Recently in the news, came this article about new non-invasive testing available that will give mothers the opportunity to know whether or not their baby has Down Syndrome. This new information raises a question in the article "will babies with Down Syndrome slowly disappear?". I have avoided this topic and avoided reading the article until just now (which I still chose not to read the whole thing) because it disturbs me for so many reasons. I think it's pretty clear where I stand on this issue since we were presented with possible information during my pregnancy with Colin and we chose not to do any invasive testing to find out "for sure". Although we had a hard time with the information when first provided with it and at birth, we had decided we would never choose our fears over our baby that we had created.
It saddens me that our scientific research is leading us in a direction that is allowing us to create the perfect child by potentially removing a fetus that society would consider "imperfect". It's no secret that we are faced with daily challenges with Colin because of his having Down Syndrome, but the love and fullness I feel because of him outweighs any of these challenges. In fact, just tonight, when I was feeling a little "down" after having a rough day, Colin crawled over and kissed my cheek. I can assure you that he brightened numerous days in Shoprite today when he greeted and waved at many people there...please tell me how this life isn't a life worth living. Sure he is faced with challenges, but don't we all have some kind of burden or challenge that we struggle with on a regular basis?
My friend Patti at A Perfect Lily has been writing some posts on this issue and rallied together to the troops to put a beautiful video together. You can read the post in its entirety here which she appropriately titled "worthy of life" but I wanted to share this excerpt which moved me to tears...
"Our children are not suffering.
Our children are not a burden.
Our children are worthy of life and worthy of our love, and we are forever thankful for the incredible joy we know every single day....because of them. "
She created this video that beautifully demonstrates the worthiness of our children's lives...because they are all "so amazing"....Thanks Patti!
Since my format of the blog cuts off half of the video, I suggest checking it out on Patti's blog to see it in it's entiretly...If the video does not work the first time, please hit the refresh button...
1 comment:
I've been avoiding all of those articles about prenatal testing. They're *everywhere*, too. Ugh. Everything we can possibly do to change minds will help. I loved Patti's video!!! :-)
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