Thursday, September 4, 2008

Sarah Palin´s Downs Syndrome Child

So, I really have to add one more thing in my rant against Palin. Go back to 2005, I was turning 35 and pregnant with Roarke. My midwife asked me, as she is required by law to do, would you like to have an amniocentisis done? I asked of course, why? Well, you are getting older and the risk of birth defect increases with age. I pondered for a moment when Betsy my midwife said "Elizabeth, will you love your child any less if there is a defect?" my response "Absolutely not! Forget the amnio, it´s risky, especially for the baby, we´ll deal with birth defects later on if there are any." To the media, who cares that Palin knew her baby had downs syndrome and didn´t get an abortion, would other women? Maybe, most likely not. Because she has a baby with down´s syndrome her job as a provider becomes a bit harder, but let´s not hand out medals here. If she is so anti-abortion, why bother with a tricky amnio, just to prepare yourself? Inherent in motherhood is the situation of never being totally prepared, don´t play yourself to be the heroine Palin because you choose to have the baby with Down´s Syndrome and not abort. A friend of mine recanted what her father-in-law says "I´m against post-natal abortion." Me too. There I´ve said it, hate me if you will but I´m tired of the hullabaloo. Good for her, she´s a female on the Republican ticket (gasp!), that doesn´t mean she is qualified to lead the citizens of the U.S. Get to the real issues, like fixing the economy and bringing soldiers home alive from a fruitless occupation of Iraq, oh wait we can´t because we´ve schismed that country. Oh, what to do...

3 comments:

John said...

Hi. I linked here through Betty Duffy's page…I'm her little brother. Make of that what you will.:) Anyway, at the risk of revealing to my sister that I know that her blog exists, and that I read it daily, and at the risk of seeming nosy, I’m feeling compelled to comment on a point in this post.

First, I agree with your general assessment of amnios. Also, I agree that it seems silly or sad that Palin is portrayed as some sort of heroine for deciding to have her baby. But the fact is, in today’s society, making the choice that she did IS “heroic”.

As odd as it may seem, it IS much more likely that other women in her situation would choose abortion. In the US, around 90% of babies pre-natally diagnosed with downs are aborted. That means 90% of mothers in her position would have chosen to abort. [When you include un-diagnosed cases, well over a third of all downs syndrome babies are aborted. The stats are even greater in the UK. This phenomenon is about as close to eugenics as you can get.]

That said, I understand that her choice to get the amnio, whatever her reasons may have been, may not seem very pro-life. Her subsequent choice not to abort, on the other hand, as absurd as it seems, was.

Anna B said...

It is wrong that we did not know each other when you were geographically closer....

Elizabeth said...

hi, john. i read betty too, she always stimulates my brain and makes me laugh, what a witty sister you have! anywa, i should have checked my facts before my post. honestly, as a mother, i really assumed you would choose the child because of when the amnio is performed (15-18 weeks). i also read that the rate is really between 91% to 93%, for me that would not be a choice. so i guess palin deserves more credit here, i would have made the same choice as her. i guess i´m half heroine.

and anna b, it is very sad that we are so far, thank goodness for the internet.