasia and giving free euthanasia advice to all folk over 80".
He told the BBC: "I don't intend to offend.
"What I am trying to do is to provoke a debate in the nation because I am so disenchanted with our politicians."
'Forced eugenics'
Mark Goldring, chief executive of Mencap, said: "Much has been written about the Paralympics this summer changing attitudes towards disabled people for the better.
"Yet in the very same year, a council candidate has proposed forced eugenics against disabled people.
"It is abhorrent that Geoffrey Clark sees disabled people solely as a burden when people with a learning disability lead full lives and make valuable contributions to their communities and families.
"We question if he is fit for public office."

Mr Clark, who describes himself as a member of Meopham Parochial Church Council, Rotary International, the Royal British Legion and the Youth Hostels Association, says population, immigration and threats to the green belt are linked issues close to his heart.

If elected, he promises to promote the Christian ethic and British culture, roll back Islam, contain UK population growth and restrict immigration.
A UKIP spokesman said the party rejected Mr Clark's "abhorrent" views.
"The party was not aware of these views when it allowed him to stand under our name," he said.
"Mr Clark has been formally suspended as a UKIP candidate and will not be standing for the party again.
"We would like to apologise to anyone who has suffered distress as a result of this matter."

Growing up with Down Syndrome

from Longview News-Journal by Robin Aaron:
Meredith Brooks is the mother of two little girls, Halle, 4 and Kate, 14 months. Both her daughters are a joy she says, but one of her daughters requires a different type of developmental attention. Kate has Down Syndrome.

Having grown up here in Bowie County as the daughter of Bates Family Funeral Home Director Robbie Bates, she says she had little exposure to the condition that would become closely related to her family.

“I did know a little bit,” Meredith said. “Sadly unless you’re in that situation dealing with a Down’s child, you can’t know what it’s like.”

Meredith Brooks now resides in Colorado. Two months after she and her husband moved there in June 2011, Kate was born.

The family was overjoyed at her arrival and say she looked exactly like her big sister.

“We had no idea she had Down’s till three days after her birth.”

Doctors also found out that baby Kate had four holes in her heart. As of now, three of those have healed. Doctors believe the final one will heal on its own.

According to Brooks, there are a great many misconceptions about Down Syndrome. One of these is the belief that it mainly strikes children whose mothers are ages 35 and older. At least 80 percent of parents of Down’s children are under 35.

The Brooks chose not to do all the invasive prenatal tests because of their faith.

“We had no reason to believe she would not be healthy,” Brooks said.

Since that time, the Brooks say they have learned so much from their youngest daughter about how to look at life and they can’t imagine being without her.

As long as children with Down’s are enriched they can do most anything normal children can do. Infact, Meredith says, Kate beat her sis on some of her developmental Milestones.

It is a misconception that children like Kate are stupid. Now these children are helped early on and are able to do anything most children are able to do. Proper training and therapy are important. Many of them still have decent IQ levels.

“Down Syndrome is a condition, but she is a child just like anybody else and deserves opportunity just like anybody else,” Books said.

According to Meredith, she and her husband have been saddened to discover that early testing produces a lot of false positives and negatives. Sadly 90 percent who learn that their child will be born with Down’s choose abortion.

“That is one of the saddest things to us,” She said. There are about 6,000 Downs children born in US annually. There is no particular race, nationality or religion that it affects.”

Kate’s song, her mom says is sung by Bill and Gloria Gaither. It says “I am a Promise, I am a possibility.”

