Monday, May 16, 2011

A mom sues over her child being born disabled

I read an article about a mom who sued her doctors after her baby was born with a disability. She would have aborted the baby had she been informed of the disability while she was pregnant because having a “normal” baby was very important to her. The fact that she was not offered testing that would have prompted her to abort her now 3-year old daughter won her a $7 million settlement.
To put it mildly, this makes me ill.
The genetic condition of the child that spurred the lawsuit is not stated. One common genetic condition that readily comes to mind is Down syndrome. I have several mommy friends who have beautiful, amazing children who also happen to have Down syndrome.
I have learned that the rate of abortion after prenatal genetic testing comes back positive for Downs is over 80%! This is absolutely appalling to me. How is this possible?
I did a quick Google search to see if there was any info about this, and I found a great article that sums things up about the extremely high rate of Down syndrome abortions.
Down syndrome is far less prevalent than autism.
Downs occurs in about 1 out of every 733 children born. Autism occurs in about 1 out of every 91 children born. I shudder to think of what would happen if a widely available genetic test for autism became the norm for prenatal care. Would we suddenly lose a generation of children?
I have 2 children that some might call disabled. Do I consider them disabled? No. Would I have chosen to abort them if I had known they would end up with autism? HECK NO! My boys have taught me more than I could ever imagine. I am better because of them. That includes the fact that they are diagnosed on the autism spectrum.
I encourage you to read the article about the $7 million settlement and then share your thoughts below in the comments.
   
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