A bit of it:
As many as an estimated nine out of 10 children with Down syndrome are aborted in the womb, sought out by increasingly sophisticated prenatal tests and eliminated as too flawed, too burdensome, too different to live. This is the ugly eugenic underbelly of American life, even as we congratulate ourselves on our tolerance and diversity.
Parents of children with Down syndrome routinely encounter a “how could you?” disapproval. Former Washington Post reporter Patricia E. Bauer writes that strangers consider her daughter with Down syndrome as falling “into the category of avoidable human suffering. At best, a tragic mistake. At worst, a living embodiment of the pro-life movement. Less than human. A drain on society. That someone I love is regarded that way is unspeakably painful to me.”
Here comes Trig, who — via his mother, especially if she wins — will have a high-profile platform to expose the rest of us to his personhood and dignity. Palin always describes him, aptly, as “a perfectly beautiful baby boy.” After her speech, she held him on stage as she was joined by the rest of her family. Given how dated assumptions are about Down syndrome, he could do us much good growing up in the Naval Observatory.
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