A piece of legislation like this cannot come soon enough. Abortion and prenatal diagnoses have had a devastating impact on the Down syndrome community. It is estimated that at least 67% of all preborn babies diagnosed in the womb with the condition are aborted, but that statistic is likely wildly inaccurate.
In the United States, there is no requirement that abortion doctors report any of their abortion statistics, except in the cases of catastrophic complications (even then it’s questionable how often they report these issues). When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collect abortion statistics every year, not only is the data usually about three years behind, but it is also all self-reported by the abortion businesses. There is no oversight or review of the statistics they report.
This lack of reporting extends to Down syndrome as well. The 67% is an estimate based on a small number of surveys. The number could be much higher, up to 80% or 90%. One survey estimated that the range could be anywhere from 67% to 85%, but without any reporting requirement it is impossible to know how often abortion is happening simply because a preborn baby has Down syndrome. We do know that the Down syndrome population has decreased by 30% over the last couple of decades, which can be attributed to abortion as people with Down syndrome are living longer, healthier lives.
Sadly, this charge is often led by medical professionals, who consistently offer abortion as an option after a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. Parents may have to explain their decision to keep their child multiple times. One mother even reported being told by a physician that her child would only live three years, when the most recent life expectancy estimate was 50.
In Europe, the situation is dire. A couple of years ago, a famous CBS program shared with the world that Iceland had basically eliminated Down syndrome by aborting every preborn child with the condition. Right now, there is only a handful of people with Down syndrome on the island nation.
Senator Inhofe and other Senators are trying to fix that. This bill would protect preborn babies in the womb by making it illegal for abortion to occur if a woman or couple are seeking it simply on the basis that the child has Down syndrome. The legislation would not punish the mother in any way.
“Every life has value and that extends to the unborn,” Senator Inhofe said in a statement. “All children should be given the chance at life and today, with the introduction of the Down Syndrome Discrimination by Abortion Prohibition Act, we have a chance to give a voice to the voiceless and build on pro-life legislation we’ve already championed, including the Life at Conception Act, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.”
It will be interesting to see how this legislation proceeds through the Senate and the House because even in a Republican held Senate, it has been difficult to get pro-life legislation through. In the Democrat controlled House, it would essentially be impossible. That’s incredibly sad, especially considering what the House passed this week.
Today it was announced that the House has voted to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide in Turkey, which was carried out by the Ottoman Empire about 100 years ago. It is often considered in the academic community as the century’s first genocide. The resolution passed by a measure of 405-11. That’s despite the fact that it could damage the United States relationship with the Turkish government, which officially denies that the genocide ever happened.
How is it that the House can pass a resolution recognizing the century old murder of hundreds of thousands of Armenians, but refuses to deal with the 60 million Americans killed through abortion in the last 40 years? It doesn’t make any sense.
Pray that Senator Inhofe’s resolution will pass in the Senate and make its way to the House. The aborting of preborn babies with Down syndrome is a modern-day genocide in many ways. It fits the legal definition as set down by Raphäel Lemkin in 1944, the intentional “killing members of a group.” Down syndrome fits this definition, and these precious lives deserve protection
