UKIP candidate wants compulsory abortion...

[SingSongSlummy]

...for foetuses with Downs Syndrome and other disabilities. Can't believe it. I hope that any Mumsnetters living in Kent can get out and vote for someone else! Link is to Gravesend Reporter.
www.gravesendreporter.co.uk/news/exclusive_compulsory_abortion_for_down_s_syndrome_foetuses_says_ukip_kent_candidate_1_1745952

or small-c cunts madbuslady

I totally understand people thinking they could not cope. When I had my child (post natal diagnosis) I wondered would I cope.

But, as the number of live births decreases, the number if people with downs decreases, the more unusual / different / difficult it appears. And if you don't know or meet or see people with DS then it's hard to imagine yourself coping. So it's circle.

I noticed a UKIP poster in a window, earlier. The family has a child with ASD. It saddens me that people only buy into a tiny part of the rhetoric and completely miss everything else, even if it could theoretically affect their own loved ones.

But no individual person has that responsibility to society, to be an "example" or a standard-bearer or a boundary-breaker or whatever, unless they feel genuinely capable of undertaking it. For themselves, not for others.

Wips, you are judging other women for not doing something that you felt able/in a position to do. And placing them in the same box as a UKIP supporter.

That's not right, and it's not fair

We encourage debate but please stick to the talk guidelines.

As you were......

Wips, I doubt if that 94% is true, anyhow, as many, many women who wouldn't terminate simply don't have the tests to find out if they're at high risk.

The pressure to have those tests when you're of a certain age is immense. I ended up saying, OK, I'll have the blood test but will take it no further if my risk is high. At least I would have a chance to prepare.

Just because so many women bow to societal pressure, should I have been forced to have the blood test, whatever I felt, then have an amnio if my risk was high, even if I didn't want it and then, after all that discomfort, terminate, anyhow against my will. I'm not anti abortion, btw. I am pro choice (even if some choices make me uncomfortable - other women's bodies are none of my business, however) but my choice would have been to keep a baby at high risk of downs syndrome. As it turned out that baby wasn't high risk and was clear, but he is severely autistic. So sorry, I produced yet another child who is a drain on society, after all.

I refused an amnio when my triple screen came out high risk for Down's Syndrome. Because I knew I would rather a risk a baby with DS than risk a late miscarriage of a baby with DS or without brought on by the procedure (this was 20 years ago).

Do I judge anyone making a different choice ? Fuck no. I had fertility issues and multiple pg losses. These things are not black and white.

Would I accept being forced to terminate?. Nope.

Of those who have the tests 94% terminate. But yes, some don't test. I'm not following your second point sorry.

I didn't feel able to do it. I was totally shell-shocked. But I had to cope.

I'm not judging them. On the reams of posts here about high nt results etc I try to go on explain I have a child with DS and say talk to me. I never comment on peoples decisions.

www.lifenews.com/2013/04/04/did-you-know-90-of-babies-with-down-syndrome-are-aborted/

www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/04/why-so-many-babies-are-still-being-born-with-down-syndrome/254869/

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22418958

Three articles here which give quite different figures to the ones Wisps is saying.

It shouldn't matter if just 1% or 99% of those who know their child will be downs terminates or not. It is their choice for whatever reason they have. I am sure that some who terminate do not do it because they feel the baby is 2nd class or a burden they mat have more practical reasons and feel they cannot raise a disabled child. These are valid reasons and should not used to make such an emotive and personal decision compulsory

is the vilest thing have ever seen in connection with a party trying to pass themselves off as mainstream since the BNP suggested the decriminalisation of rape

the worst bit is 'blah blah look at all the fucks we give he will make a great councillor'

yuck

I'm quoting UK figures.

And Wips, I do understand what you mean about people having a fear of something they don't know. Many people are so afraid of something they consider to be an otherness. There was that story in the papers the other week about that councillor who came out with a gem along the lines of "are those mongol people allowed to breed, then?" He didn't even seem to comprehend that, never mind the archaic language, the sentiment is just plain nasty.

Wips, I am sorry love, but equating the women who terminate with the mad rantings of people like UKIP sympathisers is making a very fucking large comment on other people's decisions.

If autism could be tested for pre-natally do you think people would terminate ouryve? Genuine question.

Well Anyfucker, love, this site is full of very fucking large comments and opinions.

No, maryz it's not, it's something I ponder sometimes though.

Indeed, wips, and when they are offensive they quite rightly get picked up on

There are degrees of autism. After working with severely autistic children in the past who couldn't talk, some of whom would bite or hit, and scream a lot, I don't think in all honesty I would want to spend my life caring for a child that severely disabled. But "mild" autism I would view very differently.

Wips, you clafrified further along in the thread than I'd reached, but you did seem to give the impression that perhaps if so many people were aborting foetuses at high risk of Down's syndrome, it would make no difference if it was made compulsory. I was trying to say, rather clumsily, that of course it does matter. And that it's unfortunate that there's such a focus on Down's syndrome as something being preventable by abortion - there are many more common conditions which can't be tested for during pregnancy.

There's sometimes a bit of excitement expressed in the press about the possibility of antenatal tests for autism. I'm not relishing the prospect, to be honest. The potential of such tests makes me a little uncomfortable. It's a relief that, as a condition, there doesn't appear to be a simple, single aetiology because, with such a preponderance of fuckwits like this UKIP guy, I'm not entirely comfortable with the potential consequences of identifying genes and markers which show a strong pre-disposition.

turgiday, I have a boy with ASD who can't talk and one who is academically gifted (though has other difficulties and co-morbid ADHD). ASD runs very strongly in my family. There's obviously dominant genes involved and there's clearly no link to perceived severity within those genes. They have a cousin who is very mildly affected (though was a late talker). Even with the obvious genetic link, the severity appears to be quite random.

I wouldn't actively wish the parenting of a child with ASD on anyone, but it does, quite honestly, become your own "normal".

I am sure it becomes normal and of course if it was possible to screen for other disabilities pre natally, parents should always have a choice to have and raise those children.

The severely autistic children I worked with were incredibly challenging to do just everyday things with. We worked with them 1-1 and although I enjoyed it, it would be challenging to deal with all of the time. One of the particular issues was with teenagers, who could be 6ft boys, but would have physical tantrums and hitting like a young toddler. Not their fault, but difficult if you have a teenager suddenly having a physical tantrum on the floor of a shop and hitting out at passerbys in the process.

is this the same party who complain about sharia law?

Yes it is.