From a woman who had a down syndrome pregnancy:
“Unless the child was institutionalized, I would have to give up my teaching to be a full-time nurse, putting the entire financial burden on [my husband] Bud. We would have to begin saving immediately for that day, in our old age, when we could no longer care for the child at home. While we may have somehow coped had we never had the tests, Bud couldn’t fathom knowingly bringing these burdens upon us… I decided I must go through with the abortion to preserve my family.”
Maria Vida Hunt, McCall’s, July 1985
quoted in Bonnie Szumski , Abortion: Opposing Viewpoints (St. Paul, Minnesota: Greenhaven Press, 1986)
Tests for Down Syndrome are not accurate until 16 weeks, when the baby is fully formed. (see below)
Abortions at this stage are done by dismemberment- a doctor tears apart the baby with forceps, taking it out piece by piece.
Was the suffering of the baby justified by the family’s right not to be inconvenienced? There is a waiting list to adopt even down syndrome babies.
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