Thursday, November 13, 2008

Adopting children with Down syndrome: pros and cons

Here's a wonderful article in the Washington Post about the family of Mommy Life's Barbara Curtis. She and her husband Tripp have adopted three children with Down syndrome. They surrendered their family plans to God and He has blessed them abundantly.
Here's Barbara's reaction when their biological child with T21 was born,
"In 1992, Jonny was born. In the delivery room, the mother recalled, the doctor put a hand on her shoulder, and she understood something was different about her son. "He has Down syndrome, right?" she asked.
"It's okay," she remembers saying and believing. She said she was filled with expectation and excitement about the changes he would bring to their family.
Tripp's voice still cracks when he recalls a line of poetry the couple chose for Jonny's birth announcement before knowing about the disability:

"God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame."

Now, read this article decrying the 'interference' of the Prenatally Diagnosed Condtions Awareness Act in the doctor patient relationship and the claim that because of medical problems, our children with Down sydnrome are "unadoptable". This one sent a chill down my spine, and I hate to think that this may be closer to how the medical establishment thinks.

We advocates have LOTS of work to do!
HT Medical News today

1 comment:

Christina Dunigan said...

I know stats show that 3 genetically-standard babies die for every baby with DS that's identified and eliminated in the womb. But I started to wonder how many mothers we're killing in this eagerness to wipe these kids off the face of the earth.

The CDC had noted that at 16 weeks, their data (which we know to be lacking most abortion deaths, but it's all we have to go on) show abortion to be as risky as childbirth, and the risk doubles every week after that. And these abortions are done after 16, 18, 20 and more weeks. How many mothers are we killing?

Why are so many lives being sacrificed in the war on disabled children?