"Hard to Look Away"
Last week, I stumbled upon a chat on a message board that I wished I had never seen. I wish I could erase it from my memory...but we all know it doesn't work that way. It has weighed heavy on my heart ever since. It was a support post about women who had found out their unborn babies were less than perfect and they were terminating their pregnancy. The majority of the "imperfections" were trisomy 21, Down syndrome. My heart broke. I should have closed it the moment I realized what it was. I knew better. I couldn't. I read it all.
I have always been against abortion. It was one of the reasons we chose not to have any testing while we were pregnant with any of our children. We would have never considered terminating any of our pregnancies. We never felt it was our place to put value on a life and decide whether a child enters the world. We felt every pregnancy was a gift and it was our responsibility to preserve that gift. On the other hand, I'm not judging the women that chose to terminate their pregnancies. I wasn't placed on earth to be their judge and jury. Yes, I was heart-broken with the number of women in that conversation that did decide to terminate their pregnancies due to prenatal testing and the news that their child had trisomy 21. The part that struck me the most was their reasons for terminating. They weren't crazy thoughts...they might have been a little irrational...they were typical feelings that many parents have had when presented with the news that their child is less than the "perfect" that we dream of.
"I don't want my child to suffer."
"I don't want to burden my other children."
"I am not strong enough."
"What will happen to my child after I pass?"
"I don't know how to handle a child with special needs."
"What if he/she has other medical problems."
Heck, most of these questions/concerns are made by all parents. No one knows what the future holds. No one knows what will happen with our children that were born "perfect".
The chat that I stumbled upon broke my heart on so many levels. It made me sad that those little ones were never given the chance at life. It makes me sad that those mothers felt so strongly about the unknown and the life they "didn't think" they could handle that they chose to terminate. It disappoints me that because of this type of thinking there might be fewer and fewer people with Down syndrome born. It upsets me because these actions might one day have my daughter questioning her worth. Lastly, it makes my heart hurt that those mothers will never feel the joy and love that I receive from my absolutely PERFECT daughter!
What...I'm not supposed to have these? |
Hmmm...mom can carry the little one to bed, dad...you're on your own! |
Shhhh...don't tell the boys. I just want to play one round. |
What do you mean my hair is a mess & I have food hanging out of my mouth? |
My family thinks I am awesome! |
Who could resist this face? |
That chat I stumbled upon reaffirms why I blog and advocate for my child
and all people with Down syndrome. It is the reason I will never stop. It is not realistic to think that we can change the opinions of everyone, but we certainly won't give up and we will certainly try! Thank you lovemy3 for graciously stepping in and helping me stay in the 31 for 21 Blog Hop. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us as well as the lovely pictures of Miss Hailey. The sunglass picture still gets me! -Anna |
I think i must of read the same post as you did bc i remember reading this a couple of weeks ago and was completely disgusted by it...Great insight and post on it!!!
ReplyDeleteI think that if more people knew how normal (and adorable) children with down syndrome are that fewer would choose to abort.
ReplyDeleteI actually told my husband straight out before we were married that I would abort any non typical pregnancy, and now that I know what children with down syndrome are like I would never be able to. Just reading blogs changed my mind, Kelle Hamptons being the first that I read that made such a huge difference