My Special Child: Man Proves Life with Down Syndrome Can be Fulfilling

by Abby Eden from Fox4KC:
In America, the abortion rate for a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome has dropped to 67 percent, according to a study released earlier this year by the National Institute of Health. Yet many people argue that 67 percent is still too high.
In honor of Down Syndrome month, this “My Special Child” report, reminds us that many people with Down Syndrome can complete high school, attend college and be gainfully employed.
Though Lee Jones has Down Syndrome he’s been making great accomplishments since he was just a little boy. It’s a message he wants these medical students to hear.
“Everyone, whether they have a disability or not have the right to have their own dreams, just because a person has a disability doesn’t lessen the importance of their dreams,” said Jones.
Lee learned to read at the age of three, was developing athletically by kindergarten, he graduated from high school, then from college with a bachelors degree. Today Lee lives on his own and works two jobs, including one at the Kauffman Foundation.
“I pass out mail, I know people really well so, I interact with them when I do that, then I do photocopying, mailing, scanning,” Jones explained.
Lee attributes his accomplishments to his personal determination and realistic goal setting. He also attributes his parents’ relentless commitment to his learning which was done with many small steps.
“I did my own laundry when I was in middle school at home,” he said.
Many times it was Lee who was setting the goals, like learning to drive and learning to scuba dive, and yes, it was much harder for Lee.
“We were studying for an algebra test in high school and Lee and I were both to about the breaking point, and he said ‘Mom don’t you realize this is hard for me?’ And I said sure,” Carolyn Jones, Lee’s mother, said.
It may have taken Lee longer to learn, but today, he’s far from being a burden on society.  He works, he volunteers, and he is teaching the rest of us what people with down syndrome CAN accomplish.
October is Down syndrome month. For more information, resources and success stories visit the National Down Syndrome Society’s website at www.ndss.org
Find me on Facebook:  Abby Eden Fox 4
Follow me on Twitter:  @AbbyEden
Email me:  abby.eden@wdaftv4.com

Controversial pre-natal Down's syndrome testing gets go-ahead in Switzerland raising fears of a spike in abortions

The test involves screening blood samples from the pregnant woman for the presence of foetal Down's syndrome

from the Daily Mail by Claire Bates:
A new prenatal test for Down's syndrome has been given the green light in Switzerland amid controversy over whether this will lead to more abortions.
Testing will be available there from mid-August following a decision by the national agency for therapeutic products, according to a Swiss newspaper.
The test involves screening pregnant women's blood samples for the presence of foetal Down's syndrome, which is also known as trisomy 21.

The German-firm LifeCodexx described the procedure, marketed as PrenaTest, as a 'risk-free alternative to common invasive examination methods such as amniocentesis'.

It claims that the test can detect 95 per cent of cases if it is performed in the first trimester.

The company said demand is high in Switzerland from doctors and expectant mothers. The test will also be marketed in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, according to the German-based firm's website.

The Swiss national health insurer Santesuisse and the Swiss gynaecological society are happy for the cost of the test to be reimbursed as part of standard medical cover if it proves successful, according to the Neue Zuercher Zeitung am Sonntag.

However, the international federation of Down's syndrome organisations has objected to such testing at the European Court of Human Rights.

The federation, grouping 30 associations in 16 countries, said in June that the Strasbourg court should 'recognise the human condition and protect the right to life of people with Down's syndrome and those handicapped'.

Down's syndrome is caused by having an extra copy of chromosome 21.

It is a life-long condition that affects a baby's normal physical development and causes moderate to severe learning difficulties.

Women are allowed to have abortions after the 24th week of pregnancy if their baby has Down's.

The risk of having a baby with Down's increases as a woman gets older.

Invasive procedures currently used for prenatal diagnosis - in the 16th week of pregnancy - pose a one per cent risk of miscarriage.

Since 2003 all pregnant women in the UK have been offered screening for Down's syndrome. However, only those who are judged to be 'high risk' can then opt to have a diagnostic test, so not all cases are picked up.

From 2007 to 2008, 1,843 cases of Down’s syndrome were diagnosed during pregnancy, and 743 babies were born with the condition.

There is currently no screening programme during pregnancy for other conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis or Patau's syndrome.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2181034/Controversial-Downs-syndrome-testing-gets-ahead-Switzerland.html#ixzz22PIpWtSm

Journalist admits she would seriously consider aborting an IVF baby with Down syndrome

from Daily Mail by Toni Jones:
41-year-old Samantha Brick is desperate for a child.
Having tried to conceive naturally without success for four years her and her husband embarked on their first round of IVF treatment earlier this year.
The gruelling process has a very small chance of working for women over the age of 40.
Yet today the journalist told This Morning that if she does manage to conceive and then learns that the baby has Down's Syndrome she would seriously consider aborting it.

Despite spending thousands of pounds on trying to conceive many women are deciding to abort babies after learning that they will be born with the genetic condition, leading some anti-abortion campaigners to claim that they are treating babies like designer goods.
Is it right to choose the option of a termination after under-going such an emotional and physical treatment?
Samantha believes that it is totally justifiable.
She said:
'My husband and I have been trying for a baby for four years. It is not easy, all around me friends are conceiving and building up their families.
'Every month you hope for the miracle baby, and when that doesn't happen you just keep going and keep going.
'My firs attempt at IVF failed and my husband I have discussed in depth and at length whether we could keep a baby diagnosed with Down's Syndrome.
'I live in France,I know that people there don't have the same support, I would have to send my baby to a centre on Monday morning and then welcome them back on Friday night.
'I already have a large family including ageing in laws with their own problems and so it's not just myself that I have to think about it's everyone else in the  family and what that imapct would have on them.'

