Opinion: Misunderstandings about Down Syndrome influence Down Syndrome baby abortion

As I sat across from Liberty junior Josiah Frisbie, and then later David and Jennifer Nasser, I saw a passion on their faces that showed they shared a common experience despite their drastically different lives. They each loved a family member with Down Syndrome, and their heart for this people group was evident in every word they spoke. 

Not every family is aware of the joy that a Down Syndrome child can bring into their lives. Many times that leads to parents aborting rather than facing the unknown. 

In 2017, CBS released an article and video segment that investigated the termination rate of Down Syndrome babies in Iceland. The segment also examined a modern-day prenatal blood test that is safer than an amniocentesis and gives quicker and more accurate results when diagnosing a Down Syndrome pregnancy. Through their research, CBS found that 100 percent of positive test results led to a terminated pregnancy in Iceland. 

Though the U.S. has the smallest percentage, that rate is rising from 67 percent. Multiple states have started pushing legislation that would make it illegal for a woman to abort if the sole reasoning is because the baby has a high probability of having Down Syndrome. However, a federal judge in Ohio blocked a similar bill, claiming it was unconstitutional. 

When their unborn child is diagnosed with Down Syndrome, parents should be prepped with information and sensitivity in order to help them welcome their child with excitement and love. Potential parents are not given useful information after they’ve been given a diagnosis, which leads to a traumatic diagnosis experience for families and takes them longer to process the results.

Often, parents are told harsh inaccuracies at the time of diagnosis, telling a parent that the child won’t be able to tie their shoes or write their own name, as Karen Gaffney explained in a TED talk from 2015. Rather than arguing over whether a woman has a right to choose, it should be a fight to give that woman the correct information about that extra chromosome and the joy it will bring to her life. 

Twenty-year-old Josiah Frisbie lights up when he talks about his younger brother, John. He described his 15-year-old brother as an answer to prayers and “everything I could have asked for.” 

“If you just look around, (members of the Down Syndrome community) are the most joyous people out of anyone else,” Frisbie said. “They’re just really content with life and what they have and I think we can learn a lot from them.”

Campus Pastor David Nasser and his wife Jennifer have experienced this similar joy and optimism with David’s younger brother, Benjamin. They both describe the 40-year-old as “the best Nasser of the whole group,” one who is full of life, loyalty and wild optimism. The two laughed over his love for people, country music and college football.

“(Benji) reminds us how fearfully and wonderfully made God’s special people are,” David Nasser said. “The elderly, the disabled, the Down Syndrome have become easy to dishonor by being seen as less than. I think people often see the elderly or the disabled (as someone) who slows down the process of the kind of life that someone would prefer to live.”

Like many modern-day, high-profile issues, this topic is not that of a pro-life or pro-choice argument. This issue is something deeper and quieter. The lack of information presented to women has led to a modern genocide that resembles a eugenics-like reality. 

The time of a Down Syndrome diagnosis can be a scary moment, one filled with fear and uncertainty. If we change the information given out by doctors to be supportive and encouraging, parents will no longer be too fearful to raise such a child. 

“Don’t be scared of (Down Syndrome),” Frisbie said. “Life in general is a struggle and a challenge. But ultimately, the good outweighs the bad. If you’re just really intentional with (the members of the Down Syndrome community), they’ll do much more for you than you ever would have thought possible. They’ll change your life.”

“I really believe that anyone (Ben’s) been around, he’s made their life better,” Jennifer Nasser said. “And we’ve been around him a lot, so he’s made our life a lot better.”