Several weeks ago, terrorists sank to new depths of evil and depravity in their strategies to kill innocent lives. They strapped bombs to two unsuspecting women with Down Syndrome and had them walk into crowded market places. The terrorists then detonated the bombs strapped to these women by way of remote control and killing over 70 people. According to officials the women were unaware as to what they were doing.
Abortion:
According to one California study the abortion rate for fetuses diagnosed with Down Syndrome is 59%. In an English study, the rate was found to be 92%.
In a Baptist Press article on March 4th of this year, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback made the following comment:
"The effect of our abortion policy at this moment is that we are in the midst of a genocide of children with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other in utero genetic conditions that medical analysis can detect," Brownback said in a commentary published in The Wichita Eagle in July, when he introduced the bill. "If we think there's a chance the child may have a disability, too often he or she is killed in the womb, and the system seems to push it."
A senate committee recently passed legislation that hopefully would help reduce the abortion rates of babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome. If the bill is passed it would require that parents whose children were diagnosed with Down Syndrome and other genetic conditions be given the latest information on such conditions and of the support services available. It would also provide a registry of families willing to adopt children with special needs.
When Holly and I found out she was expecting Annika, we were first made aware of this suspect way that doctors attempt to get you to think twice about going through with a pregnancy when the baby might possibly have Down Syndrome. We refused the testing with Annika because the only logic we saw behind the testing was to encourage abortion.
I forget how, but somehow with Alexa, the testing was done and it came back that there was the likelihood that Alexa may have Down Syndrome. It was devastating. But not because of the inconvenience it would cause us, which is the reason why most pregnancies with such diagnoses are terminated. It was devastating because of what it potentially meant for Alexa--the suffering she would endure during her life. Even with a positive test, the thought never entered our minds to end the pregnancy. Why? Not because we are such good moral people, but because Christ, through his death and resurrection, has purchased for us new hearts that obey His Word and love what He loves and one of those things is the preciousness of life--all life because we are all made in the image of God--even if we are made with Down Syndrome.
Thankfully, the tests were incorrect and Alexa was born healthy. But even if she was unhealthy with Down Syndrome, she still had the right to be born and live. Sometimes you hear couples who are expecting say, "All we care about is that she/he is born healthy." I think we may have said that as well and the intention and motivation behind it is understandable. But what if they are not born healthy? They are not less of a person, but life that has been made in the image of God and deserves to be loved and cared for, not terminated because of the inconvenience it would be to mom and dad to care for him or her.
I close with this quote from John Piper on this issue:
"The disgust one feels for the kind of heart that does this [using Down Syndrome women as weapons] could reveal to England and America how we should feel when we screen for Down Syndrome babies and then kill them."
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