Samantha also raisd the issue of being an older parent to a Down's Syndrome child.
She says: 'I'm 41 now. What will happen to that child with Down's Syndrome if anything happens to me?
'I'm not just having a glass of wine and deciding to terminate a baby.
It's a huge decision and one I wouldn't take lightly at all.
'I actually think it would be selfish to HAVE that baby because of the impact on the local health services, the cost of raising that chlid and the support it would need.'
Also on the sofa was weather girl Claire Nasir, 42, who was told after conceiving through IVF that the chance of her having a Down's Syndrome baby was 1 in 20, but decided to go ahead with her pregnancy and has since had a healthy baby without the condition.
Claire said: 'When the doctors told us that there's a very high risk of Down's Syndrome - one in 20 - I was absolutely shocked.
'My reality changed, I went from the joy of being pregnant after so many years to having to have a tricky conversation with my husband about what we should do. 
'But I had produced this beautiful little feotus and was going to love the baby whatever.
'I went in to having IVF and getting pregnant with my eyes open to any consequences I would have to face.
'I don't think I have any right as a human being to choose that - I'm just lucky to have a miracle in the first place.'

As a journalist, Samantha has spent four years researching the risks while she has been trying to get pregnant, she says: ''50-70 per cent of couples who have a child with a disability end up spitting up.
'I want to have a child with my husband because I love him, I'm really happily married and I can't forget him as a factor
'I would love to have a child but he has a right in this argument too.
'I would hate to end up as that statistic.'
Talking exclusively to the MailOnline after the interview Samantha said: 'I absolutely stand by my comments and the position I took today. Far from being selfish, I believe I'm being selfless in putting the needs and wishes of those around me above my desire to be a mum.
'Its important to honestly debate such a difficult issues especial as 9 in 10 women will terminate such a pregnancy.
'My family and I have between us worked with hundreds of people with Downs Syndrome. Let's stop 'Disneyfying' this genetic condition and ensure families, and potential parents, can debate and discuss and have the full unbiased facts of exactly what they're getting into.'

Video: Samantha and Claire debate the issue on This Morning. Watch the full interview here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2178789/Samantha-Brick-Journalist-admits-seriously-consider-aborting-IVF-baby-Downs-Syndrome.html

Dozens of IVF babies are being aborted because they have Down syndrome

from Daily Mail from Daniel Martin:
Dozens of test tube babies have been aborted because they had Down's syndrome.
Over five years, a total of 123 foetuses conceived through IVF-type treatments were terminated after the mother was told they suffered from the genetic abnormality.
That equates to a termination on average once a fortnight.

Often the women will have spent years trying to become pregnant and may have spent thousands on private fertility clinics in the hope of conceiving.

Last night, anti-abortion campaigners said the statistics on IVF terminations showed that some women treat babies like 'designer goods' – paying a fortune to conceive but then aborting them when they turn out not to be perfect.

Down's syndrome is a genetic condition caused by the presence of an extra chromosome in each cell.

The children grow up shorter than usual and often have learning or behavioural difficulties.
There are believed to be around 60,000 people in the United Kingdom with the condition.
Statistics show that in 2009, the most recent year for which figures are available, a total of 127 abortions were carried out on babies conceived through IVF-type assistance.

The data held by the Human  Fertilisation and Embryology Authority shows that Down's syndrome was the most commonly given reason for an abortion, cited in 31 of the cases – three times as many as in 1999.
Foetal abnormality was the next biggest reason for abortion, accounting for 19 cases, while 15 babies with Edward's syndrome – another condition caused by the presence of an extra chromosome – were also terminated.
As it is not mandatory for reasons for terminations to be recorded, the number could be higher. No reason was given in 22 cases. Between 2005 and 2009, some 123 foetuses with Down's were terminated.
Andrea Williams, of Christian Concern, said: 'We have to question the values of a society which focuses so greatly on adult “wants”.
'That a woman pursues a baby through fertility treatment and then aborts it because it is not perfect is selfish and harsh.'
Josephine Quintavalle, of campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: 'It is generally accepted that there is a significant under-reporting of abortions of babies with Down's syndrome, but I think we are especially saddened when we read of such abortions in association with IVF, where the women involved were clearly originally desperate to have a child.'

