My beautiful granddaughter has congenital, bilateral talipes and the thought that she could have been killed until birth makes me sick and very fearful.
fearful of what? that someone will come and take her away and kill her? Fearful that other mothers may abort a pregnancy with the same condition and ... how will that affect you?
How is your granddaughter looked after? do her parents have enough money? resources? what about when they die? will a sibling take over? willingly? What is the actual plan for her life?
When we talk about abortion, for whatever reason but especially TFMR, we have to separate the personal from the poplulation. Sure we have all seen happy smiling DS people, and it is absolutely bloody fantastic to see them with more profile on CBBC and acting. I am absolutely for that. But as pp said: they are the "acceptable" ones. For the hard of thinking: they are "acceptable" to the general public as cute, manageable, lovely, not having a tantrum aged 24 and nobody can help.
The fact is we need more visibility of disabilities - not just so that people with disabilities can enjoy life with the rest of us, and so the rest of us learn to accept that everyone is not like us. But so that we can see the struggles they and their carers have. And we need to put way way more resources into helping carers.
The Instamoms may have cute photogenic babies now. But will they be posting later. As PP said about her mother When all her friends were dealing with children becoming independent adults, she was essentially still parenting a toddler, well into her 80s. She died terrified for his future care, which I have taken over.
That is many people's reality: dying old, worn out and petrified for your child's future. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.