Parents Concerned by Rise in Abortion For Down Syndrome

For years, parents and advocacy groups for children with Down Syndrome have been deeply concerned by the increase in abortion when a diagnosis of Down Syndrome is made. Now new statistics on abortion from England and Wales show that such abortions have increased by 50 percent in the last 10 years.

These abortions often occur after parents are given poor information and pressured or coerced to abort by medical staff. Most people also don’t know about the negative impact that such abortions can also have on parents and families.

As one mother commented on a news story about a family who underwent abortion after their son was diagnosed with Down Syndrome:

Down syndrome strikes fear into the hearts of many expectant families. … I have a daughter with Down syndrome and I’m glad to say that Down syndrome is only part of her story and even that doesn’t lead to despair. [The newspaper] presents the story of a woman counseled into aborting her unborn baby due to the predicted limitations he would have had. Counseling should be a little more challenging than that surely.

Supporting, and I mean properly supporting, a woman who loves her baby to carry on with her pregnancy is the modern challenge that we face. This woman wanted her baby; she should have been offered much more than a termination.

Here are some articles on prenatal testing, abortion and the impact on parents and families:

The Impact of Abortion After Prenatal Testing: What the Research Says
Prenatal Testing and Coerced Abortion
Psychiatric Disorders Linked to Abortion for Fetal Anomalies
Women Share Their Stories of Abortion After Prenatal Testing
My Sister Has Down Syndrome, Would Abortion Be Okay?
6 Ways to Help Parents Who Receive a Difficult Prenatal Diagnosis

Thankfully, there are also many resources for parents whose unborn children have been diagnosed with Down Syndrome or other conditions. This includes this viral video, in which young people with Down Syndrome reassure an expectant mother about what life with her child will be like. Go here to see more videos from families about how their lives have been blessed by their children with Down Syndrome.

Resources and Help

5 Things Parents Need to Hear
Encouraging information for parents who have learned their child has Down Syndrome, before or after birth.

Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics
Book with stories from women who resisted abortion after being pressured to due to the mother’s disability or a poor prenatal diagnosis.

Be Not Afraid
An online outreach to parents who have received a poor or difficult prenatal diagnosis. Provides help parents as they seek as they seek to honor the life of their baby, no matter how frail or how brief.

Isaiah’s Promise
Offers support and information to families who have received a severe or fatal prenatal diagnosis. Includes links to other organizations with helpful information.

Anencephaly.net
Online resource with links to multiple resources, articles and information for families who have received a diagnosis of anencephaly.

Anencephaly.info
Offers personal stories, support and information for families who have received a diagnosis of anencephaly. Help for affected parents, caregivers and friends. (Site is available in multiple languages).

Prenatal Partners for Life
A group of concerned parents (most of whom have or had a special needs child), medical professionals, legal professionals and clergy whose aim is to support, inform and encourage expectant or new parents. They offer support by connecting parents facing an adverse diagnosis with other parents who have had the same diagnosis. They have many resources such as adoption agencies with clients waiting to adopt and love a special needs child should a parent feel they could not care for them.

Morning Light Ministry/Hope in Turmoil Book
Morning Light Ministry offers free support to parents who are carrying their baby with a difficult prenatal diagnosis to term. They offer support by telephone and email, prayer support and assistance in creating a birth plan for your child. They also offer a book, Hope in Turmoil: A Guide for Decision Making After Receiving a Difficult Prenatal Diagnosis Regarding Your Baby (free download or order a print version).

Pregnancy Help Page

Help After Abortion Page


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