The number of abortions carried out because of Down's among those who conceived naturally is more than 1,000 a year – or three a day. Around nine in ten women who are told they are going to have a baby with the condition opt for a termination.
The number of terminations among potential IVF mothers could be influenced by the fact women often turn to fertility treatment later in life, when the risks of conceiving a Down's syndrome child increase markedly.
Women over the age of 40 are 16 times more likely to have a Down's pregnancy than a woman under the age of 25.
Last year around 15,000 children were born through assisted conception such as IVF, with more than half the mothers paying privately.
A spokesman for the Down's Syndrome Association declined to comment on the figures. The charity campaigns for better counselling to help parents make the right decision for them.
A spokesman for abortion provider Marie Stopes International said:  'We encourage anyone in this situation to find out as much information as possible about the implications of continuing the pregnancy before making their choice.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2174068/Dozens-IVF-babies-aborted-Downs-syndrome.html#ixzz20nBys3pC

Why So Many Babies Are Still Being Born With Down Syndrome

from The Atlantic by Adam Wolfberg:
As prenatal tests improve, more and more women are finding out if their fetus has an extra chromosome, but they're still carrying to term

Prenatal diagnosis -- the ability to diagnose abnormalities before a baby is born -- is undergoing a revolution due to the recent arrival of tests that can accurately detect fetal genetic abnormalities, including Down syndrome, by testing the mother's blood. For the past 30 years, obstetricians like me have used the mother's age, ultrasound markers, and levels of certain blood chemicals to guess whether a fetus might have Down syndrome, or other genetic abnormalities. But it took an invasive test -- an amniocentesis or a chorionic villus sampling -- to be certain, and these tests occasionally caused miscarriage. It was an inexact guessing game that was extremely difficult to explain to patients.

There are a host of reasons why patients and doctors want to know in advance whether a child will be affected by a large number of genetic diseases, but by far the most common concern patients have is whether their baby will have Down syndrome -- a condition in which the child has an extra copy of chromosome 21 and will have cognitive impairment and be at risk for other abnormalities, from heart defects to leukemia to early dementia.

The number of babies born every year affected with Down syndrome has increased slightly in the United States to about 6,000 annually.

But there are really only two reasons why parents undergo testing to determine whether their baby will have Down syndrome: to prepare to raise a child with special needs, or to terminate the pregnancy. (Those of you who hold strong 'pro-choice' or 'pro-life' views are getting your hackles up, I know. So I'm going to go ahead and apologize in advance for ignoring your agendas entirely in this post.)

The number of babies born in the United States each year affected with Down syndrome is the result of several factors, including the number of fetuses conceived that carry the third copy of chromosome 21 (older mothers are more likely to conceive Down syndrome-affected fetuses, and the childbearing population in the United States is aging), the percentage of pregnant mothers who choose to test for Down syndrome, and the percentage of women who learn they are carrying a fetus affected with Down syndrome who choose to terminate. Fetuses affected with Down syndrome are more likely to miscarry than normal fetuses, but this hasn't changed over time.

Interestingly, the number of babies born every year affected with Down syndrome has increased slightly in the United States to about 6,000 annually according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), even as the trends I just mentioned have swung dramatically.

A recent article in Prenatal Diagnosis provides the best glimpse into the choices women made about abortion for Down syndrome over the past couple of decades, and the authors' conclusions are that fewer women who learn their fetus has Down syndrome are opting to terminate their pregnancy, and the percentage has probably declined over time to someplace between 60 and 90 percent. The conventional wisdom, based on a paper in the same journal from 1999, was that over 90 percent of Down syndrome-affected pregnancies were terminated, although the current paper casts doubt that the percentage was ever that high.

So what's going on? If the abortion rate is declining, why isn't the number of babies born with Down syndrome rapidly increasing? Several factors are at play:

• The number of babies born to Hispanic women is increasing, and Hispanic women are least likely to terminate a fetus affected with Down syndrome.
• It used to be that women had to make a conscious decision to have the test for Down syndrome, and the women who chose to be tested were probably more likely to terminate if the series of tests was positive. Due to guidance from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, more and more women are getting tested for Down syndrome, perhaps including more women who don't terminate their pregnancy when the test comes back positive.
• However, since women who don't get the Down syndrome tests can't terminate for this reason (because they never find out their fetus is affected), and more women are being tested, the overall number of terminations for Down syndrome may have increased.

