Down Syndrome Now Detectable In 1st Trimester

[MilesChristi]

One of my younger brothers is mentally handicapped, and he goes to a special education school where many of his peers have Down syndrome. Having worked there as a volunteer myself, I can attest that these children often have a better appreciation for life and inner joy about them than most people society would call "normal."

The kingdom of God belongs to such as these, and may God have mercy on the people who would dare harm them.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

I have a friend named Keri who would have been tested as having Down's Syndrome, but she had a different disease which results in some of the same physical features but no others...now, of course, they shouldn't be killing anyone, but you'd think these people, who agree with me that the death penalty kills many people who don't deserve it, would think that killing anyone who appears to have diseases even if they don't would be a reason to avoid killing anyone all together...

[Dreamweaver]

Horrible! This is eugenics! Someone deciding who is fit to be born and who isn't. I've known several mentally handicapped people throughout school, and they can be the happiest people in the world. They're always smiling and having a good time.

I'd also like to say that the tests are horribly inaccurate. My younger brother had some abnormal results from a prenatal test, and he doesn't have any mental handicaps.

[Tink]

[img]http://www.weadore.com/smf/Smileys/default/love9.gif[/img]
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[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='RC_' date='Dec 5 2005, 02:43 PM']
This genocide against the handicapped is evil.
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Were you born with your handicap?

[prose]

Well, to be honest, I like the idea of knowing earlier, because, for myself, it would give me more time to prepare, and take any courses I may need about Downs Syndrome, and basically get as educated as I possibly can before the baby came.

I just think it is HORRIFYING that people use is a an excuse to have an abortion. Yuck. It is disgusting that this is even an "option",

[Guest T-Bone]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Dec 5 2005, 01:25 PM']WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
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[/quote]

<--me, after reading this

Thanks for the very lovely post.

[RC_]

[quote name='Cow of Shame' date='Dec 5 2005, 10:10 PM']Were you born with your handicap?
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I was not born paralyzed, no. But I was born HOH and with a seizure disorder.

[Nathan]

[quote name='Didacus' date='Dec 5 2005, 03:15 PM']does anyone see an end in sight for abortion?

I sure can't.... I hopoe I'm wrong...[right][snapback]812341[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

I think one of the major problems is that all pro-choicers are hearing is that abortion is wrong and evil, not [i]why[/i] abortion is wrong and evil. More people need to stand up and explain, philosophically and systematically, why abortion is just as immoral as something like murder or rape, even if you are a non-religious person. It may be obvious to us, but evidently there are many people out there who don't and can't understand why abortion is wrong and evil without it being explained to them intelligently, rationally, logically, step-by-step. The reasoning is certainly there. But it needs to be explained, not preached.

There are probably only a handful of philosophers and other serious thinkers out there who are doing this for the secular audience, and not just preaching to the converted. Peter Kreeft is one of them, but I'm hard-pressed to name another.

[ryanmeyersmusic]

Anna (my daughter) was, according to tests, likely to be born with Down's or another mental handicap, and is one of the brightest kids I've ever seen.

We used the "warning" by our doctor to become better educated on special needs kids, on programs that help parents of special needs kids financially, and to spend time working with Down's kids in our local area to get a better grip on things.

Our doctor urged us to "terminate and try again"

We didn't terminate, but we're definitely into trying again!

This is one of those things that could be used for good, and hopefully will, but of course many will take advantage of it for evil purposes.

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='RC_' date='Dec 6 2005, 03:38 AM']I was not born paralyzed, no.  But I was born HOH and with a seizure disorder.

[/quote]

I don't know what HOH is.

Highly Organized and Hyperactive?

[Dreamweaver]

Wow, sounds like many other people have known someone or experienced false positives with the Down syndrome test.

Anyone have statistics on how accurate is really is. Me being a science nerd is kind of interested in how this new test works and how accurate it is.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='Cow of Shame' date='Dec 6 2005, 02:36 PM']I don't know what HOH is.

Highly Organized and Hyperactive?
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I think it's hard of hearing.

or maybe head of house?

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='Dreamweaver' date='Dec 6 2005, 03:17 PM']
Anyone have statistics on how accurate is really is. Me being a science nerd is kind of interested in how this new test works and how accurate it is.

[/quote]

Heh, hard to get good numbers if you terminate some of the births before Downs can be absolutely determined....

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='Sojourner' date='Dec 6 2005, 04:29 PM']I think it's hard of hearing.
[/quote]

well, heck. I'm hard of hearing, too.

I've also been diagnosed with PITA, HH, and JPM













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