Despite the unmeasurable joy so many people with down syndrome bring to the world, there’s still a stubborn persistence in the medical community to advise abortion when down syndrome is discovered during pregnancy.
In Iceland, they have boasted about being the first country to abort 100% of down syndrome babies. The reaction to a recent post by Faithwire shows just how wrong this practice is, and how beautiful people with down syndrome truly are.
After Faithwire shared a precious video earlier this week of a young boy with Down syndrome passionately belting out Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” in the back seat of a car, parents of down syndrome children began sharing photos of their beautiful loved ones, and they are simply perfect.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, conservative commentator Matt Walsh lamented the troubling fact that doctors and pro-choice advocates often advise abortion once it is determined child in the womb has Down syndrome. He wrote:
Any video that captures the beauty and humanity of a Down Syndrome child is a winner in my book. It is a sad and shameful fact that the vast, vast majority of Down Syndrome children never see the light of day because they are snuffed out in the womb. Almost the entire Down Syndrome population has been eradicated by Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics. But these children are human beings. Just as human as you or me. And they are capable of finding joy in life, despite their difficulties. In fact, it seems they are much more capable than most of us.
Comments poured in on the post, with hundreds of individuals sharing the experience they faced when confronted with the news that their unborn child had Downs. And the pictures alone shame people who push to have these sweet people aborted simply because they are different:
“My daughter was almost a part of that statistic, but praise the Lord for abortion laws as well as her bio parents heart’s changing. I can not imagine a day without this little girl,” wrote user Kristin Beseech Crume. “Please people… if you feel like you can’t raise a child with Down syndrome, PLEASE GIVE THEM LIFE. I know many beautiful families who are waiting and cannot WAIT to have a child through adoption that carries that extra special chromosome!”
As Good Housekeeping reported in February, conservative estimates show 67 to 85 percent of women have an abortion after a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis. According to the Down Syndrome Diagnosis Network, there are 250,000 people currently living in the United States with Down syndrome, and while the average life expectancy for such individuals was just 25 years old in 1983, it stands at 60 years old today. Additionally, 99 percent of parents report not regretting their decision to raise their child.
“My girl is fierce,” wrote Facebook user Jamie Atchley Bradford along with a picture of her beautiful daughter. “We were encouraged to abort, and I send that doctor a nice Christmas card every year reminding him how wrong he was!”
While there are certainly challenges that come with raising a child with special needs, it was refreshingly clear from the comments on Walsh’s post that public perception of Down syndrome is changing for the better, and the world is a better place with these wonderful people in it.
“Our 2nd son, who happens to have Down syndrome, is pretty much the joy of our family,” shared user Shari Jolly Fleming. “He’s hilarious and makes us laugh all the time. It would be a very sad world without people like him.”
So cute:
Natalie Larsen Pope shared this adorable photo of her son – it’s his 4th birthday!
One woman shared a photo of her son and her wife, who have been married ten years and live in their own house.
“Our daughter just happens to have an extra chromosome.” Awesome:
There are so many more who posted in the comments section. Check the post and see for yourself – trust us, you will be glad you did!
Any video that captures the beauty and humanity of a Down Syndrome child is a winner in my book. It is a sad and…
Posted by Matt Walsh on Wednesday, August 2, 2017
In the aftermath of the viral video’s epic success, Dane’s aunt, Jeanne Miller, gave an interview to ABC News in which she surmised why her nephew’s lighthearted moment has brought joy to so many people.
“He is just very vibrant. He’s very high-functioning so if he hears music, it’s just something that sticks with him,” she said. “He’s very proud [of the video]. He just smiles and giggles.”
Dane’s mother Danna, meanwhile, shared that her son has been such a blessing to her family.
“When we had Dane, we didn’t know that he had Down syndrome, but it wouldn’t have mattered,” she told ABC News. “He has been probably the biggest blessing of our lives. He is just so loving and joyful. He is what’s good about this world.”
While Miller was unaware of her son’s condition in utero and says she would have kept the pregnancy regardless, there are far too many stories of children with Downs never getting a chance at life.