Perhaps the most important factor is a sea change in society's approach to individuals with Down syndrome. Explains lead author of the recent paper, Jaime L. Natoli, a senior consultant in the department of clinical analysis at the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, in response to emailed questions: "Families have significantly more educational, social, and financial support than they had in the past. For example, from a social standpoint, women of childbearing age are from perhaps the first generation who grew up in an era where individuals with Down syndrome were in their schools or daycare centers -- perhaps not the mainstream integration that we see today, but still a level of exposure that was very different than in generations prior. They grew up watching kids with Down syndrome on Sesame Street."

What will the impact of these new tests be on the number of babies born with Down syndrome, since it is now easier to make a diagnosis without risking miscarriage? Says Natoli, "I cannot predict if the termination rate will go up, down, or stay the same. A lot of people think it will go up, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it went down."

My guess is that new tests will have little impact. They are much easier to understand than the old ones, and eventually insurance companies will pay for them for most women. I suspect that in 10 years most women carrying a fetus affected with Down syndrome will receive a diagnosis early in their pregnancy. This will mean that more women will have to make the gut-wrenching decision about whether to continue the pregnancy or abort. And I predict that the number of babies born affected with Down syndrome will stay about the same.

Down syndrome wrongful birth lawsuit and the $3 million award

This is a list of recent articles with brief summaries on this topic.


from ABC News:
The parents of a four-year-old Oregon girl with Down syndrome are suing Legacy Health in Portland because they say doctors misdiagnosed their daughter as not having the condition during a prenatal screening.
As a result of doctors’ reassurances, according to KATU, the parents decided to continue the pregnancy.  They are suing for $7 million, an amount they say will pay for the girl’s care for life.
Court documents were not immediately available, so it’s unclear what type of genetic testing the couple underwent.  Genetic counselors say there are different types of screening options, including amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, and an ultrasound combined with blood testing.
A blood test with an ultrasound will only predict the risk of developing Down syndrome or other genetic abnormalities, said Virginia Carver, a prenatal genetic counselor at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.
Amniocentesis will determine whether or not a child has Down syndrome and is considered the “gold standard” of testing, Carver said.  That test is typically about 99 percent accurate.
“But even the most accurate test isn’t 100 percent accurate,” she said.  “There is a small percentage of chance that the testing might not be correct because of human error.”
Neither the hospital nor the couple would comment on the case, which is now being heard in a Multnomah County court.


from NY Daily News by Meena Hart Duerson:
A Portland, Ore. couple was awarded $2.9 million on Friday for the care of their Down syndrome baby, who they argue would not have been born if doctors had not been "negligent” in their pre-natal care.
Ariel and Deborah Levy won their "wrongful birth" suit against Legacy Health System, arguing they chose to continue their pregnancy based on what doctors told them, according to ABC News, and would have terminated it if they had not been assured their baby did not have the genetic condition.
Jurors found five instances of Legacy Health's negligence, including a doctor's finding that the baby had a normal chromosomal profile based on a test that was performed and analyzed incorrectly.


from The Orange County Register by Jo Ashline:
My main point is, Mr. and Mrs. Levy, your daughter is ALREADY HERE. And she’s NOT STUPID. If she doesn’t already sense it by the resentment made clear by your suit requesting damages for the strain she has placed on your relationship, someday she will most certainly hear about it through other means and her heart will break. I can think of  only a handful of things worse than the pain of a child learning that her parents would have preferred she not exist because of the way she is.
Hey. I’m no hypocrite. I’ve talked openly about the early days of Andrew’s autism and epilepsy diagnoses; I’ve talked about having to grieve the child I thought I would have in order to accept the little angel I was given. But even on my worst days as a mom (and there are plenty, folks) I could never imagine not choosing him over a potentially easier version. In fact, I would choose him every single time.
Does that make me better than you Mr. and Mrs. Levy? No. I don’t think so. I may judge your decision to file this suit and the way you have chosen to publicly go on record and claim that your daughter should have never been born (your lawyer can spin it anyway he wants to but if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a stupid freaking duck), but I do not claim to have ever walked a day in your shoes as Kalanit’s mom and dad.


