Category: Abortion and the Disabled

In 1970 a report issued by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine:

“It takes about $5,000-$6,000 per year to pay the costs of institutionalized care for retarded individuals. The 50,000 persons now receiving institutional care for Down’s syndrome alone represent an expense of some $250-$300 million per year. “

Their response was:

“prenatal diagnosis in combination with selective abortion.”

“Legalized Abortion and Public Health” Report of a Study by a Committee of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, May 1975, p 107

Glenn Little, president of the Disabled Persons Association, in Victoria Australia, who has cerebral palsy:

“If I had been given the choice about whether I wanted to live with my brain damage or to be allowed to die, I would have chosen to live. I believe that I am serving a worthwhile purpose in my own way….

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard any disabled person say that they would prefer not to have been born. That’s after 20 odd years of mixing in and out of the disabled community. If another disabled person and I decided to have a child and we were told that the child would be born disabled, we would go ahead and have the child…

I think that if you find out during pregnancy that the baby is likely to have a disability you will find nine times out of 10 that they won’t know the severity…

The child might well grow up into someone like me or any of the other people you have met here at the Association today.

Should we have been aborted? It’s not just a question of what people need in the way of assistance – it’s also a question of what they can give.”

Miriam Claire The Abortion Dilemma: Personal Views on a Public Issue (New York: Insight Books, 1995) 199

Laura Hershey is severely disabled from a rare neuromuscular condition. She says:

“My life of disability has not been easy or carefree. But in measuring the quality of my life, other factors – education, friends, and meaningful work, for example – have been decisive.

If I were asked for an opinion on whether to bring a child into the world, knowing she would have the same limitations and opportunities I have had, I would not hesitate to say, “Yes.”

Laura Hershey, Ms, July/August 1994

Quoted in Tamara A. Roleff Abortion: Opposing Viewpoints (San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997)

A woman commented on a prolife article:

“I also had a child who the doctor said may have DS and wanted to do a test to see, I said go ahead but I’m telling you now I won’t end his life. They said he had a high chance of having DS. Nope he’s fine.

I had a friend who the doctors told her she had a 99% chance that her son was going to be DS and did 3 tests on her in all tests she was told the risk was too much and was counseled to abort the baby.

I told her if you have a disabled baby and you can’t take care of him then just give him up for adoption, but don’t kill your baby.

Well long story short baby is now 4 years old, and a brilliant little bi-lingual going on tri-lingual young man, who has absolutely nothing wrong with him either mentally of physically. I wonder how many of these babies that were “terminated” actually would have had downs syndrome, and why should it matter?

Every person I’ve known that has Downs is a beautiful, wonderful, happy person who loves their life and their friends and family more than most. God bless your parents and all those who also choose life not based on the potiential merit of the person but rather on the merit of life itself.”

Comment on “Why Are YOU Pro-Life?” Why Pro-Life Abortion Facts Nov 10, 2009

A young woman named Brianna says:

“When my mother was pregnant with me, the doctors did tests and believed I had a 99% chance of being born with Downs Syndrome. The doctor told my mother that a child with DS would be too big of a burden and that she should just abort me.

My mother and father prayed about it and decided they would love me no matter what and continued with the birth. I am 18 now and have not ever had any traces of Downs Syndrome. 99% my butt!”

Comment on “Why Are YOU Pro-Life?” Why Pro-Life Abortion Facts Nov 10, 2009

“Brenda” has a disabled child:

“That’s the bad part: that people can say to you, “You didn’t have the tests?” Or “Why didn’t you have the tests?” You have to justify why you’ve brought a disabled child into the world!”

A Brookes “We’ve Got a Problem!” Women and Prenatal Diagnosis: Difficult Decisions” Doctoral Dissertation, Deakin University, Australia

Quoted in Melinda Tankard Reist Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics (North Melbourne, Australia: Spinifex, 2006)