New Prenatal Testing

New Prenatal Testing. I got this from Megan while reading her blog today, thanks Megan!

Well, here you go, read it and take from it what you want. It makes me sad honestly. Is Down syndrome so bad people, that we have to target it and come up with the earliest test possible so women can have plenty of time to abort and not feel as bad about it? Yep, I'm saying it, this is my blog and my baby and this is how I feel. I'm sure this will be great news for many but for people in my shoes it's kind of a slap in the face, quite honestly.


And the line about more time to plan- do you really need 7 months to prepare?? I realize it takes some people longer to grieve or get used to the idea that their baby will have DS but I also feel the earlier you find out the bigger the temptation is to just end it. I just don't see why they are targeting DS. I think that is my biggest issue here. Again, I take it personally like my little Bennett isn't good enough and his life isn't worth living- seriously, that makes me cry.


I've copied a few key sentences italicised from the article:
New Safety, New Concerns In Tests for Down Syndrome
By Rob Stein ,Washington Post Staff Writer,Tuesday, February 24, 2009; A01

Several experts agreed that the Sequenom test and others in development show great promise, potentially offering women either an earlier chance to end a pregnancy or more time to prepare for caring for a child with disabilities.

"We have a history in this country of a eugenics movement where people tried to eliminate certain people from the gene pool," said Andrew J. Imparato of the American Association of People With Disabilities. "People could start wondering, 'How did you get born?' "



Advocates worry that such tests could increase the number of women getting inaccurate information that makes life for people with Down syndrome and their families sound worse than it really is.
"We have a nation of physicians who are unprepared for explaining a diagnosis of Down syndrome," said Brian Skotko, a physician at Children's Hospital in Boston who works with the National Down Syndrome Society. "Many overemphasize the negative consequences or outright urge women to terminate their pregnancies."

Skotko, whose sister has Down syndrome, predicted such tests would result in fewer babies being born with the condition.

"Every day my sister teaches me lots of life lessons -- to laugh when others are mocking me, to keep on trying when obstacles are thrown my way," he said. "If there were a world with fewer people with Down syndrome, I think the world would miss all these important lessons."

Wow, I wish this were Bennett's doctor! Not that we have bad doctors but to have an advocate as your doctor would be really nice.

Again, I don't want this blog to be about pro-choice or pro-life. This blog is about my family and our life and now we obviously will have Bennett in our lives and you better believe I am going to be an advocate for my child. This is about Down syndrome and hopefully showing people that just because you may look a little different or act a little different shouldn't make you less desirable as someones son, daughter, brother, sister, grandson, granddaughter or friend. I hope and pray that my girls will learn this from their brother, to never "judge a book by it's cover!" And again, I'm not sitting here judging others that may have made a choice to abort a baby with DS- it's not my place to judge- do I like it? No, but that doesn't mean I hold something against people that have done this. I just hope by me blogging about my experiences on this whole journey, maybe someone will see that, maybe it's not that bad. Maybe having the "perfect" baby isn't all about being the smartest, prettiest, best athlete, coolest, maybe it's about giving someone the opportunity, whether we think or assume it can happen or not to show us what they can become or what they can overcome.