from babble by Danielle Sullivan:
We take a lot of tests during pregnancy to ensure that our babies are healthy. Sometimes, a positive outcome on certain tests, like the one for Down Syndrome, might cause some couples to abort the baby rather than face a life of disability. An Oregon couple said they would have done just that had they’d known that their daughter would be born with Down Syndrome. But after being assured by their doctor that the baby was free of the genetic disease, they went on with the pregnancy, and their daughter was born with Down Syndrome 4 years ago. After suing Legacy Health System, Ariel and Deborah Levy were recently awarded $2.9 million in a “wrongful birth” suit.
The couple says they clearly would never have had this child if they knew, and now they will use the money to help care for their daughter’s special needs. This type of case going to trial is rare, partly because of the repercussions of parents testifying that they would have aborted their child if they had known (and you can just imagine the long-term mental damage that testimony might do to a child as he/she grows up).


from the Daily Mail:
The case could have far-reaching - and questionable - implications for children born with with conditions such as Down's.
There are fewer than 10 'wrongful birth' cases in the U.S. every year as prenatal tests are 99.7 per cent accurate - and few parents want to face a legal challenge if they do fail, the Oregonian reported.
Yet experts believe there could be a boom in the lawsuits as women in their late 30s and 40s are increasingly having babies and relying on genetic screenings to signal problems, the paper added.
Civil engineer Ariel and dental hygienist Deborah, who say they love Kalanit and intend to give her the same opportunities they have given their sons, were stunned when hospital staff told them she appeared to have Down's.
After their daughter was born with the syndrome, the Levys expressed their fears over her future, including medical and social issues, and whether she would get the required educational support.
Experts have told them she will probably not be able to live on her own or support herself, the Oregonian reported. It is estimated she will live until her mid-50s.
She is able to speak in two-word sentences which only her parents and a few others understand, according to the Oregonian.
Yet the Levys say Karen Gaffney, who has Down syndrome and earned a Portland Community College degree, is a role model for their child.


from Chicago Now by Jenna Myers Karvunidis:
What is not right, however, is the backlash. The couple is receiving death threats! What is up with internet people out for blood lately? Is the economy stressing people to the max so they take out their frustrations on people they don't even know? You can disagree with someone's decision without calling for their demise. The big go-to insult for me in recent weeks has been to call child protective services on me. "Call DCFS!" is the new, "yo mama so fat!" My big crimes were not wanting guns in the house (creating an unsafe environment, according to one vocal gun nut) and not scrutinizing Nick Jr.'s motives in retiring a cartoon moose. Yes, my children suffer terribly from both of those things.
Conclusion: I don't agree with the lawsuit, but these people are just handling their business and don't deserve harassment.


from Komo News:
"Not doing harm is of great importance to most clinicians, because that's why they have gone into the profession," she said. "The reading of some of these tests can be complex."
And so are the moral questions surrounding this type of decision, she said: "We understand much more about early education for these children and how to help them in the world."
The Northwest Down Syndrome Association said regardless of parents' final decisions, they usually deserve more information than they're getting now.
"What life is like for having a child with Down syndrome at the same time there's a huge increase in testing but no huge increase in good information on what life can be like," said Angela Jarvis-Holland.


from Northwest Cable News by Frank Mungeam:
"My clients had two children, this was a surprise pregnancy and they were doing like any responsible couple would do - trying to find out what the status of this pregnancy was," said their attorney, David Miller.
Because of markers indicating a risk of Down syndrome, "she repeatedly called the clinic and said 'Do I need to be concerned about this?' And was repeatedly advised no you don't because the CVS (Down syndrome) test was normal."
After the verdict, Legacy released this statement: "While Legacy Health has great respect for the judicial process, we are disappointed in today's verdict. The legal team from Legacy Health will be reviewing the record and considering available options. Given this, we believe that further comment at this point would not be appropriate."


from MSNBC by Art Caplan, Ph.D:

The very fact that such a case can make it into a courtroom reveals a lot that is wrong with public policy and ethics in America.

The Levys are not alone in saying that they would not have had Kalanit. Studies show that more than 85 percent of parents who learn through prenatal testing that a fetus has Down terminate the pregnancy.

Wrongful birth lawsuits are rare. The tests are highly accurate and mistakes are uncommon.

If a test fails to detect a serious problem and the parents want to sue the lab, doctors or hospital, the parents have to go to court and argue in a public forum that they would not have had their child if they had known. They have to try and put a dollar value on the “harm” they feel they have suffered.

These are claims that very few parents are willing to make in the privacy of their own home, much less a courtroom.

