Downs Syndrome - not a reason for extermination

There is an interesting Press Association article today about the recent news that more babies are being born with Downs Syndrome. In 2006, 749 babies who were born had Downs Syndrome. It is certainly good news that more babies with Downs Syndrome are being allowed to live. However, there is some obfuscation here.

The Government's National Statistics website reports that there were 669,801 live births in 2006. They say that one in a thousand babies born have Downs Syndrome. This is a misleading statistic in that a large percentage of babies conceived with Downs Syndrome are aborted before birth. (In 2006 there were over 200,000 abortions in the UK according to the Government's statistics.) What we need to know is how many babies are conceived with Downs Syndrome and how many are actually allowed to live despite the pressure of prenatal tests and the ready availability of the "termination of pregnancy" (i.e. the killing of the Downs Syndrome baby.)

The AP report puts it clearly enough:
"A blood test or ultrasound scan is used to tell if a pregnant woman is at risk of having a child with Down's. This can be followed by more invasive tests which take samples of fluid from the womb or placental tissue to show definitively if a child has the syndrome. At either stage a decision may be taken whether or not to continue with the pregnancy."
"Continue with the pregnancy... or ... What?"

Further in the article, we read:
"The Down's Syndrome Association, in conjunction with the BBC, conducted a survey and the findings show that while religious or pro-life beliefs counted in around a third of cases, many parents felt that life and society had improved for people affected by Down's. Others said their decision was influenced by the fact that they knew people with Down's or other disabilities."
Now wait a minute! Religious and pro-life beliefs do in fact encourage society to improve life for the disabled, including those with Downs Syndrome. This is not a case of "either-or".

Bernadette in the combox has mentioned a radio interview in which a woman expressed incredulity that women could continue with a pregnancy where a Downs Syndrome child was involved since prenatal testing is now so good - i.e. we can get rid of them if we want.

Lourdes is the place where I see more Downs Syndrome children than anywhere else. The pro-life attitude of Catholics has placed them at the forefront of caring for the disabled, whether born or not.

The bottom line is: we do not have any right to exterminate Downs Syndrome children.

See also:
Jerome Lejeune
Down's syndrome and the dark forces
Down's syndrome - declaration of interest

Popular posts from this blog

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

Image
A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

Saint Ignatius on heresy, and the capsizing boat

Image
On the feast of St Ignatius, I offer my prayers and good wishes to some great Jesuits. Just off the top of my head, I think of Fr Joseph Fessio SJ the founder of Ignatius Press which has not only published the English translations of various works of Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict, but has also given a break for good Catholic authors both of theology and of Catholic fiction. Then there is Fr Bob Spitzer SJ, with whom I studied in Rome many years ago, and Fr Paul Mankowski SJ who has written some superb articles over the years. Here in England, I recall Fr Anthony Meredith SJ, the great fatherly commentator on the Fathers of Cappadocia and in Rome, there is Fr Gilles Pelland SJ, the fierce French-Canadian patristics scholar was a bit harsh when I first arrived in the Holy City, but seemed to soften a bit when after 5 years he seeme satisfied that, though English, I was not a modernist. Many of my Jesuit priest friends and mentors have now reached “that night when no man can work”...
Read more

Downloadable booklets for Vespers

Image
Gregorian Chant Hymns is a most helpful website that I mentioned in a post just over a year ago. As I said then, the site "[...] promotes the learning of Gregorian Chant by making sheet music, recordings, translations, and instructions. There is a short guide to Gregorian Notation (those square notes) and to Latin pronunciation. Everything is available free of charge, in line with other great traditional music websites." Work has continued at the site and there is now a section which makes available pdf (or .docx format) booklets for Vespers for every Sunday of the Year and a few major feasts. There is the basic booklet for ordinary Sunday Vespers which is supplemented by separate files for the Sundays after Pentecost which contain the Magnificat and Collect. Then there are booklets, for example for Advent and Lent, where the office is different from the regular Sunday Vespers with its antiphons. All of the booklets have texts and notation for Benediction and the Maria...
Read more