Pro-choice writer Ruth Marcus writes the following in the Washington Post:
“This is a difficult subject to discuss because there are so many parents who have — and cherish — a child with Down syndrome. Many people with Down syndrome live happy and fulfilled lives. The new Gerber baby with Down syndrome is awfully cute….
I have had two children…I can say without hesitation that, tragic as it would have felt and ghastly as a second-trimester abortion would have been, I would have terminated those pregnancies had the testing come back positive. I would have grieved the loss and moved on.
I’m going to be blunt here: That was not the child I wanted. That was not the choice I would have made. You can call me selfish, or worse, but I am in good company. The evidence is clear that most women confronted with the same unhappy alternative would make the same decision….
Technological advances in prenatal testing pose difficult moral choices about what, if any, genetic anomaly or defect justifies an abortion. Nearsightedness? Being short? There are creepy, eugenic aspects of the new technology that call for vigorous public debate. But in the end, the Constitution mandates — and a proper understanding of the rights of the individual against those of the state underscores — that these excruciating choices be left to individual women, not to government officials who believe they know best.”
Ruth Marcus “I would’ve aborted a fetus with Down syndome. Women need that right” The Washington Post March 9 2018
Below: Diagram of a D & E abortion – the most common kind of second trimester procedure. This is probably the way her baby would have been aborted. As you can see, regardless of what the mother feels, the abortion is probably more “excruciating” to the baby.
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