Moreover, those bringing wrongful birth lawsuits have to do so knowing that their family and friends are watching and judging them.

They risk leaving their other children (the Levys have two sons) wondering if their parents really wanted them. 

Wrongful birth lawsuits are a horrible way to deal with failed prenatal testing. Forcing parents to argue that their child never should have been born may make legal sense but it is morally absurd.

Why ask parents to reject the existence of their own child? Who can really put a value on a life that some argue in court ought not exist?

There is no reason to permit wrongful birth or wrongful life cases. When a mistake is alleged about genetic testing there ought to be some sort of no-fault insurance scheme under the supervision of neutral mediators, not a courtroom slugfest that demeans the value of a life with disability and reeks of eugenics.

from Oregonian by Aimee Green:

Miller, the Levy's attorney, contends that Dr. Thomas Jenkins removed maternal tissue -- not fetal tissue --from Deborah Levy's womb. The suit faults Jenkins and lab workers for not recognizing that the tissue was from the mother. The suit also faults Legacy for reassuring her that her baby didn't have an extra 21st chromosome even though two ultrasounds allegedly raised red flags by showing traits of Down syndrome.
Legacy's attorney said Jenkins and other staff followed proper procedures and weren't at fault. Attorney Robert Keating said the CVS found only normal cells because Kalanit has mosiac Down syndrome -- meaning a significant number of her cells don't contain an extra 21st chromosome. Keating pointed to an analysis of Kalanit's cells -- taken after birth -- that showed nearly 31 percent are normal.
But the Levys' attorney told jurors they should discredit that analysis because it had been done by a Legacy lab looking to defend its legal position. Miller argued that 100 percent of the cells analyzed in the CVS were normal because they were Deborah Levy's cells. Meanwhile, other samples of tissue taken from Kalanit after she was born show an insignificant number of normal cells, less than one or two percent.

from imperfect parent by Melissa Schwartz:

Robert Keating, Legacy’s attorney, contends that the test results were accurate because Kalanit has a mosaic form of Down Syndrome where a significant number of her cells do not contain the chromosomal abnormality.


from First Things by Wesley J. Smith:
There should be no such thing as a “wrongful life” or “wrongful birth.” But lawsuits are filed from time-to-time seeking damages because a baby was born that the parents would have destroyed in the womb “had they only known.”  For example, a few months ago we discussed one such case in Israel.  These cases are different than a legal malpractice suit in which the actions or inactions of the doctor caused the illness or disability. Rather, the claim is that the child would have been aborted if the parents had been properly told about the nature of the baby that they received.
“We love her totally but would have killed her before she was born?”  I hope never learns that her parents brought this case. And I hope the jury rejects it out of hand.  Doctors are not guarantors of outcomes.  We don’t–or at least shouldn’t–have a right to the baby we want.  Most importantly, none of us should ever be declared in law to have been wrongfully born.

validating statistics regarding aborted pregnancies with a Down syndrome diagnosis

from PolitiFact Ohio:

"The fact is 90-percent of Down Syndrome children were aborted in this country."
Mike DeWine on Monday, February 20th, 2012 in an interview with MSNBC

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine caused quite a ripple in the Republican presidential primary race when he dropped his endorsement of Mitt Romney and threw his support behind Rick Santorum.

Santorum’s holds some ultra-conservative views, especially when it comes to women’s reproductive rights. He opposes birth control and abortion.

Enter DeWine, who served with Santorum in the United States Senate and became a close friend. Now that he is backing him, DeWine found himself trying to calm the flames left behind by Santorum as he stomped through Ohio for the March 6 GOP primary.

DeWine appeared Feb. 20 on MSNBC’s "The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell" and was asked about Santorum’s assertion that amniocentesis, a prenatal screening test, directly leads to an increase in the number of abortions. Santorum had made the claim earlier that day on the campaign trail in Ohio.

Would DeWine advise Santorum to stop talking about amniocentesis, O’Donnell asked. DeWine responded he would not, adding that Santorum was correct.

"The fact is 90-percent of Down syndrome children were aborted in this country," DeWine responded. "Maybe some people don’t think that is a problem. I’m shocked by it. I think it’s a sad commentary. And what he was simply saying is the government should not compel every insurance policy that is written to cover that."

DeWine went on to share a personal story, saying that his wife declined prenatal testing during her eighth pregnancy when the doctor told her that if problems were detected with the fetus that abortion could be an option.

