Campaign to remove prenatal tests

You only need to look at countries where there are barriers to abortion and less antenatal care to see what effect this policy would have. E.g. Romania under Ceausescu, where anti-abortion and 'pro-family' policies led to a huge number of children being abandoned after birth, particularly children with additional needs. By all means campaign for more funding and support for children with Down's syndrome so that women can feel supported to continue with their pregnancies, but without addressing the underlying social issues, this is just an inhumane policy of forced birth.

Presumably more DS babies could go into the care system then. Be more worthwhile campaigning for greater support to parents of disabled children.

I thought Emmerdale handled the DS termination storyline well in that wasn't an easy decision without consequences but also had viewpoint of Rhona & Marlon who chose differently.

My baby has unexpected cerebral palsy. It's bloody hard. It's had a huge emotional impact on us, not to mention I can't go back to work now so finances are not good.

I love ds and thankfully his condition may be mild, but I know for a fact if we were poorer, less experienced with children, there's no way in hell we could handle this. I would never begrudge someone else the choice. I also don't want the already limited support being stretched, which is what would happen if people went through with pregnancies they wouldn't have otherwise done.

This fucker should shut up and put some fucking money in the pot if he's so concerned.

Anyway, doesn't he have like 90 billion children and a nanny force. Hardly representative of normal life.
How dare he. I knew there was a reason I hated him the smarmy git.

I doubt he's trying to survive on 3 hours sleep a night the absolute dick.

This is a subject that is close to my heart. Our first pregnancy was terminated because our baby was diagnosed with a condition incompatible with life at our 12 week scan. Had we not known, then it doesn't bear thinking about what our son would have to endure after birth. He was so very poorly. I was so grateful that we were able to prevent his suffering.
It just shows incredible arrogance to think that screening is only meant to identify DS. There are so many conditions that are picked up through prenatal scanning.

Fuck him off. Hope there's more prenatal testing in the future. If I'd know my child had autism, I wouldn't have hesitated to terminate the pregnancy.

I know people with DS who chair committees, are mechanics, and have good physical health. At the other end of the spectrum are people who have a range of multisystemic effects (heart, dysregulated metabolism etc.) and complex needs.

Comparatively trivialising the condition and the associated care serves very few people.

It also also might be a slippery slope. I also have to admit I’d terminate a child with autism if such a test existed, I could not willingly go into it (there are personal reasons for this).

But this article is not really very persuasive to me.

No uterus,no opinion,simple.He can stick his plans wherever he's pleased.
Prenatal testing is not compulsory,it's a recommendation and women are free to have or not.
I chose not to have it but I totally understand why other people do.

Doesn’t matter though. His family can opt out of prenatal testing if they want. But he should not make that choice for other people.

He can jog on.
I grew up in the 80s with a sister with special needs and it was hard.
A test wouldn’t have helped as it was medical mismanagement of premature labour, but if it could have, my mum would’ve opted for it, to prepare. She’s Catholic, so she wouldn’t have terminated. Even if she had, her choice.
When push comes to shove, women will be told that it was their choice to continue with the pregnancy, so no, there is no more support and why didn’t you have a termination if you can’t cope? In fact, why did you even have sex in the first place?
Women are dismissed either way; evil bitches for wanting terminations, or selfish “want-it-alls” who should have made better choices.

That's the thing, the nipt tests for a wide range of trisonomies, some incompatible with life.

Women should be able to access as much clear information on their pregnancies, bodies and options as possible. They should also have good support to make the best decisions for them and their situation.

This man can toddle off.

Man: women are making decisions I don't like.

Man: I'll campaign to stop them having the power to make the decision!

Does he find out the full picture of WHY we have prenatal screening and what he would be ushering in? No! Does he try to make the alternative choices more attractive? Also no.

And what about the other trisomies? My firstborn tested high risk for trisomy 18, which is often incompatible with life, and even when the baby is born alive the life expectancy is days or weeks. Luckily he did not have that, but we got extra scans and a NIPT because of that, and the extra scans led the doctors to notice an unrelated issue that would have killed me and the baby in childbirth if they weren't prepared.

Men pontificating about pregnancy choices, ugh. They never have to face the risks.

"I, like many others, don’t like ‘Down’s syndrome’, because it erroneously implies that the physician who first identified the condition, John Langdon Down, also had it."

This is jaw-droppingly stupid. Syndromes are named after the people who identified them, not suffered from them.

I, like many others, don’t like ‘Down’s syndrome’, because it erroneously implies that the physician who first identified the condition, John Langdon Down, also had it. I also believe it can encourage the use of offensive terminology like ‘a Down’s person’. Globally, the term ‘trisomy 21’ is now increasingly used in place of Down syndrome, which I personally feel is more appropriate, and we may see a greater shift towards this name in the future

Oh he finds it offensive does he? White male again telling the vulnerable or oppressed group what they should find offensive.

I worked with many Children with DS, they all call themselves “Downies”. “Trisomy 21-ers” doesn’t quite have the same sound.

Plus it doesn’t suggest Down was affected. Many, many things in science from syndromes to proteins are named by their discoverer.

the only difference with Down syndrome is that you have one extra chromosome and a learning disability

Is this guy so uninformed that he is campaigning to remove women's rights whilst genuinely believing this is the case? Or is he downplaying the many, very serious complications of DS in order to bolster his argument? Is it ignorance or malice?

He works with a DS charity so you'd think he'd be exposed to the reality of the chronic lack of support for families who have children with disabilities, and understand the impact it has on parents and particularly mothers.

Yet another man, with enough money and the expectation that others will do the hard work of HIS choice, wanting to dictate to women what to do with their lives.

the only difference with Down syndrome is that you have one extra chromosome and a learning disability

Used to work in cardiology. Syndromes are a collection of things, in DS that often includes a deformed heart and as people with DS have impaired immune systems they rarely qualify for transplants.

Lots of people with DS can live independent or supported lives, many cannot.

Some babies with DS don't make it. They can have massive congenital heart issues.

Many have autism as well as ds.

Some are extremely capable and clever and can have a career, and healthy.

Women have a right to be informed. I refused first time round as felt capable (and I also feel as there's no test for autism, what's the point.) second time I had a young son to consider, a Dh who was v anxious and as an older mother, knew far too many women of my age who'd had late terminations due to types of trisomy that weren't compatible with life, including two who had ds.

The nipt test can be done at 11 weeks and so women are informed much earlier.