"My wife said, ‘no, I’m not going to do that,’ " DeWine said.

DeWine’s 90-percent figure caught PolitiFact Ohio’s attention.

His claim is similar to one made by state Rep. Richard Corcoran during a debate over six abortion bills in the Florida House of Representatives. Politifact Florida checked Corcoran’s statement in April 2011 and rated it True.

More recently, PolitiFact national rated a similar comment from Santorum. After finding some additional information about the data, Santorum’s claim got a rating of Half True. We’ve incorporated that data here.

Corcoran cited a New York Times article from 2007 that discussed how effective prenatal testing to detect Down syndrome could reduce the number of children born with the genetic condition, and how parents of children with Down syndrome were trying to convince others not to abort fetuses that tested positive for the condition.

The story included almost the same line that Corcoran used — that "about 90 percent of pregnant women who are given a Down syndrome diagnosis have chosen to have an abortion."

The story linked to a 1999 study from the Psychology and Genetics Research Group at King’s College in London which discussed abortion rates after a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. It compiled results from 20 other studies measuring abortion rates and concluded that, following a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, 92 percent of women chose to have an abortion.

Other studies showed similar percentages.

A study from Wayne State University in Michigan examined 145 pregnancies with a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome from 1988-97 and found that 19 (13.1 percent) women chose continuation of the pregnancy, while 126 (86.9 percent) chose termination. Another study examined 131 prenatally diagnosed cases of Down syndrome in Hawaii from 1987-96 and found that women in 110 of those cases (84 percent) chose to have their pregnancies terminated. A study in San Francisco published in 2006 found an overall rate of 81 percent.

That data was cited to rate Corcoran’s statement.

However, in additional research for the Santorum comment and for this article, PolitiFact found information that makes the question less cut-and-dried.

A joint statement from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other groups cautioned against generalizing about national patterns from a series of smaller, local studies.
   
"No current, comprehensive estimate of the number of pregnancy terminations following prenatal diagnosis exists," the statement said. "Several studies reporting older data, studies from single centers and studies from other countries have reflected variation in the number of pregnancies terminated. These studies are frequently cited, but given their limitations, are difficult to generalize to the current population of pregnant women in the United States. Undocumented observations from prenatal genetic counselors in the United States suggest that the rate of termination for prenatally diagnosed Down syndrome may vary across the country. New research is called for to comprehensively explore the uptake of prenatal testing and the outcomes of prenatally diagnosed pregnancies in order to more accurately define how women currently incorporate prenatal testing into their lives."

Mark I. Evans, a physician and president of the Fetal Medicine Foundation of America and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, emphasized that the percentage can vary significantly based on region and other factors.

"In liberal areas such as New York City, probably 80 to 90 percent of patients with severe abnormalties do choose to terminate when legal to do so," Evans said. "In conservative areas, the proportion of terminations is much lower, perhaps as little as 10 percent" in some cases.

The issue is addressed, too, in a paper in the journal Issues in Law & Medicine titled "Informed Consent or Institutionalized Eugenics? How the Medical Profession Encourages Abortion of Fetuses with Down Syndrome." The paper cites the example of a professor and practitioner, Elizabeth Gettig, who found that "almost 100 percent" of women with a Down syndrome diagnosis chose to abort when she practiced in North Carolina, but the number dropped to about half when she relocated to Pittsburgh. Gettig offered several reasons for the disparity.

"First, the Pittsburgh region has a higher percentage of Catholics," the paper said. "Second, there are more services than most cities in Pittsburgh to assist children who have disabilities."

There is an element of truth in DeWine’s claim. A number of studies have shown an abortion rate from 80 percent to 90 percent.

But all of those studies were localized. And we found experts who cautioned against applying that kind of research to the country as a whole, as DeWine did.

And DeWine’s comment was broader than Corcoran’s or Santorum’s and broader than what was encompassed in the studies.

Corcoran and Santorum specifically referred to cases in which there was a Down syndrome diagnosis. That also was the focus of the research.

In the interview, DeWine was asked about Santorum’s comments about pre-natal screenings and abortion. But his claim, that it’s a fact that "90-percent of Down syndrome children were aborted in this country," made no such mention of screenings and a Down Syndrome diagnosis. His statement would also include, for example, Down syndrome children born to mothers who had no prenatal testing.

That’s a critical fact that would give a different impression of the accuracy of his claim.

On the Truth-O-Meter, DeWine’s statement rates Mostly False.